OPINION: Beautiful - an ugly word.

A NEW YOU: Beauty is everything - or so the cosmetics companies would have you believe.

One word I often see bandied about on social media and in pop culture generally is 'beautiful'.

From sugary-sweet Christina Aguilera lyrics, women in lingerie bearing heart-warming slogans on Facebook, to campaigns by skincare manufacturers -- we are told beauty is ours for the taking.

It's rubbish, of course. Christina probably wouldn't have got to pop princess status without her blonde locks and teeny waist, and the women accompanying those empowering quotes have curves in all the 'right' places. The skincare giants make obscene amounts of money selling the miracle potions to cover our blemishes -- the very things they told us made for 'real beauty'.

US blogger Nathan Biberdorf recently made waves online when he published an essay titled Not Everyone Is Beautiful. To say otherwise, says Biberdorf, is false -- some people are objectively unattractive.

But, he theorises, we have created a culture where a pleasant exterior trumps all other attributes. If society reassures us everyone can have shares in the beauty machine, it makes it okay to live in a world where attractiveness reigns supreme. Everyone is beautiful, therefore everyone has worth -- because worth is good looks.

Meanwhile, diet industries are raking in billions, models are photoshopped beyond recognition and eating disorders are at an all-time high.

Personally, I do believe everyone is beautiful to someone. I consider myself fairly removed from modern beauty conventions (and have been told as much) but, to my husband, I am Botticelli's Venus. A kind heart and sparkly personality can go a long way to making a person more attractive.

What I'd also like to see is beauty in our media expanded beyond slim, busty and Angelina Jolie. Things like photos of larger women lying naked in rose petals, the making of dolls with realistic proportions, and that gorgeous pin-up picture of breastfeeding mum Stella Mackey, pregnancy stretch marks on display, are all good moves.

But, I think we need to take 'beautiful' down a peg. We may be told we're all beautiful, but some animals are more beautiful than others.

So, it's time we start building a culture which celebrates our brains. Our achievements, our abilities, humour, empathy, courage. Buy our daughters fewer pretty things to dress up, and give them things they can build from the ground up. Use fewer words like 'cute' to describe our kids, and more words like 'smart', 'talented', 'brave'. Spend less time gushing over what gowns our favourite actresses are wearing to the Oscars, and more researching their achievements.

Being easy on the eye is nice. But I think we need to scrap beautiful. As Biberdorf himself said, "it's become an ugly word anyway".