As body confidence hits Her Campus this week, it’s all about reminding you to embrace your so-called ‘imperfections’ and love yourself every day. So, how was I going to enforce this message?
Naturally, an article about celebrities and their flaws sprang to mind. We all want to be reminded that the goddesses that grace our TV screens and magazine covers are in fact (brace yourself) human, right?
Think Georgia May Jagger and that infamous smile. Despite not conforming to conventional teeth goals, her gap certainly hasn’t held her back.
Or Kate Bosworth and her mismatched eyes. A gene mutation left her with one blue eye and one brown – not a quality you expect of a film star, but no one can deny she stuns.
And lets not forget Winnie Harlow. This top model suffers from a chronic skin condition called Vitiligo. Covered with patches of pigmentation, her look is undeniably unconventional, but it’s not stopped her from landing major add campaigns with giants such as Diesel and Desigual.
But this got me thinking. There are hundreds of articles out there telling us how nobody, not even these so-called celestial celebs, are perfect. But do they actually have a positive impact on our self-esteem? Should the media have to highlight the flaws of others just to make us feel better about our own?
Sure, these articles show us that even the likes of Jennifer Laurence and Mila Kunis are not in fact sculpted by the Gods, but surely they’re quite hypocritical? Knowing Scarlett Johansen has a bit of cellulite might make you feel better about your cankles for a few hours, days even, but the little voice inside your head soon returns: ‘You’re not quite Gigi Hadid though, are you?’ You experience a fleeting sense of acceptance, but they’re ultimately a quick fix. They’re not going to transform your self-confidence.
What struck me the most though, was that these so called ‘imperfections’ have been highlighted by the media and therefore proclaimed to be an ‘acceptable’ flaw. These women’s industries decided that they were flawed but beautiful, imperfect but admirable. The acceptance and embracement of these ‘flaws’ is not presented as coming from within. It’s just another product of the media, and that’s all part of the problem
Many of us can trace our insecurities back to the media. Television, magazines; they all tell us what is acceptable, what is beautiful, what our goals should be. In reality though, as these articles show us, the images they present are just an illusion. They shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose what is acceptable, or attractive, or sexy. If we shouldn’t listen to them when they tell us something is ‘perfect’, why should we trust them when they say something different, or simply unconventional, is worth appreciation? They tell us what’s hot, and then what’s not hot can be hot…maybe…sometimes…
The point is, self-love has to come from YOU. You can’t rely on the media to tell you your flaws are acceptable. Sure, we’ve embraced Jagger’s teeth and Bosworth’s eyes, but only after they did themselves.
In the words of Winnie herself: ‘I love me, so everyone else is going to have to deal with it’. She didn’t wait around for the media to accept her, and neither should you. Just like these ladies, embrace your ‘flaws’ and be happy, because if you don’t like yourself, no one else will. You don’t need the medias influence to boost your self-confidence. The odds are it will find a way to knock you down as soon as it builds you up. Show the world what you’ve got, because (say it with me) you’re so worth it.