Weaponizing Beauty

Beauty in itself is not power; like all talents like music and the ability to make great art, beauty needs a patron or a sponsor in order for it not to go through the rigors of life, which makes it fade and lose its glow. It is not unusual for a beautiful lady who had to work hard through the trenches to tell tales of abuse and misuse from those who saw it, took it but had no ability to treat it right or give it the value it deserves in life

In plain terms, when beauty is placed in the wrong environment, it gets assaulted and misused just because of its nature, Everybody is drawn to beauty but not everybody has the capacity to keep beauty in its purest form. Beauty gets used and once it has served its purpose, it gets dumped, Physical beauty is a slave to time.

Time gives it its essence but time also is its greatest enemy, for the longer the time it spends the dimmer it glows until it is at best a faded glory etched in the memory of some and forgotten by others, Beauty then is most of the time a victim. It cannot stop attracting prying eyes and the eyes that pry are not always worthy eyes: Criminals see Beauty and they want to rape it, Gangsters see Beauty and they want to own it.

The powerful surround themselves with beauty as a statement, The rich buy beauty, sometimes to lock it away or as part of a collection of its kind, From Harems to artworks and portraits. All forms of beauty are subject to the power of others to own or possess it, Beauty by itself really has no choice. A poor man dating a beautiful lady will most likely lose her eventually even if she loves him more than anything in this world. Beauty knows it has to be kept, cared for, protected, cherished, maintained, respected and secure. A poor man with all the love in this world cannot protect a beautiful woman from the reach of the powerful. For this reason, Abraham had to lie that Sarah was his sister and she got taken away from him twice in one lifetime by those who were richer and more powerful than he is, Pharaoh took her first and even when she was in her seventies Abimelech also took her for himself.

This is the fate of beauty, It cannot love on its own terms, It cannot choose who it ends up with, It is either hidden or taken but when put out there in the open all by itself, it becomes an object of obsession and easy prey for the whims and caprices of all sorts of individuals. A beautiful woman is always in the middle square of life with all eyes trained on it. Corporate entities employ beauty to market their products to the rich and powerful, they leverage beauty, not education and qualifications but look to persuade kings and noblemen to open their money belts

When men see a truly beautiful woman, they do not ask “How many people have slept with her”, they think “I should sleep with her too”. It is what beauty does and this is why it gives those who have it a certain leverage or advantage that drives others crazy or into deep jealousy. Beauty does not need to do anything to be hated or make enemies, By its nature, the advantage it has in how people treat it and respond to it, this is more than enough to make others dislike it. You hear expressions like “She does not have to work hard to get anything, men fall at her feet to do everything for her”, You hear expressions like “I cannot go anywhere with her or be her friend, she steals all the attention”, You hear expressions like “I will pour acid on you and take away that thing that makes men run after you”, This is why beauty seeks the protection of power and the comfort of riches as soon as it gains wisdom.

Beauty however knows its own weakness, the weakness of beauty lies in the fact that it is expected to conduct itself in a certain manner at all times. There is nothing as off-putting as seeing a beautiful lady fighting in public, exchanging insults with a tout or barking at the moon. When you look at all the ladies in beauty pageants all over the world, you see how they are carefully trained to add elegance, poise, etiquette, communication, table manners, cultural sensitivity, and so on to their natural endowments.

When beauty is crude, it breaks itself too soon and becomes a wasted potential. This was why Esther had to go through a finishing school after she had been chosen as a potential bride for the king, Without the training and the grooming, she would have failed the test of “one night with the king” woefully.

When beauty is secure, well-trained, and well-cared for, it blossoms and yields its full potential to the environment that nurtures it,  When beauty is however abused, it can sting. Beauty is not always weak and helpless, It knows that it can bend men and people to it’s looks, People make excuses for beauty all the time. Judges in criminal cases involving a beautiful woman have been known to be lenient in their sentencing of the beautiful woman as against when sentencing a woman who is not so beautiful or a man who committed the same crime.

There is something about beauty that compels people to fight for it, protect it, and defend it instinctively, This is the advantage of beauty, its power to compel devotion effortlessly. Beauty however is usually flawless from afar, when you draw close to it, you might find yourself losing sight of it or even getting stung by it. Like one who admires a beautiful snake from afar, and the one who pokes his hand into its den to feel its skin. The former will give a glowing report about the beauty of the snake, while the latter may end up dead for his or her curiosity. When beauty is stripped of its dignity or subjected to public ridicule, it will bite, This is the way of beauty, This will always be the way of beauty.

In the face of many witnesses and to the chagrin of many who know the truth, a beautiful woman woke up one morning and decided to accuse a powerful man of sexual harassment. The man had ridiculed this lady in public once by “jokingly” telling her their office was not a nightclub. To the woman, this man was deliberately trying to present her to the world as lacking substance and wisdom, It is like accusing a beautiful woman who got promoted to the topmost office available at her place of work of sleeping her way to the top. Even if she did, she does not want people to think of her or see her that way. It ridicules her achievements and makes those subordinate to her second guess her decisions. To a leader, the vote of confidence of followers is very important, The second time they clashed, she decided to fight back.

How do you fight a powerful man as a beautiful woman? You go to the public square, where your beauty will provide sentimental protection and accuse the powerful of trying to take advantage of your beauty. It is not a new script, Esther used it against Haman, “So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”

3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.[a]” 5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?” 6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?” As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits[b] stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.” The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.”

The King did not bother to judge with logic once he found Haman all over Esther, Even though Haman was begging Esther to please save his life, the king saw the way he touched her in another light, His protective instinct came into play and Haman was impaled as a result. If you have ever been accused of behaving sexually improperly towards a lady who considered herself to be beautiful, you will see how a beautiful woman can ruin your life simply because men naturally slant their judgment to favour a beautiful woman

I have seen a man locked up by police officers for several months simply because the man was rude to a beautiful woman whom one of the police officers was trying to date. Many men turn to jellies when they find themselves in the company of a beautiful woman, Some men promise heaven and earth just to keep the company of a beautiful woman, Some women know this and take advantage of the weakness of their beauty on men in order to lure them into decisions that they may most likely regret later.

I once worked with a Pastor who woke up one day and decided that he would be moving hundreds of millions of Naira from one bank to the other, the account managers of that bank came to the office to plead with this man but he refused without giving them any concrete reason.

The following day when the lady from the other bank came around to collect the cheque, we all knew instantly that it was her beauty that compelled Pastor to move heaven and earth.

-GSW-