Did you see her in the new movie? HAWT HAWT HAWT!

While watching Miss Independent the notion came across that women in movies are there to serve mens needs first and they're to be made a fool of while the man just chills. And it never occurred to me, but dats true.
Like, if you want a good romance, watch Pride and Prejudice that girl, Elizabeth, she's strong. Jane Austen wrote that book to make fun of society's views on women, so she defied it and made Lizzie Bennet this strong independent woman. And she loves to "improve her mind by extensive reading."

Now, that book is referenced in one of my all time favorite movies: You've Got Mail. 
It's super cute about the early days of e-mail when two strangers become pen pals and know nothing of each other. But one day they decide to meet. Now, this scene never bothered me until I saw Miss Independent. Because, just as Tom Hanks is walking up to the coffee shop to see her for the first time he is super nervous.
He talks about how nervous he is because she might not be pretty. Now, dude, you've been talking to this girl for a few weeks, you are enchanted by the things that she says, the insights she has, and you love the poetic way she talks of New York City. But his biggest concern right now is how pretty she may or may not be.
Today, everyone only thinks of outer beauty, even when they've witnessed true inner beauty they can't get past the face. Mostly this is found in women. It's typically like, "Oh my God did she win the noble peace prize for doing that really great thing that changed the world? Wow. She's so brave. But not very pretty."
This is the part of the conversation that everyone should do a double take and say, "Da F? Does that even matter at this point?" Or you could answer sarcastically, "Oh, you're right. That's the criteria for the noble peace prize, a pretty face, because only pretty people can change the world."

NO!

Do you see that big "NO!" that I made red and underlined? Well, that's because it's important. 
NO: Women do not have to be pretty to be accomplished. Anyone can do anything.
NO: Inner beauty is more important than outer beauty. 
And these ideas don't just apply to media and all that, it applies to every day life.
I cannot tell you how disgusted I am with myself when I hear, "I don't know why he's dating her, she's not that pretty." And I automatically respond with, "Maybe she has a winning personality!" It's a reflex guys, before this year I never realized how offensive that "joke" was. 
And I usually hear it from girls who have to look cute when the go to school to try and impress boys. Which is annoying too, because guys aren't trying to impress us, they just sit back and enjoy the show. This makes school become a life game of "hot or not" for boys and a beauty pageant for girls. Girls go and focus on their appearance and not on the school work, and boys either actually focus on the school work or how hot a girl is, not how accomplished she is.
GIRLS! Do not let that grade school chant die, "GIRLS GO TO COLLEGE TO GET MORE KNOWLEDGE, BOYS GO TO JUPITER TO GET MORE STUPIDER!" I'm not saying guys have no purpose in life besides being stupid, that's almost as bad as saying the only reason girls exist is to please men. But girls, put some effort forward. We should all have goals to obtain as much knowledge as possible. To be as smart as we can, and reach our full potential.
The focus should be knowledge and personality. Honestly guys and gals go out with the goal of finding the hottest mate possible, but shouldn't we be looking for someone who will stick with us forever and make us happy? That's my goal. The guy with washboard abs is not always going to be the man for me. The man who laughs at my jokes and listens to my stories no matter how obnoxious they are is the man for me.
So here's a baby step to getting caught up in the world of hot or not: When imagining your future significant other (husband, wife, life partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc.) imagine a normal person. Not that movie star who's face has been photoshopped more than Michael Jackson was surgically changed in some way.
Here's another baby step when imaging that person: Don't focus on his or her appearance, imagine their life story, the way they laugh, if they can cook or not, how eager they are to go to amusement parks. Of course you're probably never going to find the exact copy of this person, but it opens up so many more doors than 6", green eyes, blonde hair, great pecks.
Those people might not be for you, or even in existence.
So yeah, he probably is dating her for her personality, because the girl who wears too much eye linear likes Bruno Mars, but the girl he's dating that isn't up to your twisted idea of pretty likes Franz Ferdinand, his favorite band. And I apologize that this boy prefers to actually talk and have something in common with his girlfriend than just have a pretty face to look at. Though he's got that too, because inner beauty has this amazing ability to create outer beauty to those who look hard enough to find it.
That's why we should all be like Tom Hanks in You've Got Mail  and admit outer beauty isn't everything.

"Kevin, this is possibly the most adorable creature I've ever been in contact with, and if she turns out to be as good looking as a mailbox... I would be crazy enough to turn my life upside down and marry her."