Samantha Brick is a writer for the Daily Mail who wrote a cringe-worthy piece about her "beauty" yesterday for the paper. The backlash has been quick and severe. Rightly so, of course. She isn't, in fact, nearly the beauty she proclaims herself to be. Her point, however, is valid indeed.
Women do tend to hate women who are more attractive to men than they are. It's just a fact. Didn't Pantene make a whole ad campaign based on it in the 1980s? "Don't hate me because I am beautiful." Brick may not be what she thinks, but she is certainly not wrong about other women and the way they treat beauty.
So much of it stems from female insecurity and competition.
Most women don't think they're beautiful even when they are. We pick at tiny imperfections and insist that they make up the whole of our looks and our figures. I know I am incredibly guilty of this myself. So it's highly unusual for a woman to say she is beautiful. And when she does everyone looks at her with more scrutinizing eyes. She better look like Gisele Bundchen to even begin to make that claim.
There is also a vast difference between those whom men find attractive and what women think attracts men. Most women only think supermodels are hot, while men have a much more varied -- and sometimes voluptuous -- definition of beauty. It's those women whom other women tend to vilify.
Maybe Brick isn't obviously gorgeous to us. But maybe men DO find her hot? Regardless, it isn't about her. It's about a larger issue. And much as we ladies would like to think it isn't true, it is. Even Ani DiFranco said, "Everyone harbors a secret hatred for the prettiest girl in the room."
Beauty is only skin deep, but for women, it can be our stock and trade. Still, there is very little to be done. Some women just win the genetic lottery with thick hair, a trim waist, large breasts, and clear skin, while others don't. There is no rhyme or reason to who is beautiful and who isn't. It just is.
So yes, women DO hate beautiful women. She may be deluded, but she sure is correct.
Do you think Brick has a point?
Image via Abertish/Flickr