"Standards of beauty are arbitrary. Body shame exists only to the extent that our physiques don't match our own beliefs about how we should look." ~ Martha Beck.
Now the question is what do we believe we should look like? And where do those beliefs come from? I think these beliefs begin very early. At least for me they began early on. We hear comments like "what a beautiful little girl, she has such gorgeous eyes"...and if we are pretty than we must be nice people, we will always succeed. Just look at Cinderella, she was suffering under the tyrannical reign of her hideous step mother and ugly step sisters. Stuck as their personal slave. Thus, ugly=mean and pretty=kind. In spite of her cruel step family Cinderella remains sweet and kind. Then she is freed from this oppression by a prince and not just any prince, a handsome prince. Now that she is rescued she lives happily ever after. This sets the precedence for us that good things come to beautiful people. You don't have to do anything except wait for rescue. I think this truly is the belief of a large part of society. Look at all the beautiful celebrities, they are practically worshiped for their appearance. Gratefully, now we get to decide what beauty is for ourselves. Luckily, as we mature so does our understanding of real beauty. What does real beauty look like to you?
1 comment:
I agree with your assessment to a point but I also have some opinions! Fairy tales in general can jeopardize how we look at relationships, not just our concept of beauty. Waiting for Prince Charming for women (or even Cinderella for men) can give us a false sense of who our true love is and how we find them. And yet, I still love fairy tales. A message of truth can be found and if we keep them simple they can be fun and harmless. To me, the step sisters and step mother are ugly because they are mean and the obnoxious behavior makes them even more unattractive to the Prince. Cinderella is beautiful because she doesn't give in to their hatred and continues to find happiness in her horrible situation. She also doesn't know the Prince will rescue her if she goes to the ball, she just wants to go to the ball and enjoy the fun like everyone else. I love the Cinderella story for the message that good wins over evil. And if you watch the modern movie adaptation with Drew Barrymore it goes in to social classes, the power of one person, true love...all of it! I love it.
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