Beauty as a concept is impossible to define because there are all these different perceptions of what beauty is and it changes so much from person to person. Personally, I find myself focussing more on the type of beauty I find in the world around me- in the beautiful flavours of food, details in nature, sounds of life. I think of beauty more as an emotion and if I am feeling the beauty around me, I feel more beautiful myself in a way.
Beauty is often thought of in a gendered way. When it comes to talking about people it’s definitely used more often for women than it is for men. I think that “beauty” can almost be a negative thing because there’s a common perception that women have to be or feel “beautiful”. I think it’s more important to focus on loving yourself despite feeling beautiful or not. There’s no need for that pressure.
I myself often feel as though I don’t feel comfortable in my own gender as a woman because of all these pressures and perceptions on the way we’re supposed to be and often I don’t want to be beautiful because of the gender association- it’s not how I feel. I like to focus more on just being myself. That’s why showing my personality outwardly, through my appearance, is really important to me. If I wore a friend’s outfit for the day, I wouldn’t feel comfortable, but if I wear the things that make me feel “me” I feel a lot better. That’s why body mods are so important to me- my tattoos, piercings, and dreadlocks are a more permanent way of making my outward appearance show my personality, I can just wake up in the morning completely naked and look exactly how I want to feel. I became a body piercer because of this love for encouraging people to express who they are. I believe that body piercing can make people love more parts of themselves, even parts that they never thought of as beautiful before- like ears or genitals.
.jpg)