The Price of Beauty

Who decides what is beautiful? 

Who gets to decide what beauty is? 

Can beauty be defined by age, gender, color, body shape or size? 

More IMPORTANTLY who gets to decide?

The media tends to play a MASSIVE role in defining what a woman should be like.

The fact is sex sells, especially a sexy woman.  

They take a naturally beautiful girl and photoshop her to be their version of "perfect"

 (see Britney photo)

I mean they erased her cellulite-- gosh forbid a woman with 2 kids would have cellulite! 

This leads young girls into believing that what they see on a magazine is natural, and thats what they need to look like. 

Which puts more pressure on girls. 

Some of which turn to plastic surgery...

"Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery."

FACT:  It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between 40 to 100 billion

BILLIONS DOLLARS a YEAR is going to tell us we aren't good enough?!!? WOW!

"The average size for a woman in this country is a 12, so technically, "plus-sized" starts at 14. In the modeling industry, however, models larger than a size 4 usually find more work doing plus-sized."  
Larger than a size 4 are you kidding me?! 
And let's discuss this whole "plus-sized" term; Could anything sound MORE degrading?! 
The fact IS you CAN be healthy and beautiful without being a size 4.  
It's ideas like this that causes eating disorders, such as bulimia or anorexia. In fact One out of every 100 adolescent girls has the disorder. Approximately 95% of those affected by anorexia are female, most often teenage girls, but males can develop the disorder as well.
Maybe our country as a WHOLE needs to start thinking this way: "plus-sized" is just average-sized, healthy women. Just like straight size models, who represent average women, are much, much smaller; plus-sized models are not actually plus-sized women, we're just bigger than the average model.

This PLUS SIZE bra AD was banned from TV recently for being "too sexy" 

REALLY?!?!

BUT THIS ISNT "TOO SEXY"....

ridiculous. absolutely ridiculous. 

Listen up girls- you ARE beautiful no matter what size, race, age you are! If your curvy- embrace it! If your skinny- EMBACE IT! Love yourself for WHO YOU ARE. Thats more important. 
XO- D

Sources:
/www.stylelist.com/2009/10/14/naked-plus-size-model-jennie-runk-glamour-photo-shoot
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/06/29/global.beauty.culture/index.html?hpt=hp_c2