What Makes You Beautiful?

A new song recently released by One Direction is appealing to tweens everywhere. Nothing like a few handsome guys singing right at you to make you feel beautiful but is it enough?

A recent song “What makes you beautiful” performed by One Direction, a Boy band from Ireland caused me to think about this.

The song itself is quite catchy and I have no doubt that if my little princesses were any older, they would be singing and screaming along with all One Direction’s tween fans. I still remember the buzz of boy-bands, heck, the truth is, I still feel as though they are speaking directly to ME! Every girl must have felt it at some point when some random boy band (the reigning ones of the time) sing and look directly into your Television screen as though speaking only to you and you swoon.

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Disillusionment set in

Unfortunately, the older you get, the more jaded you feel about songs like this and the bands that produce them. The chances are they did not write the song - No, actually scratch that, three members of the band did in fact write the song. However, being slightly older myself, there is a feeling that these young boys do nto really understand what they are saying. I am a bit of a cynical person...

Despite all this, I recognise that my princesses will soon enough find some group they really like and for a while, that is all I will hear thumping out of their rooms. If this is to be my lot, then I would rather it was a positive message like this one from One Direction.

Listen to What makes you Beautiful

One Direction

So What Makes YOU beautiful?

Is it the clothes you wear, the make-up, the stuff you own or is it more than that? The Media would make us believe, beauty can be bought. Use the right cream, wear the right make-up, expose the best bits of yourself, cover the best bits of yourself, change yourself to suit today’s trends and so on. We all suck it up, we do not really have a choice. Sometimes we do not even realise that we are buying what they are selling so what chance do our little girls have?

It is like listening to a song over and over again on the radio, then unsurprisingly, it becomes a chart topper as it is now so stuck in all our minds that we do not realise that the reason we like it is because it has subconsciously become a part of us.

And yet, somewhere deep within every girl is the question ‘Am I beautiful to you?’. Most of us no longer spend too much time thinking about that as we have grown to accept the way we look and we have all been hurt at one point or another, so we do not want to acknowledge the question anymore. However, watch any little girl and the question generally comes up time and again unless they have been subject to some kind of abuse and they already deny their femininity.

I do think it is a question we all ask in one form or another. It is definitely one my girls ask regularly.

Is being feminine what makes you beautiful?

Well, it depends on your definition of feminine. I love to watch Disney’s Mulan and love particularly the song ‘Reflection’. It is a story of a girl trying to live up to her family’s and nation’s definition of femininity and finding she did not fit. In being disobedient and courageous, she discovers who she is inside and yes, it is a mighty warrior. That is femininity at its peak – Being whoever you are inside, forgetting the typecasts of the day and finding out who YOU are and just getting on with it.

That is definitely a lesson I want my girls to learn. They can be warriors battling it out on the war field or Stay at home Moms, battling it out on the homefront. They can be anything they want to be as long as they find fulfilment in it then they are beautiful to me.

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Mulan - Reflection

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So what makes you truly beautiful?

I think it is a mixture of internal and external factors.

The external factors are temporary anyway, they have to be reapplied daily. However, I love to look nice and I encourage my girls to discover their own style as well.

The internal things – being whole on the inside, discovering your purpose and living it fully – is more of a life journey anyway. I think it changes as you get older and discover more of yourself.

So, being beautiful is a never-ending journey?...


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Updated: 03/04/2012, MuminBusiness

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MuminBusiness on 03/05/2012

Hi Brenda, You sound as jaded as I am, when it comes to those young guys! they are too young to really mane what they are singing, I feel though I may just be cynical and despite that I find myself humming along to it!
So which came first - their lack of apparent beauty or their bad attitude? It is true that life is kinder on the beautiful. We all want to claim that we look deeper than the skin but unfortunately, our first impression can determine how we will act towards someone.
I suppose each of us has to try not to allow external things (including the people around us) to be the determining factor when it comes to our inner beauty. However, to be aware that we can help ourselves by taking care of the outside where possible.

BrendaReeves on 03/05/2012

Beauty is an interesting phenomena. Several years ago I heard on the radio that a study had been done on beauty. The results showed that people who were considered unattractive were not nice people. The conclusion was that these unattractive people were not treated very well by society; therefore, giving them an attitude. Attractive people get the better jobs, better partners, etc. We all want to think beauty is only skin deep. It's what's inside that counts, etc. I can assure you those young guys singing that song are all searching for the most beautiful girl in the room. Nice article and it makes us stop and think.

MuminBusiness on 03/05/2012

@Angel Thanks. I agree that beauty comes from the inside but its nice to look good on the outside too, don't you think? OR maybe its too much media input talking!!! Yikes! I have a few friends who actively choose not to wear any make up or follow any trends and I admire it but I do like my make up!! Don't care so much about clothing trends. I like what I like, whatever year it was trendy in.

@Holistic Health Too true, which is one of the reasons we got rid of the regular channels on our TV so we can now only watch things we actively choose to watch as can the children (well, things we choose for them!) and we do limit how much they watch but they may make different choices when they are older though I hope they do not!

@Katie I only heard it recently myself as I do not follow popular tween music! and the lack of mainstream TV means I did not know of the band until a friend posted it on their facebook wall. I like the concept of the song (you are beautiful already, stop stressing!) but jaded as I am, I am sure their next song may have a different vibe. We will see.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting! :-D