Millennial Women Redefining “Beauty”

Our society has a sick obsession with focusing too much attention on the physical appearance of the people in this world.  The media tells us what beautiful is and so many of us blindly listen.  We workout more, buy certain products, obsess about inches and skin color.  We go to drastic measures to change what we look like and in the process we change who we are.

When you think of truly beautiful people don’t you think of those with kind hearts, courageous attitudes and positive oras?  Or do you really think of those with perfectly toned bodies and flawless faces?  The idea of beauty has become so much about unrealistic perfection that we have strayed away from recognizing beautiful acts.

Beautiful actions are so much more important than pretty faces.  Actions change the world, change lives and change negative thoughts.  Faces don’t do that and neither do bodies.  Girls growing up today are constantly seeing perfection in the form of ads, TV shows, blogs and social media.

Most girls want to be the women they see in the media.  They want to look like these women because all they hear is how perfect they are. We don’t see women on magazine covers for the amazing work they do.  We don’t see many women on billboards with captains that highlight their intelligence.  We don’t see many beauty lists focused on the actions that those women are taking to better lives.  It is simply and sadly all about looks.

Now imagine a list built in response to Maxim’s Hot 100 List. Imagine a list showing “100 of the Most Beautiful Women in the World.”  Imagine if that list was made up of women who were defined as compassionate, brave and action-oriented without any emphasis placed on appearance. Could those women still be called beautiful?  What is beauty anyway?

The idea of beauty in your mind probably doesn’t look like mine.  But I’m sure that your definition of a compassionate, brave and action-oriented is similar, if not identical, to my definition.  Physical appearance is temporary.  Character, strength and determination are long lasting.

The NEWListProject was created to change the way we view beauty.  While Googling “Most Beautiful Women” for a blog post, the first thing that popped up was Maxim’s Hot 100 List.  They claim that their list is the “definitive list of the world’s most beautiful women.”

I am sad that beauty is so vainly defined.  I was angry that Maxim used the word “definitive.”   So I decided to create a new list.  One that challenged everything that Maxim’s list stood for.  This list is showing a different side of beauty, one that contains depth, passion and world changing action.

I teamed up with a few other amazing Millennials in Los Angeles, Laura Linda Bradley, Lindsey Schuberth and Kate Krassowski. We have set out to find 100 of the most beautiful women in the world.  We want girls and women to look at this list and feel inspired and encouraged that they too can do something amazing with their lives and celebrate their beauty in actions instead of appearance.  We have women from 6 different countries nominated so far and we’re hoping for many more.

Will you help us? Check out the project at www.NEWListProject.com.  Nominate, Share, Get Involved.

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