Real Women Please Take Note

Thank-you Cindy Crawford.  Real women please take note.

     I was watching good Morning America on a recent snow day.  There was a segment about Cindy Crawford's non-retouched lingerie photo that was leaked out on Twitter.  It seems that the photo was leaked from Marie Claire magazine Mexico and Latin America.   This photo shows super model and fashion icon Cindy Crawford with a real-women body in lingerie and a fur coat.  Cindy doesn't look PERFECT.  She has a little pouch tummy, cellulite and discolored and uneven colored skin.
    So the buzz seemed to be about the imperfect Cindy Crawford.  Should the buzz have been about seeing glimpses of the real and aging body of 48 year old Cindy Crawford?
     I can't help but examine all of this deeper.  What is beauty and who defines what beauty is?  Does Facebook, Instagram, magazines, celebrities, cosmetic and drug manufacturers contribute to defining what we think beauty is?  And should they?  Are so many of us picking up the message that we have to look a certain way to be beautiful?  And, if we don't look just right, we aren't beautiful?  This can make us become self-conscious about our bodies.  And, if we don't look right, do we emotionally think we are weak and not acceptable?  I think we are getting some very powerful messages. Messages that are sad and toxic.  I think that a lot of 40,50 and 60 plus year old women seem desperate to look younger, and to be beautiful, as defined by social media and so many other sources.
     Beauty shouldn't be about having an unwrinkled face, a bikini body shape, perfect white teeth and a head of non graying hair.  The women who are fighting on the front lines for our country, saving lives from cancer and other deadly diseases, raising and teaching our children, to mention just a few, these are truly the women of beauty.
     This morning turned into another snow day.  And, once again I was watching Good Morning America.  This time there was a segment about Monica Bellucci.  She happens to be the 50 year old Italian actress who was just cast as the latest Bond Girl.  Or, should I say the latest Bond Women. This is the first time that the Bond love interest has been 50 years old.  Two quotes were stated during this segment.  "Beauty isn't about having a pretty face.  It's about having a pretty mind, a pretty heart, and a pretty soul."  And, " A mature woman doesn't loose her charm."
     Cindy Crawford doesn't look perfect.  Nor does anyone that I know.  Whatever our age, we need to realize that beauty is only skin deep.  We need to embrace who we are and what we represent and have accomplished. And, know with pride and self love that this is enough.  This is beautiful.