"Gone with the Wind" begins, "...Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught in her charms..."
Many said of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife, that she was not beautiful. With long black hair when fair was in favor, and her "duckies" not too high and altogether too skinny she was not exactly the image of a perfect English woman; and yet, she not only captured the heart of a king but he killed his best friends and changed the history of religion in England for her. And then there are Camille and Charles. Is there anyone out there who wouldn't favor the early elegant Princess Diana? And yet...

All right, so Anne's head was cut off, and Scarlett did lose Rhett in the end, but still...no one could deny that these women held SOMETHING. They knew how to carry themselves, dress, and repartee with the best of them. The undoubtedly knew the best angles of their face and how to bat their lashes to the greatest advantage. History is filled with such examples of men going gaga over the Olive Oils of the world.

In some cases perhaps the words clever and conniving can be interchanged, however, I like to look at it as beauty versus wit. Because while being a conniving, plotting "cougar" as man trappers are coined today can be seen as a negative, wit can fit either side. A tasteful comeback can make a plain Jane into a golden girl, and find a woman who is witty and pretty? WOW! In the meanwhile, an average looking woman holding up her end of a debate can be very appealing to some men. Smart is sexy!

I must fight for those who are not deemed categorically good-looking, because I fall into that category. Heck, I was so small and skinny and gender unspecific for so long that until I was twelve I was taken for a boy! About that time, though, something kicked in. While I had some gorgeous girl friends that would simper and smile at the boys, when they opened their mouths from that pretty pout to actually speak, they lost all attention. I, on the other hand, was often seen sitting across from the popular boys in the cafeteria being asked how to get the attention of those cuties. I was the one who was invited into the football team practice huddle to take pictures. I was every boy's best friend. With my sometimes caustic but usually cunning tongue, I made up for my lack of looks well into my teens.

Now that's not to say that I was eternally happy in this role! Several where the times when like Cyrano de

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