The Watchtower of Destruction: The Ferrett's Journal - The Tug of Your Skin, The Beauty of the Hidden
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
|
08:56 am
[Link] |
The Tug of Your Skin, The Beauty of the Hidden
I had never been aroused by a TV program like this. The show was awful, a reality show full of whiners and grousers, but I gulped down the whole season because there were scenes of such intense beauty and eroticism that it had me leaning over to watch the TV, rewinding to see it again and again.
Problem is, it wasn't supposed to be erotic. It felt creepy, being so turned on by something that wasn't intended to be a turn-on.
I tried to figure out why it was so sexy to me. It was just a show about a tattoo parlor - and the girls, while they were the kind of alternative cuties who usually push my button, weren't doing anything titillating. They were just talking while men ran tattoo needles over their skin. Had I discovered a new kink? Yet it wasn't the needles.
Then I realized what was doing it for me: The girls had wrinkles.
There were lots of close-ups on the tattoos, so we could see all their pores, the little folds of fat on an otherwise model-quality body, the tiny imperfections. And that was what was triggering me, because most women on TV slide right by me. They're plastic, sprayed perfect, with such assembly-line beauty that I don't even register it any more. Whereas on Inked, there were beautiful women forced to show off the flaws on their body...
...but I didn't consider them to be flaws. The little scars and creases made them nakedly human to me, more than just some image on a screen and an actual person where I could appreciate their beauty. They had stopped being unattainable models of perfection and had instead become so gorgeous that I couldn't stop watching once invited.
And that's what it really comes down to for me; beauty is in your imperfections. The tiny jag in their left eyebrow, the constellation of moles on their back, the slight rise of their soft stomach, the snarl of old scar tissue at the top of their thigh; that's what I remember about old lovers. That's what connects me to them, the parts that are uniquely them and no one else, the secret beauty you only get to see when they take off their makeup and allow you to see them naked, for who they really are. And often, as they unrobe shyly, it's like watching them unveil a radiance you never expected to see.
That's what was turning me on. Seeing that hidden beauty in strange places. Because those blemishes are beauty to me.
Sarah has a quote on her journal that resonates here: "Imperfection has a certain tang." To me, it's a sweet and resonant taste, the most delightful sensation. I just wish television felt otherwise.
|
|
| |
I absolutely agree. The flawless, plastic beauty seems custom made for walking mannequins on the runway. It's fine there, but those are not supposed to be real people. The problem is that supermodelism spread to everything else in society.
Sometimes, I flip through the channels and catch a few moments of some show about a plastic surgeon who does karate (Dr. 90210 or something). Anyway, he sits down with these beautiful women and asks them what they want to change, and they invariably want bigger boobs. So then we get a shot with their gown open or shirt off and the nipples blurred out, and I watch because "hey, boobies! Almost!" But mostly, I'm admiring how phenomenal their breasts look now and mourning the fact that soon they'll be fake and round and just like everyone else's with fake breasts. But as they are now, they're perky or shaped nicely or small and unique. Why waste that?
I hate that everyone strives for similarity in perfection. Celebrate what makes you different and unique!
I feel the same about everyone wanting the same set of teeth. I like seeing a unique smile, as long as the teeth are cleen and shiny. Why do so many people want to look exactly like someone else? My teeth are far from perfect, yet I've been told by several men that my smile is one of the things they like most about me.
I agree! But that leads to another issue: what makes a person's smile. Someone could have chapped lips and crooked teeth but an amazing smile, because the smile is so much more than just the mouth. And you can tell a true and honest smile, versus those fake smiles with a perfect row of chicklets.
Some people are boob guys or leg guys or butt guys - I've always been a smile guy. I see a girl with a great smile across the room and go nuts. :)
Hee, that quote's from Adrienne Rich's Stepping Backwards, which I think is well worth reading if one digs modern poetry.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/75279350/1486552) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) shotie |
|---|
| Date: | December 5th, 2008 02:34 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
This was really well said. It brought me a smile, at least.
It also made me think about things my partner considers his flaws are things I consider cute. For example, he has a freckle on his lower lip that I think is adorable. He hated it so much he debated surgically removing it for some time before he and I were together. I've since convinced him that while he may not think it's cute, I certainly do, and to please not remove it. :)
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/53496939/5184500) | | From: | adjust_56 |
|---|
| Date: | December 5th, 2008 02:40 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | watching them unveil a radiance | (Link) |
|
Lovely post ferrett. Coming from a 3rd world country we say the skin tells the story. Botox, plastic surgery and smoothness to me is ugley as you can not see the real character and the strain and the beauty that life has produced on the canvass of that human being. The imperfections that others see is the source of uniqueness and individuality that only one can create with living.
I really needed to read this today. Thank you.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/66231943/208448) | | From: | aiela |
|---|
| Date: | December 5th, 2008 03:28 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
Agreed. Thank you.
This entry sounds a great deal like the bit in "Stranger in a Strange Land" where Valentine Michael Smith says "She has her own face."
To me, perfect can be pretty, but it is not beautiful.
The world needs a lot more men like you.
oh and more women with those kind of thoughts too, since sometimes we can be just as tough a critic
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/78480818/11033953) | | From: | vrax |
|---|
| Date: | December 5th, 2008 04:41 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
Me too! For this reason I have an insatiable crush on Tina Fey and that damn sexy scar on her chin. Dammit so sexy!
"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."
-Francis Bacon
I really struggle with my body image and what you wrote hear really moved me. You frequently give me a new perspective on lots of things that I appreciate and this was no exception. Thanks.
And that's what it really comes down to for me; beauty is in your imperfections. That's what Melville said: ... truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more. But if ... the tip of your nose or the crown of your head be slightly chilled, why then, indeed, in the general consciousness you feel most delightfully and unmistakably warm. Well, Melville said it about being warm instead of about being attractive, but it's the same principle.
That's why there's salt in chocolate chip cookie dough. The sweet is made sweeter by contrast.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/33760546/1182154) | | From: | eberg |
|---|
| Date: | December 5th, 2008 06:23 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
Part of the reason I enjoy British television shows more than American is that they have people who look real.
Yes yes yes. I was noticing this when I went on a Jane Austen bender this summer, I saw several of the Hollywood adaptations and two of the BBC miniseries, and the BBC ones were just so much more realistic to me. Things just aren't all shiny and plastic-looking, it's refreshing.
Interesting. I've always had a secret desire for someone to notice a certain scar I have on my face without my telling them first, as almost no one notices it. I suspect that's more of a "it would be nice to have someone really look at me" feeling than what you're talking about, though.
I got plenty of imperfections, but most of them I'm okay with. I would hate to be perfect and I'm adamantly against plastic surgery (I was kind of mad at my mother when she got an operation, but I decided to live and let live because it made her happy). Even though my boobs are tiny. XD
when one uses terms like "flaws" and "imperfections" one ignores a very important point: there are no true flaws or imperfections. all there are, are variations on a theme.
Flaws or imperfections are attractive ultimately because they make the person seem much more approachable/attainable.
| From: | (Anonymous) |
|---|
| Date: | December 6th, 2008 12:26 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | most famous pinup | (Link) |
|
the light s&m girl. she's quite asymmetrical says the guy who drew her the most.
Type the two words: Pucker, gier
No tis: Rucker, gier |
|
