BEAUTY EQUALITY IN FICTION

I AM reading a novel with an archaeologist who is led into a discovery about the Amazons; it seems interesting so far, and I like the fact that the protagonist archaeologist is a beautiful woman, tall and blonde and very clever too!

I like this, because it goes against the stereotype of the beautiful yet not clever woman. This stereotype is misogynistic and dangerous because what is the most important part is, of course, the opposite side: girls, if you are going to be clever, you will be ugly! Beauty and sexuality do not go with brains, traditional attitudes tell us. If you are beautiful, we will ridicule you, but we will be attracted to you.

So, I love fiction where this stereotype is shattered; in my own novels (I will publish them soon on Amazon Kindle self-publishing platform) the protagonist is always pretty and sexy and also clever!

One thing which I don't like about the novel I am reading now is the way it deals with men. The beautiful man will turn out to be all wrong, and the not so beautiful man will be the good guy. You will say, "but is this not so in real life? Beauty is no judge of character, either for men or for women". I totally agree.

Yet the novel is fiction, and not real life. The woman, in this book, and in many other books, is a knock-out in beauty, but she too must learn that for a man, beauty is not important. This is another traditional attitude stereotype. The woman must learn NOT to judge the man by appearance. The woman must learn to look at character. However, the woman must always be beautiful.

I support beauty equality for all in fiction! If fictional women protagonists will be judged by appearance then so must the men!