Your body is an instrument, not an ornament: eight words that resounded through the University of Utah’s Eccles auditorium. While to some these words were just another slide of a PowerPoint presentation, to others like me, this was one of the most powerful sentiments I had ever received.
On November 1st, 2017, Lexie and Lindsay Kite, founders of the non-profit organization Beauty Redefined, visited the U to empower on-campus women, and re-define what it truly means to be “beautiful.” Rather than coming at the expecting angle of “everyone is beautiful, accept your flaws,” Lexie and Lindsay, encouraged the audience to, instead, stop putting so much emphasis on physical appearance entirely.
In fact, the two called attention to the way, “we talk about our female peers as if they’re legs and butts” rather than the real and human individuals they are. And also drew attention to the way the media projects women as “one dimensional cartoon images,” with over-editing, whitewashing, and digital- slimming, while men maintain their lines, wrinkles, spots, and typically human characteristics. “People look like humans,” and women should not be an exception.
While many people view objectification as demeaning comments from catcallers “forcing their power on you,” the media, and other third parties, Beauty Redefined, however, turned this idea on its head when they discussed “self-objectification.” In a specific anecdote Lexie shared, she described “picturing [her]self living as [she] lived”—hypersensitive about people’s opinions about her hair, and thoughts about her weight. Because of this, the Kites explained that when we partake in this self-objecting behaviors, we are unable to be in healthy relationships because we feel as if we don’t deserve them. And in turn, we often feel that we should “just feel lucky that is someone is attracted to us.”
Because of this, the non-profits’ goal is to “help us know that [we’re] worth more than how [we] look to other people.” In order to do so, they advised that we “be critical of every message that comes into our brains,” and even suggested a media cleanse to detox from all of the harmful beauty standards we receive via beauty bloggers, lifestyle coaches, and our everyday Instagram feeds of pretty women and their “deceivingly perfect” bodies and lives.
Another solution posed in the presentation, was a seeking of spiritual strength to conquer the expectations we, as women, face every day. In fact, the two described spiritual strength as the key ingredient to making a resilient women, and explained that, “If a women draws her sense of meaning from a spiritual force that goes beyond herself, and provides coherence and purpose to the universe, she will feel less need to focus on her weight, shape, and appearance in an attempt to find happiness and life satisfaction.”
All of us at Her Campus Utah were extremely grateful to have the opportunity to hear Lindsay and Lexie speak, and witness the continuation of their journey in empowering women nationwide. Be sure to check out Beauty Redefined here. Donate and support the cause! We can’t wait to see the many more lives Lindsay and Lexie Kite, will change with their inspiring message.