How to Describe the World's Most Beautiful Woman Without Sexualizing Her
She's not Freya yet; I imagine you're not giving the inheritors all of their divine power at once. Just as Thor's strength would grow over time, so would Freya's beauty.
More importantly though, beauty is a characteristic that she has, while sexualisation is something done to her. They don't have to be related, and just because she is beautiful doesn't mean that you need to devote multiple paragraphs to drooling over her cleavage.
You'll need to describe her, sure. What you describe, and how you describe it, radically alters the presentation.
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So, for context, I'm currently working on a YA novel about Norse Mythology. It's from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old boy who learns that he's been chosen to be the next Thor, as the gods in this world aren't actually immortal and have to choose successors to inherit their powers. One of the characters the boy meets is a girl his age who has been chosen to be the next Freya. For those of you who don't know, Freya is the Norse Goddess of Love, Beauty, Fertility, War, and Death amongst other things. Now this leads me to a couple of issues.
1) I have no idea how to describe the World's Most Beautiful Woman. Beauty is subjective, so naturally, my standards won't be the same as others, which is totally fine. I've looked up similar posts regarding this topic, and a lot of them say to describe her more poetically and less literally, which I think is good advice. But this brings me to my next issue.
2) She's also fourteen. This is 100% my biggest issue. Obviously, I feel super uncomfortable having a minor be the Goddess of Love/Beauty/Fertility, but I don't know what else to do. Freya is one of the most famous gods in Norse Mythology, and the girl forms the Main Trio of the series along with her brother and the boy. I can't really change anything without doing a complete rework of the story.
Now a couple of things to consider: A) The girl and her brother are elves (Freya is canonically a Light Elf in Norse Mythology) so if I really needed to, I could just say that she's really a thousand years old or whatever, but I hate that trope. Plus, it'll still make things weird if I decide to add romance later down the line. B) The story is told from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old boy. I think it would make sense for him to acknowledge that he's met a girl his age he thinks is pretty, but outside of initial observations he doesn't put much stock into things like beauty or romance. C) Her character focuses on things other than her looks. I do want to delve into how being the World's Most Beautiful Woman has affected her life, but there are a lot of other facets to her character that I'd rather explore, like her relationship with her family, her struggles with her magic, etc.
All in all, I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure this out. The absolute last thing I want to do is somehow sexualize a minor, I feel gross just making this post lol. I do really enjoy the story I've created, but I haven't been able to work on it because of this. Any advice would be really appreciated, thanks!
EDIT: Just to further clarify some things; I understand this topic is weird, but I'm trying to handle it as delicately as possible. I probably should've made it clearer in the post, but just because she is considered "the world's most beautiful woman" doesn't mean everyone is going to be automatically attracted to her. There is absolutely no reality in which I write a story where a bunch of grown adults lust after a child. I don't care if it's unrealistic, given her position, I'm not doing it.
A lot of people have mentioned that the girl technically isn't the "world's most beautiful woman" because she's not actually a woman yet, and that seems like such an obvious point I'm embarrassed I missed it lol! The plan now is to emphasize her position as the Goddess of War, Death, and possibly Love, and have her mature into her beauty as the series goes on. The only time her looks will really be emphasized will be in her initial description, and even then it'll be more awe-inspiring than anything sexual. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice, you really helped put my mind at ease!
She's not Freya yet; I imagine you're not giving the inheritors all of their divine power at once. Just as Thor's strength would grow over time, so would Freya's beauty.
More importantly though, beauty is a characteristic that she has, while sexualisation is something done to her. They don't have to be related, and just because she is beautiful doesn't mean that you need to devote multiple paragraphs to drooling over her cleavage.
You'll need to describe her, sure. What you describe, and how you describe it, radically alters the presentation.
Maybe make her NOT fourteen? Saying this as fourteen yr old girl lol
Or man too I suppose.
This was an r/AskReddit question, but I can't find the thread, so I thought I'd ask you guys.