What the “Perfect” Woman Looks Like To Men and Women

Here’s some breaking news: Men and women are not perfect. Yet men are constantly idealizing the “perfect woman.” And women? We do the same thing, we hold ourselves to a ridiculous, unattainable physical standard, we criticize ourselves and others and we’re constantly nitpicking at our hair, our nails, and most of all, our bodies. It’s a cycle we can’t break, and it’s just getting worse. Every day another “perfect” calculation for women seems to get released (where are all the PERFECT MAN specifications, I ask you?). This week’s comes from a site called Brobible.com, which released an illustrated diagram of what men think the perfect woman has vs. what women think the perfect woman should be. (image below)

Notice the illustration on the left is thin, with no curves. The illustration on the right, however, has everything: Breasts, hips, toned legs, a tiny waist. The two illustrations are SO different, which begs the question: What does perfect even mean?

Let’s define it so we’re all on the same page. Webster’s defines “perfect” as “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.” But wait, aren’t we already as good as we possibly can be at this exact moment? Don’t we always put our best face forward? And not just with the way we look, but with all parts of who we are. We don’t walk into an interview and only showcase half of our potential, or comfort a grieving friend by offering only a small part of our warmth, and we definitely don’t only say one funny thing when we have 100 funny things to say. The idea of perfection is an illusion, because perfection and imperfection coexist. We are as good as we can be right at this very moment, making us perfectly imperfect.

I (and I know a lot of HelloGigglers agree) have actually always been drawn to celebrities who are imperfect. I love Jennifer Lawrence, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon and Rebel Wilson, because they seem to be 100% confident in their imperfections, which makes them perfect. So, if we love them for that reason, why aren’t we satisfied with our own imperfections? Perhaps if we were, everyone else would be too. Maybe then, as a society, we would no longer feel the need to build the perfect human, because ultimately, it already exists in all of us.

Featured image via Shutterstock