A wonderful photograph of the beautiful actress Sophia Loren is making the rounds online.  She is 80 years old and beautiful.

She has always been one of the most beautiful women in the world, and I think at age 80, she still is one of the most beautiful.

However, the comments on this photograph post are very reflective of how society views women and beauty.

The comments all seem to be about:

1.Wow, she doesn’t look her age.  She looks like she is just in her 40’s.

2.She has had a lot of plastic surgery done! It must be nice to be rich as you can be beautiful even when you are 80!

3.European women take better care of themselves, this is why you don’t see any Canadian or American women looking like this at 80.

Let’s address the comments.

1.She does not look her age.  She also probably has some photoshop done with that photograph and it was carefully planned.  However, the beauty of any human being, male or female, should not be decided just on HOW YOUNG THEY LOOK.  A compliment for a woman has always been “wow you do not look your age”.  This is why asking a woman her age has always been a social taboo.  Women strive to look younger than their years. But the ability, via genetics or surgery, to look younger than you are, is not the only compliment this woman or any woman deserves.  A face with a few wrinkles is also beautiful.

2.She has had a lot of plastic surgery done.  Well, of course, she is an actress.  Part of her profession is looking as good as she possibly can.  No one is going to fooled that she is NOT 80 years old.  But she is going to be up on a screen and every single flaw will be seen, so she would like to be as beautiful as possible.  That doesn’t mean looking as young as possible.  Here is a more “real life” photograph of Sophia Loren, taken from a red carpet, and she is indeed very beautiful without photoshop.

It’s obvious some work has been done but also her magnificent natural beauty is still apparent.

3.European women look better than American and Canadian women as they take care of themselves.  I give you Cicely Tyson:

She is age 90

I give you Diana Ross

I give you Diane Keaton

….and let’s not forget Cary Fisher or her incredibly beautiful mother Debbie Reynolds.  Both beauties.

So, does a woman have to look young for her years to be beautiful?

Of course not!

My own personal, “most beautiful woman in the world” has not changed, even as we both have aged.  I fell in love with her at a very young age watching her on a National Geographic special.  To me, she is still the most beautiful woman in the world.

as I first saw her…

as she is today, still beautiful

*please note, I try not to use photographs without permission and will gladly take down any that I am asked to take down. But I really wanted to show ALL these beautiful women, that are beautiful not just because of how “young” they look, but because people are just truly lovely at any age.