Free The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille Page B

woman’s beauty, though, if he stops to admire her physical magnificence rather than simply throwing her over his shoulder, his soul is elevated to another level. If a woman can impress her beauty upon a man permanently, if she can stay beautiful in his eyes, she can make him a better human being. She is doing more than keeping herself visually appealing to him: she is elevating him from a rutting animal to something more exalted.
    The Code for beauty in America is MAN’S SALVATION .
    Think of the hugely popular and enduring film
Pretty Woman.
In that movie, Julia Roberts played a prostitute hired by a hardhearted tycoon played by Richard Gere. While she looks like a hooker, she’s nothing more than a plaything to Gere. However, when he needs her to accompany him to a formal function and when she dresses elegantly and makes herself as beautiful (rather than provocative) as possible, she wins Gere’s heart. She saves him from a life of emotional emptiness.
    Another even more blatant sign of the Code at work in popular culture is with the TV show
Baywatch.
In this series, gorgeous women (most famously Pamela Anderson) perform the function of lifeguards, literally saving men (and women, too, of course) from drowning and other dangers of the water. These women perform heroic acts while appearing as though they have run into the bay straight out of the
Sports Illustrated
swimsuit issue.
    Other cultures have different standards for beauty that relate to their own cultural Codes. Among the Arab nations, there are many different cultures, but they share many similar traits because of their common origin as desert nomads. One of these similar traits is the way they regard beauty. They see a woman’s appearance as a reflection of her man’s success. If a woman is skinny, this suggests that her husband doesn’t have the means to feed her properly. Therefore, Arab men want their women to be obese, the better to serve as walking billboards for the men’s wealth.
    In Norway, beauty is a reflection of one’s connection with the natural world. Norwegian men consider slim women with athletic builds the most beautiful, because they see them as active and capable of running and skiing long distances. Norwegian women wear very little makeup and do very little with their hair because naturalness is the most beautiful thing in this culture.

    THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE
    The combination of the American Code and the tension in this culture between beauty and provocativeness can be a little overwhelming for women. They need to be beautiful to save the men in their lives and thereby to elevate and perpetuate the species; at the same time, though, they can’t be
too
beautiful, because that is dangerous. If they have a bad hair day, are they letting down their entire species? If their dress is too short, will this lead to man’s perdition rather than his salvation?
    The American tension behind beauty is an adolescent one. Adolescents live extreme lives; they are either up or down, invincible or easily defeated. The Code for beauty is man’s salvation, but the other side is perdition. The thing that can save you can also damn you. This is a very powerful tension.
    Fortunately, looking at beauty through the new set of glasses provided by the Culture Code actually makes the axis a little easier to navigate. Supermodels, for instance, are very much on Code because they uphold an unattainable standard for beauty. Women can aspire to that level of perfection without feeling any pressure to achieve it. Why? Because men—the very men they are trying to save with their beauty—look at supermodels and say, “I’ll never be with a woman like that.” Supermodels are almost like benevolent members of an alien race. They are fascinating to watch and we can sometimes glean useful tips from them, but they are not
among us.
On the other hand, prostitutes and women who dress in outrageously provocative ways are completely off Code because they suggest to men an