Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.

WARNING, CONTAINS IMAGES OF FEMALE LEGS AND MIDRIFFS TOWARDS THE END.

David Hume said that, in is Essays, Moral and Political, 1742. Not the bright red warning, I mean the title of the post. It was one of several possible early instances of the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder" that I could find - and I went with it because the tallest building in my University is named after him.

Not that I actually know who he is.

But that's not the point. The point is that seven months ago today, a friend of mine, Adrielne, posted on her blog an entry entitled "Wow, They're Hot!". It was essentially a list of twenty female the celebrities that she found most attractive (She did one for men as well). Now, I agreed that about four of them are attractive. So she challenged me to come up with a meagre  top-ten list of attractive women and I couldn't do it.

I don't know why. I looked up several names of people who I thought should be attractive, and I just didn't want to add them to my top ten. But then I had a similar discussion with my flatmate a week or two ago, and that night decided to make a list - and actually complete it. For my first friend, I decided to post a response blog entry on my own site. And this is it...


How it works: This is a list, in increasing order, of the ten celebrities that I find most attractive. I say celebrities, because while there are "real" women that I would put on this list, even as high as first place, I don't think it's fair to place pictures of them on the web without express permission (Especially since Number One doesn't actually like me...). Also, it would be less relatable to people who had never met these women.

I've tried to choose two pictures for each woman: "Sweet" and "Sexy", I have reordered them in each, and I'm not saying which picture is which.

And so, starting at the bottom:

10) Natalie Portman

          

Born in 1981, Natalie Portman is the lead in Black Swan, and also starred in Star Wars, Your Highness and V for Vendetta.

9) Amanda Seyfried

          

Born in 1985, Amanda Seyfried had her first leading role in Mamma Mia! and has subsequently starred alongside Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body and Liam Neeson in Chloe.

8) Bonnie Wright

         

Born in 1991, Bonnie Wright plays Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, and will also star in The Philosophers, due for release in 2012. She also works as a model.

7) Kate Hudson

          

Born in 1979,Kate Hudson is the oldest on this list. She has starred in several films, such as Fool's Gold, The Skeleteon Key, and You, Me and Dupree.

6)Delta Goodrem

          

Born in 1984, Delta Goodrem is a singer/songwriter, pianist and actress. Her songs include "Lost Without You", "Born to Try" and ""Innocent Eyes", and she acted in Hating Alison Ashley.

5) Katy Perry

         

Another Musician born in 1984, Katy Perry became famous for her song "I kissed a girl" in 2008, and later released her own fragrance - "Purr"

4) Olivia Wilde

          

1984 seems to have been a good year for attractive women. Olivia Wilde is known mainly for her role as "Thirteen" in the TV Drama "House", but was also well recieved in "Tron: Legacy" and "Year One".

3) Zooey Deschanel

          

Born in 1980, Zooey Deschanel is another singer/songwriter/actress, notable for lead roles in films such as "Yes Man" and for her music as part of "She & Him"

2) Karen Gillan

          

Born in 1987, Karen Gillan currently plays Doctor Who's companion Amy Pond, and has also starred in films such as Outcast and We'll Take Manhatten. She also played a character in doctor who before her main role, and because I like the picture:

And finally....

1) Alexis Bledel

          

Alexis Bledel, born in 1981, is known primarily for her role as Rory Gilmore in "Gilmore Girls", and also for her role in Sin City. She will also be in upcoming films Violet & Daisy alongside Saoirse Ronan, and the 2011 film The Letters.


So. That's it. The ten most attractive figures in the public eye. That I could think of at the time. But Alexis Bledel is definitely attractive. But then I thought about my friend's list, and how different it was. The only overlaps are Natalie Portman (#20 on her list) and Olivia Wilde (#9 on her list). Ok, so she's female, and she's not a lesbian. So she's going to have a different opinion from me. In fact - most people will I think. but there was one other difference I noticed.

Look back at my list. The photos are virtually all portraits. Now, look at Adriene's. There are quite a few scantily clad, lovely to admire female bodies. Now I've looked at a couple of such lists online. They all have sexual pictures. Is this really what attractive women are? The ones with nice bodies?

Now you might argue that no, the other lists were of "Hot" Women. But to me, it's the same thing. I consider any of the people in my list to be hot. I just don't like the word. And OK, none of the ladies on the list above have horrible bodies - but it's not what I looked at when choosing them. In fact, I pretty much bypassed the body pictures where available.

But compare Karen Gillan and say, Delta Goodrem, numbers 1 and 6, respectively.

         

Now Karen Gillan, on the left, while she has a nice stomach, and skin tone, is altogether too skinny. I mean, you can see her ribs. Delta Goodrem, on the left, has an more classically attractive body - despite the fact that Karen's Photo is a photoshoot, and Delta's is a Paparazzi shot. 

And Still, If I was to choose to go on a date between the two, I would choose Karen Gillan. I just find her more attractive in general. To me, the face is the most important thing - and I'm quite disappointed that many people look at the body first.

So who do you think is attractive? Do you agree with me? Despite the fact that all my followers are female, feel free to comment with your top ten! 

-The Written Assassin