Ashputtel: You Are Beautiful

I recently read the Grimms' version of Cinderella, Ashputtel.

Being a Disney fan, I would have expected the original story to be more or less the same as the one portrayed in the cartoon. However, Ashputtel is far from the fairy-tale happily ever after.


1. Her father wasn't dead. He actually supported the step-mother's ill treatment on Ashputtel.
2. The two step-sisters were actually pretty.
3. She had birds as helpers. No mice or any other animal.
4. There was no fairy godmother, or a pumpkin coach, or all the glitzy magical stuff.
5. Her gown was gold and silver, not blue.
6. The ball went on for three consecutive nights.
7. The step-sisters purposely deformed their feet in order to have it fit to the tiny glass slippers—blood and all.

The seventh item was most profound to me. It got me thinking of the lengths women take for the sake of "beauty." It dates back to the ancient times in China when women's feet were bound, to the point that bones were broken and infection was considered normal, for aesthetic reasons and as a sign of social status.

Different cultures have different ways of defining beauty. In some cultures, front teeth with a gap is considered beautiful. Did you ever think Madonna's teeth were naturally that way? In some cultures, ebony is considered beautiful. Large ear holes. Long necks. Fatness was once considered a sign of royalty.

In today's culture, plastic surgery is the new foot binding. Women get their bodies altered in order to get the slim figure and busty and booty appearance that society dictates as beautiful. They alter their faces, their noses, their eyes, and whatever body parts that need "fixing." This is sick. Utterly sick.

We were created in the image and likeness of God. Whatever we are born with, it is beautiful. This is what Ashputtel teaches us: you need not deform your body in order to look beautiful.

Bruno Mars wasn't kidding when he said, "You're amazing, just the way you are."

Ladies, do not let society get the better of you. Whatever the size of your feet, the size of your bust, the size of your waistline, the color of your skin, you are beautiful, just the way God made you so.