They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That literally means that perhaps, through the eyes of yours truly, Angeline Jolie could be looked at as being ugly. We all know that any sane man would kill you for even remotely suggesting so. So what is this impossible thing to be that has enthralled man (and woman) since the beginning of time?

The western culture, ably assisted by  the media, will tell you that thin and tall, pronounced cheekbones and a proper waist to hip ratio is beauty, especially through the camera lens. Talk of Mnet Face of Africa, Miss World etc, invokes images of girls starving themselves to keep fat off their bodies. It does not help matters that apparently white men prefer their women slender.

I know many ladies out there are just about to shred this paper into pieces but wait till you hear what next I have to say, on beauty. What happened to the good old beautiful African women, with proper accessories in all the right places; I mean the curves?

A woman can still be big and beautiful, naturally. Have you watched Mnet’s Studio 53 co-host Rosie Motene? What about Oprah Winfrey (even if she has officially given up on her all eternal weight check)?

In traditional Africa, a woman with a healthy bust signified her children’s good health, an amble backside and healthy hips stood for fertility. And behold science agrees wholesomely.
Back to beauty, my bosom buddy sees it differently. He thinks beauty is in the eyes of the beer holder.

There is this intelligent lass in our regular hang out joint who on any normal day would read you the line up of any English premiership team, meaning, the boys really enjoy her company. Problem is some people do not rate her well in the looks department.

The thing is my buddy sometimes agrees with everyone, usually at the beginning of a sitting. However  a few hours later, when the barley begins to play around with his head, and his sight, it seems likely that with each consumption of another round of bottle, our soccer commentator takes on look more and more like Miss Rwanda.

Woe to all the men who think that a good wife should be an intellectual match, just as a good man should have a good sense of humour. A recent Daily Telegraph report says that according to research, the reality is simply that men are attracted to beauty and women are attracted to wealth.

So there you go. However handsome you are, it matters more if you can afford to raise a family, and for women, it’s all about the money (sorry ladies). Whatever happened to finding inner and outer beauty, good values, blah, blah.

Well according to the same research, what men and women say they want is not the same as what they actually choose and that the choices made accord with a rough evolutionary-predicted trade-off, in this case between men’s overall value [combining their wealth and status, family commitment and health] and women’s self-perceived attractiveness.

Did I hear someone say the beautiful ones are not yet born?So much for finding your soul mate!

Contact: kelviod@yahoo.com