No one can control or dictate what is or is not beautiful…not even the dictionary.
Coty’s #UndefineBeauty campaign shines a light on the major English dictionaries’ outdated definitions of beauty, specifically the criteria implied in the examples, and calls for action.
Their goal? To move beauty forward.
The current definition of the word beauty in the dictionary is based on an outdated notion of what is beautiful.
The criteria in the definition in the major English Dictionaries – or, more specifically, the examples used to illustrate it, were born in a different time and have not aged well. The implicit ageism and sexism in the current definition are anachronistic.
“She was a great beauty in her youth” is the phrase often cited in major dictionaries to illustrate the concept of beauty, and one whose excluding effects we witnessed in a social experiment involving 100 people from all around the world as seen here:
This cause to change the definition of beauty acknowledges all those who celebrate and express their own visions of beauty every day and validates those who have felt excluded by restrictive definitions of beauty.
The campaign calls for the Dictionary publishers to review the examples in the definition and remove the implicit ageism and sexism they currently contain.
Coty is inviting you to support by signing the petition HERE