(Dear Reader, forgive me for the spate of song lyrics = post title — I couldn’t help myself, and trust me, it won’t last).

In an interview on NPR for Fresh Air with Terry Gross, From Fashion to Film,  Fashion designer turned director Tom Ford had some interesting things to say about beauty.  He observes that everything “is pumped up” — from cars, to breasts, to lips.  Everything is engorged, glossy, hard, –not soft,  friendly, approachable, touchable, textured.  He spoke about how where we are culturally and graphically is reflected in how women are objectified.

Mr. FORD: “..We are actually starting to manipulate our bodies, because we can, into a shape. We are becoming our own art…. you’re beautiful, you’re glossy, you’re shiny,  but you’re not human. Very interesting. And I say that in a very detached way, I’m not making a judgment about it. I’m just saying it’s fascinating culturally.”

He suggests that young girls, used to seeing huge hard breasts and sculpted lacquered bodies need a reality check because they don’t really know what real bodies, and real breasts, look like.

One website, The Belly Project, is attempting to do just that — to give all women a visual reality check about one aspect of the human body.

Parents try to teach their children about Truth, Goodness, Beauty.  In our visually focused world we are bombarded with images of female beauty, sometimes true and sometimes distorted.

Many women, and men too, harbor a deep insecurity about their bodies.  How do we heal our self image?  How do raise children with an appreciation for truly aesthetic forms and an appreciation for their own bodies?

One way that comes to mind, is through art,  through creating and contemplating beautiful art — painting, singing, dancing, and so on; and through the experience and the study of what is beautiful in nature – the blooming flowers in spring, the rainbow.

(Side Note:  the Nature Institute offers some interesting opportunities for the study of nature).