"You Look Cute!"

How many times have you heard two girls say "You look cute" when they greet each other. Ummm....how about every time! And it sounds really meaningful doesn't it? You look cute. Women in the US are afraid to be beautiful, but cute, that's okay! And even worse, they are afraid of other women being beautiful! It's alright, you can be honest, you are one of them. Don't worry, there is hope for you!

For some unknown reason to me, it seems like beautiful women aren't credible or maybe they are just intimidating. And if you're non-intimidating in your appearance, then maybe you are more credible. Let's compare our typical female US reporters like Katie Couric to French reporter Melissa Theuriau. Now, no knock to Katie and I'm not saying all reporters should be hot, I'm just saying that beauty is appreciated in other cultures and frowned upon in the US. If anything, being beautiful can be a curse. (I know, I know, it's important to be beautiful on the inside...but folks, we're only talking on the outside here!)

This is not the case in countries that I've traveled to like Italy, France, Argentina and Brazil. The women in these countries use the word beautiful to describe other women. It's a breath of fresh air to me. For Italian women for example everything is "bella, bella, bella". They have no "charge" with another women's beauty, if anything it inspires them.

Remember the last time you where at a party, night club, restaurant, and a truly beautiful feminine woman walked in, I mean a real knock out, what happened to the room. It got all F&@%-up didn't it! My guess? Well, the men felt a "pull" from the feminine energy, it's okay girls, men can appreciate a womans beauty without wanting to always get her in the sack! And the women most likely started sizing her up and made some judgment about her, maybe it was her shoes, outfit, hairstyle or even lip gloss...something has to be wrong with this beautiful woman and it's every other woman's job to find that something...or so they think.

Now, here's what would happen in Italy. A beautiful feminine woman walks into the restaurant. The men feel it and check her out, and the women are likely to say something either to themselves or out load about how beautiful she is....not she's cute...not I hate her shoes (unless of course the beautiful woman is from southern Italy and the girl judging is from Milan, in that case she would definitely hate her shoes!)...in any other case she'd probably just say , bella.

We, the US women, need to learn from the Italians, French and all other cultures that appreciate and expect beauty. I love traveling to places where beauty is appreciated, respected and sometimes expected. It's nice to get out of the sweats and t-shirt philosophy of the US and put on a nice pair of 4 inch heels for dinner.

Think about it...would you rather be called beautiful or cute? Beautiful! And guess what, so would every other girl on the planet. It's more meaningful. So, next time you see a beautiful woman walk into a room, acknowledge her beauty and maybe smile at her kindly instead of prejudging. And the next time you see your friend, tell her she looks beautiful...don't be afraid.

Who said the only learning you do while traveling is about the Roman ruins? I love to learn from the other cultures, ya know the ones that have been around hundreds of years longer than our young little USA. Think of us as a preteen and Europe as the cool older cousin that taught us "the facts of life". Learn from them, and don't be afraid to kiss on both cheeks from now on!

Thanks for listening...

Kimberly Murgatroyd