As a Mass Media major, it’s hard not to criticize and pay careful attention to the media that I encounter every day. This is especially true when said media has anything to do with women. Something that has certainly become a huge issue is the great lengths editors go to create images of women that do not reflect real body types.
Images like the one above, leave many women striving for a body type that is impossible because it literally does not exist. And if a woman does possess this body type, most often it is obtained in unhealthy ways. So many of us see these images of celebrities’ photoshopped into tight bodies, contoured faces, and lightened skin. We then walk away from these images thinking that our bodies aren’t good enough, and that we need to do something about it.
The worst part of it all is that no matter how hard we try, we can’t avoid images like this. They’re everywhere! At the end of the day we end up feeling unsatisfied with how we look because we can’t achieve the look that we are being brainwashed to believe is standard. The most baffling part of this phenomena is how they will edit these celebrities’ pictures to pieces, then later criticize them in tabloids with images of how they actually look, calling them fat. Of course this matter is toxic for us, but think about how toxic it is for the celebrities who are actually being altered.
The best thing to do is recognize that:
1. These images are not real.
2. You canNOT live up to unrealistic expectations.
3. You are beautiful the way that you are.
This is not to say that if you want to get fit, or change the way that you look, you can’t. The thing to remember is that you should do it on your own terms, and in a healthy, non-harmful way. Not because you feel inadequate compared to an image that has been altered. There is nothing wrong at all with enhancing the beauty that you already possess. As women it is so important that we promote positive body images and support one other so that we don’t fall into the traps that the media sets for us all the time.
Curves, rolls, thickness, big butts, little butts, full busts, and small busts are all beautiful and can all co-exist together. We don’t have to choose one standard of beauty for every woman. That’s what makes us so beautiful, our differences. So screw the media, and their warped images of women’s bodies! Let’s promote and love what’s real!