Changing The Stereotype

Author's Note: For my District Writing Assessment Piece, I went back and edited my most recent essay, which also happened to be my most complex and challenging piece. I went through and changed many things with the mechanics and grammar, but I also changed some sentences around so that they get my point across more effectively. I hope that when you read this piece you feel the same frustration and anger that I did when researching the concept of beauty in today's terms. But, keep in mind you can make a difference as well, even if it's just passing on this message to others, just do something.

What if we lined up all of the girls and women in the world and compared their looks to determine who is beautiful and who isn't?  There are curvy girls, flat chested girls, girls with high cheek bones, girls with long noses, girls with blonde hair, girls with red hair; this list could go on and on.  Why does society try to determine what is pretty and what is not if there is such a wide variety of body types and styles out there?  Whether it be in the workplace or just in everyday life, when women are treated differently based upon their looks it either sets them back in their career or gives them an unfair advantage: this practice is extremely unjust and needs to be stopped.

Stereotypes are something society is good at creating, the stereotype of beauty that our society has created has greatly affected the workplace.  Fifty-seven percent of employers stated that qualified, but unattractive candidates are going to have a harder time finding a job.  Also, more than half of these employers advised spending as much time on how they look as they spend on their resume. (Bennet)  These statistics are startlingly true, and it’s sad to think that women need to focus on “being attractive” rather than their academic achievement and qualifications for a job.  While those statistics are about getting you hired, what about your looks on the job?  According to Newsweek Magazine, published in July of 2010, 61 percent of managers, the majority of them being men, said it would be an advantage for a woman to wear clothing showing off her figure at work.  This personally made me cringe; the fact that women have to show off their curves to get a promotion is just incredulous.  It should always be an environment where you are hired and promoted because of your skills, not your outer appearance.  This image of beauty that has been created has completely corrupted our country.

Women in the workforce definitely get a hard time about what they wear, but where does it all start?  The teen years of course.  Magazines that portray women in a glamorous way and TV shows featuring teenagers thrust an unrealistic image onto us.  To see what this image is, I picked up Seventeen Magazine’s February 2013 issue and paged through it, looking specifically at the models and the similar characteristics they shared.  They all had average noses, perfectly styled hair, tight clothes, low cut or short dresses, and perfect white teeth.  These characteristics were blatantly displayed throughout the magazine.  I found it sickening, personally because  there was no diversity, no flaws.  Flaws are what make each person unique; we must take our flaws and make them our beauty.  I also found one huge fact that this magazine screams at you right from the start: you cannot have blemishes.  Not a single model had any sort of blemish, they were all airbrushed to perfection, a sea of smooth faces.  This really irked me.  When I look around, all teenagers are definitely not blemish free; it’s a goal that is unrealistic and near impossible.  Magazines should be portraying all body types, flaws and all, but they don’t as a result they are just catapulting teenage girls into a hard life of conforming to the stereotype.  

Society has sunk their claws nice and deep into the image of beauty, but there are people fighting this issue with all their might.  Recently, as I was browsing the internet for information on this topic, I found an image relating to beauty and its many sides (Mark).  The picture was simple, near the top of the image it said “Victoria’s Secret Love My Body Campaign” and there were several models featured in women’s undergarments.  Then below that, there was a dividing line and below the line it said “Dove Real Beauty Campaign, and again there were several models.  These campaigns seem fairly similar, but the huge difference is the models.  The Victoria’s Secret models were so skinny they seemed almost skeletal.  How can we love our bodies if the campaign tells us our bodies should all look the same, impossibly thin?   In comparison, Dove’s models were all varying in height and body type; they looked like just regular people you could pull of the street.  Dove’s campaign gave me confidence that people are fighting this view on “outer beauty”.  At the same time, the Victoria’s Secret campaign disappointed me because it’s showing that social media is going to fight right back.  I know it’s possible for organizations to take charge and begin to dig us out of this hole we are all stuck in; I know this because I’ve found a website doing just that titled “Beauty Redefined”, written by two women who want to make a difference for other women.  Throughout their website they feature quotes such as “You are capable of much more than just being looked at” and “Your reflection does not define your worth” (Kite).  These quotes are inspirational and true.  So many girls want to look pretty or look beautiful, but there’s so much more to life than that.  Everybody has talents, and they can shine, if they just put their mirrors down and leave society’s view of beauty behind.  

I have come across many articles that tried to describe beauty, but you just can’t and no matter how hard you try, you will never get it right.  This is because everybody is beautiful in their own special way, but sadly discrimination based upon this stereotype of beauty  follows women throughout their lives and social media just fuels the flames.   As I was researching this topic, I wanted to give up so many times because everything in the media was so negatively influencing girls and I was influenced by the stereotype myself; it really hit home. Thankfully,  there are those diamonds in the rough though, for example, Dove’s campaign and the website Beauty Redefined.  They helped me push through and reaffirm my beliefs.  Beauty should not be the leading factor in success and achievement; beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Bibliography

Bennet, Jessica. The Beauty Advantage . 26 July 2010. Article. 27 March 2013.

Kite, Lindsay and Lexie. Beauty Redefined. 2012. Website. 9 April 2013.

Mark, Elyse. Body Positivity Today . 11 October 2012. Article. 9 April 2013.