Beauty. What is it? Did you know in the 1700s a woman was considered
beautiful if she was overweight because it meant she had enough money
to eat well. Boy have the times changed. My dearest friends, welcome
to the 21st century where a woman is beautiful if she has
enough money to inject herself with needles, coat her skin in
products, and accentuate various body parts through plastic surgery.
A beautiful woman is one who has enough “self-control” to starve
herself. A beautiful woman doesn't even have pores on her face, let
alone imperfections. And who tells us this? The media, and of course
we listen. On average, we are bombarded with about 400 to 600 ads a
day in which most, if not directly, at least indirectly shove not
only the value of beauty down our throats, but the idea that beauty
is value. Products say: Thinner, softer, smoother, sexier, better,
prettier, hotter. The suffix -ER is regularly used in forming the
comparative degree of adjectives. Comparative. No wonder suicide and
depression rates are climbing each year. According to suicide.org,
a teen takes his or her own life every 100 minutes. Suicide is the
third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24.
Approximately 20 percent of teens experience depression before they
reach adulthood, and between 10 to 15 percent suffer from symptoms at
any one time. Girls are two times more likely to experience
depression than boys. And what is the leading cause of depression?
Low self-esteem. So if a girl is exposed to 400 to 600 ads a day,
proving to her that there will always be someone more beautiful than
she is, why wouldn't she have low self esteem. If a girl is
constantly being compared to prettier girls, then why wouldn't she be
depressed. If a female is told every day of her life, that her value
lies in her beauty, than why wouldn't she feel inadequate, not good
enough, ugly, not worth it. We are striving for an impossible degree
of perfection. Because believe it or not, not even the girls in the
magazines, look like the girls in the magazines. Airbrush, photo
shop, make up. It's all fake and it is all literally impossible. The
pictures in the media are edited to make a woman's face perfectly
symmetrical as this is most pleasing to the eye. Well in the history
of the world, rarely has any human being ever been born perfectly
symmetrical. They drain our self esteem so that they can drain our
wallets. They distort their faces in order to distort our sense of
beauty. Well now it's our turn. It's our turn to regain our sense of
reality. It's our turn to have our voices heard, to tell them that
beauty isn't everything. It's our turn to tell them what beauty
means. Beautiful is the girl who goes into surgery with a shaved
head, fighting to keep her life. Because this surgery is more
beautiful than a nose job or cheek lift. Beautiful is the girl who
has imperfections that set her apart. Because being different is
better than trying to be like the rest of them. Beautiful is the girl
who stands up for what she believes in. Because standing for what's
right, is better than walking down a runway. Society will continue to
throw at you, a million different slogans of what beautiful is, but
it's your turn to stop listening. Don't listen to them, listen to
yourself because deep down there is a part of you that knows, that
has always know, something. The truth. The truth that you are
beautiful just the way you are. So stop caring if you're pretty or
not. You will never be merely pretty, but you will be pretty kind,
pretty smart, pretty hardworking, and pretty amazing. And if you ask
me, I think that's pretty great.
