My Beauty Breeds Volatility…?



In today’s charged discussion arena, it certainly feels a little gauche to open up subjects like women, beauty, and the effect it has on men. It’s not long in such a conversation before you’re warned that “beauty is skin-deep”, “appearances don’t matter”, and that “you shouldn’t be so superficial”.Rather, I’m on the opposite end of this spectrum — I’ve always thought beauty to — indeed — be a superficial, trivial matter, therefore not worthy of my intellect. I’ve placed myself above such trivialities, and in all fairness, always saw conventional attractiveness as an optional add-on in romantic partners.Which has left me disengaged, and out of touch with my own appearance, and beauty. I’m always struck when sharing the occasional selfie, of the positive reaction, particularly from men. Often, from strangers.I don’t think of myself as a conventionally attractive person, so am always surprised, and a little out of my depth when someone treats me as such. I feel…Well, perhaps not the last one. Call it what you will, but I generally assume, when someone’s being nice to me, that they do so out of intellectual interest, or otherwise basic human gentility. My more world-savvy friends soon disabuse me of such notions.You’ll say I have bad friends. But in such remarks, they’re not downplaying my personal charm, wit, or whatever else. They’re simply more cynical. I always get so flustered, and it’s my own discomfort that pushed me down this rabbit hole that follows.