Oh, that’s all of us? I guess we should all stand up then!

Following up on what I wrote the other day, I decided to make my own Perfect Woman image for people to share around town. Actually, I made a few; options are good!

I know it’s hard to love the looks genetics handed to you. We always seem to desire what we don’t have: straight hair, curly hair; skinnier, curvier. Why is it so hard to just be content with what we have? A lot of it, in my opinion, is due to the constant bombardment of media-determined ideals. I think it is unrealistic to hope that they will come around eventually to celebrate beauty in all its various forms — frankly, making women feel badly about themselves is a lucrative business. Cosmetics, gym memberships, diet pills, plastic surgery, facial creams, push-up bras to make boobs look bigger, support garments to make waists look smaller .. the list goes on and on. Now I’m not saying that we should all burn our bras, eschew make-up and stop shaving our pits (although if that’s the path you wanna take, GO YOU!). However, when we doll ourselves up it should be because we want to, not because we have been programmed to think X, Y and Z are the only ways to be beautiful. We also need to stop playing right into the media’s lies by tearing each other down. Stop with the body shaming, ladies! We are all real women.