Intelligence, health can't match `beauty'

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

The traffic jam crawling toward the entrance of the Jakarta Convention Center last week was caused by the "Be She" Expo -- an exhibit focusing on women's beauty, intelligence and health. The three-day event was aptly launched by a woman, Minister of Trade and Industry Rini M.S. Soewandi, and it reportedly attracted about 16,200 people, above the target of 15,000.

The deputy chairwoman of the organizing committee, Linda Herlinda, said as quoted by Kompas daily that the concept of the exhibition was to present Indonesian women who were beautiful, smart and healthy, and featured various beauty and health products, as well as products to improve women's intellect.

This may sound vague, but she made it clear that among the expo participants were cosmetic producers, accessories producers, health clinics, health food producers, fitness centers and educational institutions.

We have yet to see a special exhibition for men, who might also want to be "handsome, smart and healthy." Men also care about their physical appearance. But the number of men who use cosmetics, visit beauty treatment centers and have plastic surgery would be comparatively small.

It is women who are known to spend hours in front of the mirror and regularly go to beauty salons. They are the ones who spend a huge sum of money for cosmetics, skin- and body care products and accessories. They are also the ones who visit slimming centers or take slimming pills to achieve their "ideal" weight.

Beauty is a blessing, and those who are less blessed try their best to make up for it. The much asked question is, what is beauty?

In China's history, small feet were once considered beautiful, so many women had their feet bound despite the pain. There are women in Africa who seek beauty by inserting a round object in the flesh under their lower lip -- the wider the lower lip, the more beautiful the woman. Elongated earlobes created by hanging a number of brass hoops through pierced ears, are considered beautiful among the Dayak of Kalimantan.

Many Indonesians love Eurasian-like faces with a straight nose, almond-shaped eyes and fair skin. This concept of beauty is promoted exclusively by cosmetic producers and other beauty industry players. Television stations do the same through casting local actors and presenters who meet such beauty criteria.

Even just a few decades ago, women did not worry much about their weight, as people loved those with proportional weight. But all this changed with the emergence of super-skinny supermodels, and legions of girls and women strived to emulate them at all costs.

We have learned that the concept of beauty is relative. Parents call their baby sweet, pretty, beautiful or handsome, regardless of the baby's actual appearance. A newborn with crumpled skin or with features like an alien (as sometimes portrayed in movies) is still the most beautiful creature on earth to their mother.

In time, though, the baby girls grow up and generally discover that their physical appearance seems to be more in demand than their intellectual capacity. The division of labor dictates that boys, as future breadwinners, must work on their brains and skills to earn an income for the family.

The demand for women's beauty -- now both external and internal beauty -- applies to all women, whether at home or outside the home. The message that beauty comes first for women before their intellect or health seems to prevail, despite the organizers' intention to promote all three.

Of course, one would hope that intelligence should come first. A smart woman knows how far she could go in her efforts to look beautiful. She would be selective in buying beauty products and accessories, she would manage her finances well and control her spending sprees. She would not damage herself in order to look beautiful, and she also would know how to be healthy without costly food supplements.

A smart woman would not belittle physical beauty, but would know that inner beauty is more important. And she can be herself even though she may be chubby, has dark skin and wears an L- or even XL-sized outfit.

There have been a few campaigns to promote this end -- but the packed exhibit and the current dominant concept of the fair- skinned, skinny and straight-nosed beauty show the need for really smart promoters to convince people of the alternatives to mere skin-deep beauty.