Furth and Fortune blog by Will Murray

“The beautiful and thin” are not the only women “valued and loved” by our society, at least that was the conclusion after a week of discussion in my Women’s Health class. Most people felt that appearances did make a difference in how people were perceived and accepted, but not in whether they were able to find love and acceptance. Appearance, good personal hygiene, and a modicum of fashion sense were important for initially attracting attention, but may not be critical to maintaining a relationship. Read more after the jump.

Nicole had some very interesting observations and thoughts in response to my earlier post on the Annie Lennox song, “It’s Your Duty to Be Beautiful” in our ongoing class discussion. This interesting and illuminating discussion about women and self-image includes what it is like for a woman to date both average looking and almost perfect looking men and how boyfriends’ attitudes and words can ruin a relationship when they let weight become an ultimatum. It concludes with some insights on parenting. Enjoy!

My original thoughts on the Annie Lennox song, “It’s Your Duty to Be Beautiful” in our ongoing class discussion launched the most discussed message thread for the activity. It was an interesting and illuminating discussion about women and self-image. It also discusses ideas about the physical ideal, fantasy ideal, romantic ideal, and how they all play a part in attracting and keeping men’s interest. Enjoy!

Tracy Mitchell weighs in with her opinion on discrimination (or lack thereof) of women who are not skinny and beautiful. She also provides some interesting background information on the song “It’s Your Duty to Be Beautiful.” I respond and also mention similar themes in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.

My latest class assignment is to read the words of the song, “It’s Your Duty to Be Beautiful” popularized by Annie Lennox in the 1990s. We are then to discuss if we agree or disagree with the statement:

“Only the beautiful and thin are valued and loved. The non-skinny or non-pretty woman does not fit in and will face discrimination, stereotypes, and fewer social relationships. The pressure to achieve the ‘ideal’ is so strong we do not question the implications behind teaching young women how to be perfect and loved.”

It’s Your Duty to Be Beautiful

Keep young and beautiful. It’s your duty to be beautiful.
Keep young and beautiful, If you want to be loved.
Don’t fail to do your stuff With a little powder and a puff.
Keep young and beautiful, If you want to be loved.

It you’re wise, exercise all the fat off. Take if off over here, over there.
When you’re seen anywhere with your hat off, Wear a Marcelled wave in your hair.
Take care of all those charms, And you’ll always be in someone’s arms.
Keep young and beautiful, If you want to be loved.

—Al Dubin and Harry Warren, Keep Young and Beautiful [Recorded by Annie Lennox], on Dive [CD], New York: RCA, 1992.

As much as I would love to say that the song is totally wrong, I can’t. For some people (not me) skinny, perfectly made up, ultra enhanced and mostly unrealistic beauty IS the epitome of beauty. To those people, this song is an accurate portrayal of beauty and the challenges needed to meet it.

That being said, I tend to buck convention, and what is inside is far more important than the exterior. Whether the person is skinny, obese, or anywhere in between… has a unibrow or perfectly plucked and curved eyebrows… a beauty spot or a hairy mole… what the person does, how they live their life, how they treat the lowest of their fellow man is far more important — and beautiful to me.

I would much rather marry someone who is overweight and happy than one who is the picture of perfection and miserable trying to stay that way.

Tags: beauty, fashion, music, relationships, women

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For this homework assignment, I wrote a piece about the evolution of the ‘family unit’ from times long ago, to the 1950s, to the 80s, and into the 90s. I hope you enjoy it.

Paul Walsh, an Irish entrepreneur, wants more visibility. He’s creating buzz by giving away a Mac Air to people who follow his wubud account on Twitter. Will he climb to the pinnacles of online greatness like his IT blogging rivals Robert Scoble and Jason Calacanis?

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• This is odd. WordPress 2.5 if dumping Gravatars in the root of my website now. That’s annoying. #
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At the conclusion of the week-long discussion concerning inequality between women and men, we were to write a summary of the discussions and our own conclusions

It seems the WordPress 2.5 upgrade was more hype than substance, or else a lot of the benefits are under the hood where I can’t see it.

The most blogged about “must-have” feature is the upgraded administration area. It’s supposed to be so much better organized, so much prettier, so much easier on the eyes, so much better than before. Well, that’s “their” opinion. Here’s mine.

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A female classmate responded to my earlier post concerning inequality between women and men. Read my responses to her questions asking if I was interested in a career in medicine and to further explain what I meant about doctors sometimes under-medicating women because they thought that the women’s complaints were just in their head.