Thursday 11 October 2012

Obvious Procrastination

I have so much work to do today I am almost in a panic. So I will leave you with one question for discussion. It is shocking in its time-wasting frivolity.

Would you rather be a plain (or actually ugly) woman surrounded by handsome men, or a very beautiful woman surrounded by ugly men?

Discuss.

11 comments:

Sarah said...

Beautiful, but surrounded by ugly men.

An ugly man can magically transform in the eyes of a woman into a handsome prince if he's funny/smart/kind/charming enough.

I don't think this is so with men, especially good looking men. Far, far, FAR more often have I seen men marry above their, erm, "station" in the looks department than the other way around.

It's not really fair, but there it is.

Evelyn said...

I am a plain woman, and do so enjoy the recent company of a couple Very Handsome Men who are also very kind and charming, so I have to go with that option. I would like to marry someone who makes my heart beat a little faster every time I see him, and so far handsome men have that effect far more than even the nicest ordinary-looking men. Call me shallow if you must; it's a stage in life I am currently enjoying a great deal.

MaryJane said...

oooh. Good question. I think I would rather be the beautiful woman, for the reasons stated by Sarah. I think I would lack confidence if I were °only° surrounded by handsome men... but I certianly would not object to a handsome man choosing me if I were the ugly woman in the scenario. Then I would know he chose me for reasons other than looks. (I would also have to be poor and without societal connections, in that situation, to have confidence in his decision.)

Anonymous said...

I am assuming when you mean surrounded, you mean single men and they are paying some kind of attention to you? Well, I am plain, and I can't think of a time when I've ever been surrounded by handsome available men, or men in general, so I guess I would pick beautiful just to have a little attention. In writing that sounds sad and pathetic. . . but it's true.
~Catherine

Seraphic said...

While I was washing the dishes, I had the chance to think about this terrible choice and as much as I think I would enjoy being incredibly beautiful, I would miss seeing handsome men.

I am sure one could be fond of ugly men, and I was thinking Hunchback-of-Note-Dame ugly, and Snow White seemed content to live with the Seven Dwarves, who understandably thought she was the bee's knees, but she did end up abandoning them all for a handsome guy, which seems very believable.

If I were blind, I think I would rather be very beautiful because then I wouldn't be missing out and would have a lot of conversations, including about my beautiful self. But if I were deaf, it would be way better to be surrounded by beauty and just watch the handsome men and the beautiful girls staring at each other, which I would find amusing and will find amusing when I do go deaf, as I probably will eventually.

As for attention, there are other ways to get men's attention. If you have the brains or patience, you can become a family doctor or a college instructor or university lecturer or a lawyer. If you have a lot of talent, you could become a singer or a dancer or comedienne or a fire-eater. Or, if all else fails, you could become a very good cook and have dinner parties.

If you invite handsome men who are also greedy to your dinner parties, there is always a very gratifying moment when they look at you with great expectation and hope because you are about to bring in dessert.

Magdalena said...

My choice would be beautiful, surrounded by ugly men. What Sarah said.

But if this would mean that I would be the only beautiful person in the whole world and all the rest would be ugly, I think I would choose being ugly so the rest of the world could be beautiful.

What does ugly mean, by the way? I don't know anyone who is really ugly. Most of us are just "normal", aren't we? And if you take a closer look you find something beautiful in everyone.

n.panchancha said...

What a horrible question! This makes me feel shallow as a soap dish, but I think I would pick the handsome men. Bad me.

Ooh, (somewhat) on the topic of Snow Whites and dwarfs: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/11/father-raymond-j-de-souza-on-true-love-and-sacrifice/ ... Entertaining article from Fr. Raymond de Souza comparing the state of today's singleton to Movies You Love. Put some happy in your day. :o)

Athanasius lover said...

This is a hard one for me. I am pretty but not strikingly beautiful, and I like my looks well enough. I think it would be hard for me to adapt to feeling ugly. If I could be plain or ugly without feeling ugly, I would much rather be ugly and have handsome men around me. I love looking at handsome men, and hope to marry a handsome man one day. I used to care less about looks, but the older I get the more they seem to matter, which is the opposite of what I would have expected to happen.

Eowyn said...

I read Fr. Raymond's article earlier today and it brought me joy on multiple levels.

This conversation reminds me of a game my sister and her friends used to play. It consisted of saying "would you still be my friend if I looked like THIS?" and then contorting one's face into some ridiculous, unnatural state. Responding with the requisite "yes" was always a challenging thought experiment for me...I was never quite sure I was telling the truth, but I always hoped I was telling the truth!!

Anyway...i don't like this question because I think both options have their perks. And I have known plain/funny-looking men to become very handsome in my smitten little eyes, so I feel as though appearance, in the long-run, is negligible.

Sylvia said...

I would rather be ugly and surrounded by handsome men. The reasons are obvious--we rarely estimate ourselves correctly, so even if I WERE very beautiful I doubt my impression of myself upon looking in the mirror would be very different from what it is now, so I might as well be ugly. It is much easier to appreciate others' beauty.

Sheila said...

Oh, I would much rather be beautiful. First off, somehow I feel like looks are much less important in a man. "A man is not to look at, a man is to get!" ;) And ... well, I just like being pretty. The better I look on a given day, the better I feel about myself in general.