Since the magazine I formerly wrote for printed this with misspellings and took out important points that pulled it all together, I am taking this opportunity to publish this the way it was intended. It is outside of what you would expect on Sticks and Stones, but important info to consider nonetheless. Enjoy!
As a kid, I wore glasses, donned a mouthful of colorful braces, and dressed like a tomboy. I had awkward written all over me, down to my “I Heart Taylor Hanson” book cover (and locker poster, and bedroom shrine). I didn’t know how to pluck my eyebrows evenly (symmetry was a concept that alluded me), and my mom made me start taking measures to remove my peach fuzz at the age of 12 (it was becoming less peachy, more mustache-y). I was a babe.
Yes, I confessed this to make you laugh. But why did you laugh? Because my described appearance does not fit into society’s standard of beauty.
Well, what is beauty? Who sets the standard? Is it the latest shade of lipstick? Is it the hottest hair cut, jacket or pair of heels? Is it a costly boob job or merely luck-of-the-draw genetics? Oh no. Most people would answer my leading questions with, “Of course not! Beauty lies within!” It’s the right thing to say. But do we really believe it?
Let me put it to you this way - if we did, Americans wouldn’t be spending $8 billion a year on makeup, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Pounds and pounds of chemicals used to conceal ourselves or alter our natural beauty in order to cover up whatever feature is not in style this season. A study conducted by Superdrug suggests that women will spend $13,000 over the course of their lives on makeup. I can think of a number of things I would rather spend $13,000 on. The statistics reveal much about marketing to female insecurities. Most times, there’s nothing wrong with the way we look, but these companies set out to make you believe there is so they can profit. We are just a pawn in their sales pitch.
The beauty industry has truly succeeded in making women feel inferior without them. A business and marketing scheme so successful, that the Superdrug survey also found that 70 percent of women refuse to leave the house without makeup. Seventy percent! Who is in control of beauty here? Estee Lauder or you?
We are a superficial, judgmental society that would rather throw dollars at an industry than embrace ourselves for who we are and love ourselves for what we look like. If we cannot see past the capitalistic system that has been put in place to make women feel like they’re never going to measure up, then we have surrendered our right to define what beauty really is.
Being beautiful by society’s standards is so important to us, that it is now not acceptable to show signs of aging – a completely normal, natural part of life. But someone took a demographics class, realized that the majority of our population (the baby boomers) are starting to age, and decided that it seemed like a good time to prey on them to make some cash.
We are inundated with ad campaigns shoving their anti-wrinkle creams, hair-dyes and jowel removers down our throats. But they’re not only advertising to the baby boomers now. Twenty-year olds are being encouraged to start early if they want to avoid looking like Betty White and more like Joan Rivers – because she sidestepped aging oh-so-gracefully.
The beauty industry is targeting girls at younger and younger ages. The culmination of this travesty is best exemplified by TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras” series. It is a show documenting pageant toddlers and the poor families they’ve been born into. This usually consists of overweight parents vicariously living through their oversexed tots.
Already, these babies are being brainwashed to believe that their success is contingent upon how good they look. Let’s throw some more money at the pageant industry and see how we all turnout. JonBenét Ramsey anyone?
It is time to take control. I am not asking you to march up the front steps of Cover Girl, burn your bra, display your hairy pits while screaming, “I am beautiful hear me roar!” There is a level of hygiene that I’d like you to consider maintaining.
But I do challenge you to look at yourself in the mirror today and point out at least one thing you like about yourself. Better yet, I double dog dare you to leave the house without makeup on. Don’t be part of that 70 percent statistic. Your coworkers are not going to care, and if they do, remind them what they are getting paid for. It’s actually quite liberating to don a bare face. Not to mention you will save some cash in the process (maybe you can even take back some of that $13,000).
Start embracing your true beauty – because it’s okay if you have crow’s feet or smile lines, or that you aren’t defining your eyes with the latest metallic liquid liner. Just do good things for your body and the rest will fall into place. If we continue on the path we are going, we are never going to be satisfied with ourselves. They say that happiness is wanting the things you already have. And being happy with yourself is what will make you truly beautiful.
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