The evolution of beauty within the contextual confinements of society is astonishing.
Before the new age, fitness-obsessive frenzy existed; heavier, voluptuous physiques were the idealistic image of physical and sexual attraction. A size twelve was sexy, thick thighs were hot, and curves could set a heart racing. Media images depicted models that were NOT stick thin, air brushed to perfection, or visibility emaciated. Instead, popularized images of female bodies appeared to represent the realistic, average woman’s body type: size 14.
HOLD ON. There’s no way that a size 14 is AVERAGE. Well, it is!
Society has conditioned us to believe that ‘beauty’ equates anything under a size 6. But how is that beautiful when only a couple of decades ago, beautiful meant something else?
Answer? THERE IS NO ONE TYPE OF BEAUTY. Beauty is everywhere and different for everyone.
But then, why has there been such heavy emphasis on a singular conformity and perpetuation of beauty? I know I cannot speak for every woman in the world, but I have a hard time constructing my own definition of beauty when I am constantly corrupted by and comparing myself to what I see produced by popular media. I believe that women have been so tremendously conditioned to try and shape and change our bodies in order to fit a specific standard of physical beauty that is propagated by magazines, models, TV Shows, movies, singers, etc. How am I, a five-foot six inched, athletically built female supposed to exercise my body into a size 0? I can’t. But this is what we have been manipulated into thinking is attractive, when truly; this image is not even realistic!
There has been a push, both externally and internally, to police female bodies into a sole category that is deemed ‘physically attractive’. The infectious images of female bodies produced by mass media is in turn internalized by the consumer, and then used as a mode of comparison. But this is not fair! How does this discriminatory, exclusive classification supposed to capture the subtle nuances that some see as beautiful and may not identify with this representation?
Society today appears to be critically concerned with outer appearance. We indulge in manscaping, waxing, dieting, etc., but for what purpose? To not be called ‘fat’ or ‘ugly’ by someone else’s standards? What about our own personal standards? Shouldn’t that matter more?
Simply around Lehigh Campus, there is a clear materialistic ‘code’ that students appear to accept as a way to satisfy the formal classification of a ‘Lehigh Student’ (Yes. Sperry’s, Button downs, Bean Boots; the Uniform). Additionally, just waking around campus, I observe various individuals catching a glimpse of their reflection in any reflective surface. I am not saying that I am not a slave to these actions as well; I do it too. I stare at the image of my hair, nose, legs, butt, arms, stomach, all to make sure that I meet the standards of my accepted beauty. But as hard as I try, I cannot shake the little media devil off my shoulder forcing me to present myself in a certain way in order to reproduce their mode of socially constructed beauty. Bodies are constantly being policed by external sources as well as internal devils insuring the replication of specific beauty standards.
But this needs to stop, and stop NOW.
Beauty, as we have hopefully been taught, is in the eye of the beholder, meaning that ‘beauty’ cannot be judged objectively because what one person finds beautiful may not appeal to another, and that is okay. Personal forms or perceptions of beauty should not be imposed on others. What we see on in movies, TV shows, music videos, advertisements, etc. is not natural beauty. All images have been modified, computerized, enhanced, airbrushed, enlarged, and distorted in order to portray a false product that never existed in the first place. If that’s the case, then it IS NOT REAL!
It is important to remember that bodies come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Celebrate and notice the different features, qualities, and characteristic that make individuals beautiful by your own standards. Bodies are wonderful and can do amazing things, so celebrated them, do not scrutinize. And to answer the overall question, no, your butt does not look fat; it looks BEAUTIFUL!
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