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Self: Woman, Do You Think You're Ugly?

A good friend of mine sent me the following link a few days ago...

Take a look.





After I watched it, I thought to myself: "I don't have this problem with my looks. I think I'm okay. I could do with losing a couple of pounds, but generally, I'm okay". Is that arrogant? :) While I know I'd never make a Victoria's Secret model line-up, I would like to believe I would be "objective" about my bodily features in a situation like this and wouldn't negatively over-exaggerate them - and I thought most women would feel the same.

But then something that surprised me happened. I saw friends and online acquaintances appraise and applaud the video and campaign, stating that it made them think about their own negative self-image issues - and today it makes me ask the question:

Why do so many women feel ugly?
 
Is it that oftentimes women are conditioned to act as if they feel they are not beautiful - even if they secretly believe they are - to avoid being viewed as conceited?

Or do some women genuinely look in the mirror and believe they are not beautiful?

Do we unfairly compare ourselves to electronically modified models online?

Do we have unrealistic ideals of beauty? And who the heck set those ideals? Women? Men? Aliens from Outer Space?

Who decides the rules of beauty - and do you subconsciously follow them?

I know that the negative self-image doesn't apply to every woman (we all have brains to think on an individual basis, Dove!) - so I also don't believe the ludicrous claim that only 4% of women believe they are beautiful.

I find this campaign patronising and dangerous: I feel it perpetuates the idea that most women have negative self-images of ourselves (I can't conclude that we do, because we're not all the same!) and Dove is the one to save us from ourselves. Nah mate, the beauty industry is probably one of the causes of it - if anything! How is the phrase "Women are their own worst beauty critics" empowering? No! No! No!

However, one facet of negative self-image that I can relate to is that of inner beauty / personality. In a world of extroversion and self-promotion it can be a little scary if you're not good at being (or acting like) that. One thing we could all do with is reminding ourselves of our gifts and talents - the things we take for granted - love ourselves because we exist.

'Tis a good thing to be confident - and believe in yourself. On the inside and outside!


Women, we are amazing. Let that just be that.

And of course, men you are too, don't like this silly old ad below make you believe you're not. But I don't think y'all ever would. OK, maybe 4% of you might...


What are your thoughts on the Dove Beauty Campaign? And its parodies?

Is the campaign a force for good? Or not so much?

Let me know your thoughts below!
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Comments

  1. Anonymous21 April 2013 at 15:54

    I believe that the issue highlighted by the campaign is prevalent, else it wouldn't have gained so much traction. I'm not necessarily saying their "fact" is true, or indeed false - I have no way of proving either way. But it does appear to me that they've hit upon some very profound results, from some very interesting research. And more importantly, they've happened upon at least one important psychological phenomenon - more people than we'd like to believe, don't see all the beauty there is to see in themselves, even though ironically, they are able to see more of the beauty in others.

    And if they are going to make some money from that, I don't begrudge them seeing the beauty in that marketing strategy ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ebunola A21 April 2013 at 16:38

    Thanks for commenting Yinks! How prevalent though? 96%? One thing we do agree on is that there is no way of proving this claim either way unless we talked to the billions of women all over the world - and that would just be... expensive :)

    ReplyDelete

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