According to the great philosopher Socrates, the concept of beauty is malleable and ever changing in this physical existence. We come up with forms that we find visually and aesthetically pleasing to us and define it as beautiful. In today’s society, we are continuously putting such a subjective and conceptual concept in a box, a really small box. We link beauty with femininity, which in retrospect is wonderful because the female essence is something damn near magical, but as society progresses the checklist for what makes a woman beautiful are becoming increasingly unrealistic and highly problematic. Women are expected to look a certain way, from their natural long tresses, their full proportionate gravity defying breast, to their consistently freshly manicured feet, but what if you don’t have that, then what. Though this is a problem most of us face, in regards to this special month, I speak to all the warriors who have overcome breast cancer as well as those currently fighting against it, you are beautiful. Countless women have lost their hair due to chemo treatments and, or their breast due to undergoing a mastectomy, and a vast majority of those women expressed the feeling of losing their femininity and sexuality. It is a tough transition realizing that what made you feel beautiful or “womanly” is no longer attainable, but I believe that beauty is whatever we want it to be. I believe beauty is strength and the ability to be the light in the midst of darkness. All of these women are warriors and the mere persistence and determination to stay afloat though they may feel as though they are drowning is beautiful, the women who are feel weak and feeble yet still focus on those around them despite it all are beautiful, the women who proudly present their mastectomy scars knowing it won’t be happily perceived by the general audience are beautiful. These women represent the true meaning of femininity, which is strength, power, love, and light. I hope that if any of you who are friends, daughters, mothers, husbands, and to a breast cancer warrior, you remind them of their radiant and unwavering beauty. The Breast Cancer Charities of America is an organization that aids the awareness of breast cancer and has currently jump started a program called Feeling Beautiful Again. It supplies survivors of breast cancer with a care package which is meant to instill hope. Absolutely anyone can help simply by hosting beauty drives or donating new/unopened beauty products, they will then get assembled and distributed to those in need! The link is down below, stay beautiful ladies! https://thebreastcancercharities.org/feelingbeautifulagain/
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at La Salle chapter.