Beauty

Today, I came across a gorgeous and heartbreaking collection of photographs, posted online here.

Go look. You don't have to go through all of them to get the point. And if you're not in the mood to jump to that link and come back, I'll tell you what the pictures show.

Every last one is taken by a man with a camera on the streets of Tehran, and every last one shows an Iranian woman in body-covering robes or jackets and headscarves. But rather than submit to plain black hejabs, these women let a lock of hair escape, or paint their nails, or dare to wear a headscarf of bright color. These women look so resolute, and immeasurably beautiful.

Here, where skin is in and the fashion for females of all ages is to show bellies between low-slung pants and short-cropped shirts, I wonder about the nature of beauty. I've stood in line at the store and seen scowling teenage girls with pudgy midriffs, bulging over the sides of their rolled-down sweatpants. I've gone to the mall and seen racks full of little girls' clothing following the adult fashion - the smaller, the better. And I think every time, this is not beautiful. It's cheap and trashy.

I have a motto: just because it comes in your size, that doesn't mean you should be wearing it. Myself, I'm a stocky girl that's had a child and I don't feel the need to show any part of my body in an unflattering way (which makes shopping a little difficult). I do feel, like every woman in every part of the world, the need to be pretty. We're just wired that way. Even so, I reject most fads. I don't show my gut, or the top third of my ass. I think that's just being considerate to the general population.

To the Iranian women, freedom means a splash of color or a stray lock of hair. And to think - in Iranian culture, these women could easily be branded as whores. A flash of ankle or elbow could have them dragged in front of a court by any man on the street, where they would be flogged.

I'm happy to live in a free country where I don't have to wear a burka. It's too damn hot here anyway. But for God's sake, being free doesn't have to mean rejecting simple good taste, does it? I wish these girls would have more pride in their appearance, and pride in themselves. And most of all I wish they would appreciate their freedom, instead of crudely flaunting it.