Another day, another Beyoncè cover, except this time the songstress has been voted PEOPLE magazine’s most beautiful woman in the world.

Not the first time Beyoncè has been on a most beautiful list and certainly not the first time for a celebrity, but what exactly does it take to be the most beautiful woman in the world?

Many of us see women everyday that could hands down beat Beyoncè in a beauty contest without the fancy clothes, extra hair and fame, but none of those women would even come close to being on a world’s most beautiful list. If you look at some of these “beautiful” lists it seems that the only qualification is to be uber popular at the moment, other than that they never give any real reason as to why these people are beautiful. I mean, what defines beauty?

Any of us could look “beautiful” with a $2K a day styling team, but when you strip all that away what is the real definition of beauty. Would Beyoncè, Rihanna or Halle Berry be as beautiful to these list makers if they weren’t famous? And what about inside beauty? Very few of these lists, if any, mention the “beauty” that comes from these celebrities giving back to communities, being mentors and standing up for social causes … aren’t those things that can make a person beautiful?

Part of me feels that these lists are totally superficial, and part of me feels like they’re created because many of us really have no idea of how to define beauty. Beauty can be so many things that it’s hard to contain it all into a simple phrase or person, so editors around the world gather up famous people in hopes of at least coming close to a definition.

For me beauty is defined not just physically, but in your mind, body and soul. Your thoughts, your features, your empathy and generosity towards others, and more, all combine to create a thing of beauty. Not going to say Beyoncè doesn’t deserve the honor, I don’t know her to define her by my personal definition of beauty, but something tells me PEOPLE’s list was more of a popularity contest and that’s not beauty … that’s just superficial.

How do you define beauty? What makes you beautiful.

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8 Comments

  1. I prefer the type of beauty that is free of a hundred-dollar weave, heavy make-up, photo-shopped skin and figure, and name-brand clothing. Why not get rid of these lists in the first place? People Magazine crowned Bradley Cooper “Sexiest Man Alive” last year, and I think he’s hideous.

  2. I love the Beyonce’s look and her personality. She is everything to me in the celeb world. I personally think dreads are unkept looking but that just me and I’ve seen some that look okay but most I don;t care for.

  3. Beauty is highly subjective and begs for your own unique interpretation. Beyonce being on the cover with “the most beautiful” plastered on it is just the collective opinion of America’s idea of beauty. I like her pose although contrived. The rest of the women are beautiful too. Solid post, nothing new

  4. Please Excuse me While I vent on this issue. I have been sort of peeved since the Beyonce hair color ad, when she decided to keep her 30 color hair tracks in. (I know because I use to wear them years ago). And I used to take them out as fast I put them in, and told people just that… There was no facilitating racism for others to get a false perception. They were for pure convenience. Unbelievable.

    Now This…

    Most people are unaware that the media is purposefully and incorrectly defining the Black concept of beauty. We are constantly shown images that are actually demeaning and degrading to our levels of self-esteem, and told that this ‘is’ what we ‘are’. This is yet another terrible example from the awful role model Beyonce, who just received her GED at age 30. Never mind all those negatively labeled single mothers who have or are working on their Master and Phd degrees who grew up in poverty. What a joke. And by the way…anyone remember the whole Fantasia scandal that labeled her as being an illiterate single parent, who did the same thing? I am not a Fantasia fan..but this shows you this hypocrisy that is being placed before the Black community. White Beauty first, Patriarchal marriage second, and ….Education dead last. Please…so when does being light skinned, married, and having a husband with alot of money make a person beautiful? It depends on who is doing the naming, and it is pure mockery.

    It was an inappropriate decision made by the magazine, and I look forward to Black women who can really truly be considered equal, and we can have accurate depictions of our true selves. This includes every ethnicity, Asiatic, dark, light, brown skinned, black skinned bi-racial, multi-racial and everything in-between. Not just simply the mono-chromatic images of black persons, that fit neatly into ‘white spaces’. And every hair texture; not just straight with a weave. As mentioned… I have worn my hair in both retrospects, and think that it is sad that others perceive Black women as better than others, because they don’t necessarily show their true hair type; especially if its Afro-centric. When we come to a day, when there are fair representations of Black women and not just projected inaccurate images of us; then it truly will not matter is there is dark/light skin, kinky/straight hair; or even black or white.

  5. if your the MOST BEAUTIFUL u shouldnt need weave (let alone blond) and have a plastic surgery body. I do believe that Bey is beautiful in her own right but, MOST BEAUTIFUL??? I think not.

  6. Louis Vuitton

    Joyce Medina is the most beautiful woman in the world.

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