Thursday, March 29, 2007

I really loved America the Beautiful last night. I was engaged and entertained and appalled at some of the things we all do to conform to someone else's idea of what's beautiful. I walked out of the theatre and wanted badly to call my young nieces and tell them both that they are beautiful. We are all beautiful in our own ways. I say that, but I obviously live to a different standard in my own life.

I have had discussions with my oldest niece about this very subject. Models don't actually look like they do in magazines. Actresses on tv and in films have sat in make-up and hair for hours, before being color-corrected and digitally edited and so on and so forth. I always loved Cindy Crawford for once saying "Even *I* don't wake up looking like Cindy Crawford."

Men's perceptions of what women are supposed to look like are just as out of whack as our own. The pr0n-starification of ourselves. Brazilian waxes (guilty). Push-up bras (guilty) or worse, breast augmentation surgery (not guilty). Sky-high heels (guilty). Bleached hair (have sported every hair color known to man, and some unknown, at varying stages of my life). Collagen-injected lips and Botoxed brows. (NOT GUILTY!) All in the name of attracting a mate and furthering the species? Or all in the name of being gullible when maketers tell me my skin isn't clear enough or my eyebrows are too bushy? The wrinkles I have are called laugh lines. Which means that being happy caused them. What a rip!

I won't stop buying lip gloss. I won't stop searching for a cure for the combo of wrinkles and zits (hooray for your 30s!) I will still think about what sort of chemicals and calories comprise the foods I eat. But I will also call every woman I know beautiful every chance I get. Because really, you are.

I hope that we all see the beauty within, regardless of what the outside may look like.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about men who aren't 6'3, or muscular or have a great tan or perfect hair with highlights? I'm not saying that it happens to any comparable degree with men as it does with women, but there is certainly an ideal of beauty that men are aware of, too. They also spend money trying to improve features that women find attractive.

Don't forget about the other imperfects!

Slinky said...

I want to see this documentary....it's sounds interesting. Dove has been doing some interesting ad campaign stuff along the same lines....
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/
this one made me cry like a little girl...but that might have just been pms
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=7244