Today, I’m playing with Deb (D. Smith Kaich Jones) over at Emma Tree. She asked us to use the phrase “just sit there and look pretty’ as a starting point for a creative project.
I came of age through the “burn your bra” 60’s when woman stopped shaving their legs, curling their hair and anything else that might have been thought of as trying to “look pretty”. We wanted to be taken seriously, damn it!
This militancy isn’t an issue for women in the western world anymore. We made our point and my daughter’s generation wonders what the big deal was all about; we’re women and we’re different…so let’s enjoy it! It’s natural for them to enjoy their femininity…all the while, taking on the world in so many exciting ways.
The anger that this phrase might have stirred in me at one time, has long since disappeared. I think I’d actually be thrilled just to be told to sit down after all the years of running around and “doing it all”. I don’t feel the need to prove myself anymore…me?…sit down?…YES!! (Triple arm pump).
And when you become a woman “of a certain age”, to be told you’re pretty is simply a lovely thing…it’s appreciated...not needed, no, but appreciated. Interestingly, I found that turning fifty was quite liberating in that respect…the pressure was off to look youthful and I was (mostly) secure enough to know that what’s important, is that I feel good about me.
In our maturity there's a new definition of beauty. It has nothing to do with magazines and everything to do with smiling eyes and authentic laughter. It has everything to do with the confidence of knowing we’ve walked through the fire and come out the other side knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that we can bend, but we won’t break. We’ve tested our metal and it can cut like a knife when it’s needed, yet bend to pay homage and respect to those who have touched our hearts.
These days, If someone tells me that I look pretty…then I know they’re obviously a person of good taste (wink)!
So what do you think? Does this phrase push any buttons for you? Would you take it as an insult, a compliment…or would you just laugh? I think it would really depend very much on the level of sincerity with which it was said.
My photographs are of an antique Chinese jewellery box dating from the Qing Dynasty . Women have been adorning themselves with pretty things since they tied the sabre tooth tiger’s tooth on a piece of leather and hung it around their necks!
Thanks for visiting dear friends…encourage each other.
