Beauty is Basic, of course

Taken from the article by Maria Rita Khel, in Mulherlo No. 5, 1982, av. Prof. Francisco Morato 1565, CEP 05513 Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Every day the consumer society offers us a thousand and one possibilities to do something to our bodies to hide their true character, to make them the object of another person's desire. Another person, for whom our bodies are not allowed to smell, moisten, exude any kind of liquid or show anything untoward. Another person who does not accept our body as it gets older, when it loses its " elasticity " , when it gets bigger, when it's not sun-tanned, when we are pregnant...

The body which we are supposed to have — plastic and with out " imperfections", hiding all signs of age, life and experience — this female body is exhibited, desired and consumed: it is a dead body. Our body is accepted, exposed and supposedly liberated from a morality which used to consider it something sinful. But it is liberated only on condition that it be a THING. As such it can be exhibited, but it must have a certain outline, shape, texture which correspond to a pre-determined standard.

A free, uninhibited body is the most beautiful thing, just as it is. It is graceful because all living things are graceful when they are not afraid or oppressed. It is the free expression or our moods, desires and smells; it is t he attainment of the right and the courage to have a more satisfying emotional life; it is freedom, tenderness, self-confidence which make us beautiful. This beauty is basic