Everywhere we go we are bombarded by images. Images selling a lifestyle. A promise of better life. If only you looked like the gorgeous model on the billboard, your life will be better. Complete. Perfect.
Wrong.
Because that image is fake. It is likely to only bear a passing resemblance to the model.
I, in my advancing years, can recognise this, but a lot of our young, impressionable people don't.
So they have a distorted view of reality. A distorted perception of beauty. And a distorted understanding that they themselves are truly beautiful.
The negative impact of this distorted reality can be lifelong.
80% of 13 year-olds have attempted to diet. Anorexia and bulimia in teens is increasing - and of those that develop anorexia in their teens, only 30% will ever recover fully.
The numbers of teenagers seeking cosmetic surgery has more than tripled since 2003, with some countries reporting that it has increased increased fivefold.
We need to re-empower our youth to love and respect themselves for their natural beauty. Not to aspire to a Photoshop unreality, and damage and mutilate their bodies in trying to achieve it.
Small steps are being made - such as Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. This video is particularly revealing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
But it is not enough. The beauty and fashion industries need to take full responsibility. And fast.
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I completely agree. I ran across an article about people performing plastic surgery on themselves... it's just sick.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was on vacation in the UK I saw a tv show where a woman was on a crusade to put real people into ads. Wish I could remember the name of it, it was interesting.
I think that might have been Coleen's Real Women?
ReplyDeleteShe is married to one of our top footballers and is not the usual stick-thin model-type. She is on a mission to get the beauty of normal women recognised, I believe.