Why Are Women So Beautiful?

This is a great question!

We cannot answer it with any certitude. It is a great Mystery! The greatest Mystery of Creation. I myself have often wondered if He lost control, overdid it and forfeited self-control and rationality in a moment of ecstasy when He first imagined Womanly Loveliness.

Any answer must be humble, tentative, questioning. My own suggestions are from the perspective of a male, with all the myopia and bias that entails. And yet, they are not hopelessly subjective as they draw from reason, revelation and deep Catholic intuitions.

A "woke" mentality would see in this talk of feminine loveliness a shield for the usual predatory, domineering, lustful male psyche. That is exactly right: since Adam tasted the fruit, we men have failed to give women the reverence and tenderness due. On behalf of all men I enter our plea:  Guilty as Charged! But that can't be the all of it!

An evolutionary biologist will see in womanly attractiveness an arbitrary series of random mutations and survival of the fittest. This logic, along with the entire science, is abysmally trite, reductionist, monotonous and utterly devoid of charm, splendor, hope, or delight. If I were a Darwinian I would have killed myself about 50 years ago!

Let's be clear: by "Beauty" I do mean the radiant smile, the harmonious face, the dizzying-and-breath-taking-and-heart-piercing eyes, the form at once petite, vigorous, resilient, fecund, proportioned, curvy, luminous, serene, and charming...and so much more: the elegance, demeanor, trust, humility, patience, generosity, receptivity, charm, wisdom, tranquility, posture, mystery, humor, dignity...(adjectives and nouns both fail me)!  By "Beauty" we mean here the radiance from the depths of the Good and the True!

So, here are some possibilities:

-  Woman, the last, the epitome and the masterpiece of Creation, was designed so He could delight in her. God endlessly and infinitely is in Delight; that is what He does; and He has every right to do so however He pleases.

-  In His generosity, He wanted to share this delight...with men, children, the elderly and sick, the wise and the disabled. Think of a wedding: father is walking up the aisle with daughter, he is exuberant with joy in her beauty; the groom is surging with Joy; all eyes are on the bride; many, including grown and sober men, are tearing up. Creation is at its pinnacle! (Aside: if I get to heaven I do not expect a hundred brown-eyed virgins; but I do hope for constant, always-available reruns of movies of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Maureen O'Hara, Sophia Loren and Brigid Bardot!)

- In planning Creation, the Trinity agreed they wanted one creature to mirror, sublimely, their own Divine Splendor and to be, already on earth, a premonition of Heaven:  that is Woman.

-  In abundant goodness, He wanted every child,  normally, to spend the first year on earth (give or take) in the euphoria of a warm embrace, a comforting breast, and the gaze of a beatific face.

-  Pierced by longing, the male is destined to leave mother and father, embark on a journey of combat and danger, earn the love of his Beloved, embrace her in intimacy and fidelity and exclusivity and fruitfulness and sacrifice, form a communion of never-ending-love, share an adventure and mission together, and bring forth beautiful new children.

-  Otherwise sober, decent, rational, self-controlled men become insane, frenzied, and desperate with desire so that they fall to their knees, miserable in their loneliness before such Beauty, and they cry out for Mercy and help from heaven.

-  Inspired with tenderness and reverence before such Beauty-Goodness-Truth, we men sublimate our aggressive and desirous impulses and are ennobled to be serene, pure, courageous, humble, generous.

-  The male ego...fractured and fragile with arrogance and pride...finds itself restored to peace and health when as it is loved by a good woman and renders her tenderness in her delicacy and reverence in her surpassing integrity, dignity, graciousness, compassion and generosity.

-  Every women is destined at some point to become aware of her infused Beauty and Goodness and Truth and so rejoice with Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior, for He has looked with favor upon his lowly handmaid."

-  The angels in heaven were destined to enjoy forever the feminine splendor of Mary as their Queen. It is a shame that Lucifer and his crowd were too proud to go along with the plan!


That is just one man's opinion!