Le Dernier Mot

This was asked here in the Critique Circle forums.

My Answer:
Hi all. I'm a teenage girl and I'd like to offer my input on this subject of "beauty" and beauty in literature, particularly YA. I usually don't like reviving "dead" threads, but I do want to have a say in something.

Let me start with beauty in real life. Of course, my friends, my classmates, and I worry about looking good. It's a way of life for us. We must look at least decently good enough to go in daylight. We've adapted to this kind of thinking. And if on a day we don't look as attractive as we wish, we self-loath ourselves.
I believe this stemmed from the media. The reason why girls want to look older is because television and movies give teenage roles to actors in their twenties. The reason why girls put makeup on at an early age is because of the flawless, airbrushed pictures of the magazines. The reason why we strive for beauty is because almost every book, every TV episode, every movie approves of this beauty.
Do I worry about beauty? Surprsingly, not as much as the ordinary adolescent. Surely, I do sometimes sigh at my short stature and I do wish to cover up the acne that likes to make an appearance at the most inadequate of times. But I am not as obssessed as my friends, who starve themselves to be thin, and who ceaselessly compare themselves to the other girls at school. It's altogether quite sad really.
If you asked me what my definition of beauty is, I'd tell you it's a balance between the inner and outer. One person may have, what I like to call, aesthetic beauty, but their personality would be so horrid, that it would counter her physical beauty and make her ugly. Likewise, a person who is generally considered as "unattractive", but with a marvelous, kind personality I would find as beautiful. In fact, I can find the beauty in every perosn, whether it be aesthetic or personality wise. In an overweight girl, I can see her beautiful eyes. And in an outcast, misfit girl I can see the beauty in her awkwardness. You may say I am not a normal teen, and maybe not the best one to ask for their definition of beauty. But then again I am a writer and an observer. I could tell you the real names of the people I used as examples in this paragraph.

Okay, enough with that and on to literature.
I've read a great deal of teen books in my life. The best ones, I think, with strong female charactesr would definitely be Hermoine from Harry Potter, Violet from The Series of Unfortunate Events, the heroines from Sarah Dessen's books, Gemma from the Gemma Doyle trilogy, and Alejandra from My Most Excellent Year (which isn't as popular a book as it should be, and I recommend you read it now). What I take as a strong, female character is one who is not always reliant on other people. She has her own mind, and can stand up for herself. Not to say that she is an ultra-feminist, but that she is just as intelligent and strong-in-the-mind as men.
Beauty is definitely a dominant topic in young adult literature. The reason this is so is because it is supposed to be about young adults, and young adults today worry about appearances. Now, to answer the original question: Must YA heroines be beautiful?
No. In fact, there is a trend towards them being NOT beautiful. That way, such as in The Princess Diaries of which I will get to later, the teenage reader can better relate. Sometimes we may have beautiful protagonists, and this also attracts attention because the reader likes to live vicariously (I admit I've done so before) through this beautiful heroine.
Extravagant, interesting things apparently happen to the beautiful MCs. Just look at The Clique and Gossip Girl series. People may think this is sending a bad message to young adults, but I say that every book must be exciting in some possible way. These people already have beauty, now it is time for them to get into other antics.
However with unattractive female protags, the opposite occurs. One of their major problems is their beauty. Now, people may praise these "normal", "average-looking" teens, but I absolutely abhor what happens to them in literature. It is established that they are ugly - yet how in the world did they get the hot, popular guy? This is shown through countless examples in literature, including what somebody here mentioned: The DUFF. Which, by no means is a badly written book, in fact, it is written by a teen. But do you see this unbelievable plot? Yes, I know that they "hate each other and then eventually get to know each other and see the "true selves". I hate those kinds of books. Sorry. If it's not getting the popular guy, it's getting the outlandish occurences. Take, The Princess Diaries. Average girl -> princess!! But, you say, she didn't ask to be a princess. Well, it happened anyway. This also happened in another book I read a long time ago - I believe it was called "Violet on the Runway". Ordinary girl -> supermodel!
So, in my belief, YA books with normal looking MCs are maybe just as bad because things that would not happen in real life happen to them. I'm not saying all books with normal heroines are like this, in fact I've listed some that are not above, but I dare you to go the teen section of libraries or book stores and just read the blurbs. "Blah Blah was a normal, high school junior until one day...blah blah blah"
I could expand on this subject, but I think I've exhausted it enough almost into ranting mode. Sorry for that. Hopefully my insight was of any use to this topic.