Are Catholic women required to be beautiful?

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The whole ‘beautiful Catholic woman’ thing is potentially quite dangerous. The image of a modestly (but elegantly) dressed, relatively young, attractive Catholic woman, softly spoken, smiling gently and wearing a mantilla, can be problematic.

By creating this image as some sort of ideal are we not creating our own standard of external beauty for women to try to attain (with most who try potentially ending up feeling inadequate at being unable ro achieve it)? Is this not essentially the same process (if a different image) as the secular image of female beauty? Did Christ ever tell women that they should aim to look beautiful?
 
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Yes they are. Just as Catholic men are expected to be as handsome as me.
 
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Can it make Catholic femininity into an Idol (or does that not make sense)?
 
Brendan_64 said:
By creating this image as some sort of ideal are we not creating our own standard of external beauty for women to try to attain
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And, who is creating this ideal? The woman on instagram is not holding herself up as the ideal. Does the OP think this girl is the ideal?
 
yes idols of the heart as in Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16 for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 And the world and its desire[f] are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
And, who is creating this ideal? The woman on instagram is not holding herself up as the ideal. Does the OP think this girl is the ideal?
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I suppose that certain Catholics create this image out of a combination of what we see as praiseworthy feminine qualities, combined with a view of feminine beauty.
 
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Yup. Moscow is a weird place. The women all look like they’re going to the club and the men look like drunk hobos.

As I understand it, it’s something that developed in the culture after WWII. So many young men had been killed in the war that it seriously skewed the gender ratio. Suddenly you had a lot of single young women competing for relatively few single young men. With that came the expectation that women had to look hot at all times while men can look like they just rolled out of bed.
 
Jennifer Fulwiler (possible misspelling) said the same thing. She said she wished Mary was still around or that she knew what Mary looked like but she said she realized Mary would quickly become one of the many women that we tend to idolize and imitate superficially. We can already see this happening with people’s perception of her already.
 
It’s a bit naive really to think that external appearance has no effect on how people are treated.

There are countless studies that show that physically beautiful people, both male and female are treated much better and go much further in life than those that are not.

The Bible stories of Ruth, Esther and Judith portray them as virtuous and beautiful women. Femininity has as a component, beauty. Why?

Because motherhood is a part of femininity and to be a mother a woman has to attract a husband first. So yes, beauty is a necessity in the perception of femininity.
 
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Sarcelle said:
It’s a bit naive really to think that external appearance has no effect on how people are treated.
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I never asserted that this is the case.
Sarcelle said:
There are countless studies that show that physically beautiful people, both male and female are treated much better and go much further in life than those that are not.
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Indeed there are, possibly why the Lord encourages us to focus on what is within, rather than what is without. We trust Him to put us where He desires, and depend not upon mankind.
Sarcelle said:
The Bible stories of Ruth, Esther and Judith portray them as virtuous and beautiful women. Femininity has as a component beauty. Why?
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Beauty is more inner than outer, especially with age.
Sarcelle said:
Because motherhood is a part of femininity and to be a mother a woman has to attract a husband first.
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I think it is the other way around. Femininity is part of motherhood. A woman does not have to become a mother to be perfected in femininity, but motherhood draws on the depths of femininity for fullness.
Sarcelle said:
Femininity has as a component, beauty. Why?
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Men are created to be more sensually based, and visual attraction is a strong component of arousal and attachment for them, unlike women, who tend to be more relationally/emotionally based in attachment.
Sarcelle said:
Because motherhood is a part of femininity and to be a mother a woman has to attract a husband first.
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I sure wish it were true. I wish women would attract a husband FIRST.
Sarcelle said:
So yes, beauty is a necessity in the perception of femininity.
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While this is a false statement, it is true that men, especially younger men, are easily distracted by outward appearance, and do not look upon the inner beauty at all, or until much later. Scripture also warns men not to allow themselves to be seduced by outward appearance, but it is easier said than done.
 
I agree with you overall.

You have approached the definition of beauty from a Christian perspective which is the ideal.

I approached it from a secular and more cynical perspective.

I’m feeling very cynical today.
 
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