Beauty

Even as culture moves forward, and people are more universally accepted, there’s still something vaguely alien about a girl with short (pixie cut, not ear-length) hair; especially if she doesn’t dress classically female. I should know. Psychologists call this ‘androgyny.’ Garbage has a great song by the same title. God, I love Shirley Manson.

So there she is, proudly displaying her short, kind of messy blond hair. A baggy sweatshirt hides any indication of what sort of figure she might have. She’s wearing different glasses today, they’re smaller than the usual ones. But the elements of femininity are there, too. Subtle and beautiful, the way it should be, not shout-out-loud sluttiness like we see every day when we turn on the television or computer. Fuck Kim Kardashian. A simple, elegant design is printed on the arms of her glasses. Small studs (maybe pearls?) rest snugly on her ears. If she’s wearing makeup, it’s hard to tell. Au naturale.

Why can’t this be classically beautiful, too? What is so ‘taboo’ about androgyny, and not fitting neatly into the little boxes the world has for us? Square peg, meet round hole.

She probably fits in as ‘one of the boys.’ Sure, there may be girly guilty pleasures like Disney Princess movies, and floaty dresses, or just having an excuse to actually give a damn about outward appearances. But I bet, if she had her way, she’d be reading a book instead of bumming the mall, or playing video games instead of volleyball. And I bet she would be happy, too. Why can’t girls be nerds or geeks or whatever? Why must they (we) be classified as vapid, brainless beasts whose only function is to get into the kitchen and make a sammich? Oh, right. Paris Hilton can go to hell, too.

But maybe change is coming. Maybe this generation (Generation Y?) is the harbinger of change. Maybe it’s girls like this, and not the ‘classic’ ones that will even the gender gap. I bet if the Hepburns were still around (especially Katharine) they would have a pixie cut, too.