In our world of technology and mass exposure, a trend of what people (especially women) should look like has been poisoning our minds. Unrealistic expectations of self image are not only helping to control what consumers are demanding, but also causing severe emotional and physcological damage. Generalized assumtions and stereotypes are commonplace giving rise to eating disorders, self loathing tendencies, bullying, and even deaths/suicides related to and direct results of the images that advertising companies want us to see. Why spend so much time and effort creating a desire to be something that is not attainable. Look at the video below and see the "magic" of photoshop and then the next time you're looking at a magazine remember that it isn't real.
I know right ?! I totally agree with you 100% all these models that look nice on magazines are all Photoshop. At first I thought people can actually look like that but I did some research and found out the truth. And since then I don't really pay any mind to how "we're suppose to look."
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to see a man pointing this out. I've heard many comments on this topic, but they almost always come from women. I've also found through life experience that women are far more critical of ourselves and each other. Why is this? Men seem to be far more accepting of our flaws that we are of our own. We're sometimes so worried about what a man will think of the parts of our bodies that we criticize when we look into a mirror, that we don't realize that a REAL man doesn't see the same thing that we do. Yes we're inundated with images of what advertisers portray as beautiful, but why do we try to live up to that false image instead of making an attempt to be a beautiful person with our actions, not our looks? I stereotyped good looking girls early, and decided that most people that are what society has labeled as "beautiful" tend to focus on only that and it makes them an ugly person on the inside! We all age, so good looks are destined to become a thing of the past. With this awareness, I made a personal choice to always focus on improving myself from the inside out. I have a quote from Katie Holmes (at my daughter's eye-level) on my refrigerator that says, "You may be pretty, and you may be talented, but nobody will remember that if you're mean." Good words to live by!
ReplyDeleteCheck out the ted talk (www.ted.com) given by supermodel Cameron Russell titled "Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model." She has powerful words about the importance of looks that she delivers from the perspective of a beautiful woman.