The airbrushing controversy continues.

I think it's important to keep people informed of tactics the media uses to create unrealistic pictures using airbrushing or other forms of retouching photos of models. These photos are everywhere, airbrushed to show an opinion of perfection in every form. The photos mold the model into something so fake and yet scream out to viewers that this is what they should look like to be considered beautiful. I don't agree with it at all - a beautiful person does not always include flawless skin, full hair, or a certain size. I'd rather be around a person who is kind and selfless than a sized 2 "flawless" model who can't hold a conversation without insulting someone. I'm a firm believer that beauty comes from within.

Because of my beliefs on this topic, I was glad to find this article on Yahoo!'s Shine website. It reports a well-known blogger who is pointing his finger at the infamous Ralph Lauren and scolds him for the way he portrays his models. The ad the blogger is referring to is a picture of a model whose waist is airbrushed so small that her head is actually bigger than her waist (not to mention her arms and legs which look siiiiiickly thin). Hopefully these types of spoken outrages will help lawmakers realize there needs to be a thick, strong line about what advertisers can and cannot do when doing retouching their photos. Click on the title below to read the full article.

"Image of ultra-thin Ralph Lauren model sparks outrage"

Latest research from Dove

Dove recently completed a study entitled Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem. A total of 4,373 girls, ages 8 to 17, were surveyed online and throughout the United States. Some highlights of the findings include:

-Seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members
-62% of all girls feel insecure or not sure of themselves
-57% of all girls have a mother who criticizes her own looks
-More than half (57%) of all girls say they don’t always tell their parents certain things about them because they don’t want them to think badly of them
-75% of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative activities, such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking, or drinking, when feeling badly about themselves (Compared to 25% of girls with high self-esteem)
(For more, see the report at http://www.rocketxl.com/dsef/assets/DSEF_Report.pdf)

For those of us who care about this topic, it's not any news that our society's view of "beautiful" has been severely distorted. “The existing narrow definition of beauty is not only unrealistic and unattainable, but clearly it also creates hang-ups that can lead girls to question their own beauty,” said Philippe Harousseau, U.S. marketing director for Dove. “It’s time to free the next generation from these stereotypes and give girls the tools they need to discover their own definition of beauty.”

Dove is offering free tools to download for moms, girls, and mentors, including "True You and Mirror, Mirror" booklets, Interactive exercises, & Workshop Facilitator Guide DVD (find those tools HERE.)

I could honestly go on and on about the importance of instilling a sense of worth, value, and beauty in not only young girls but in everyone, but this post is already long enough (plus you can also check out my other posts on Dove's campaign here and here). The bottom line is we can't teach this to others unless we can accept ourselves for who we really are. If you need help or want to help, check out Dove's workshops or see what else you can do to help.

I've also pasted this video below; show it to others so they know how a photoshoot actually works!

"The Women"

A while ago I posted about Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty and how much I love it. Many women and girls struggle with their own body/self image, thinking they're not perfect; some go to extremes to change what they've been given or hurt their bodies in an attempt to find this so-called perfection. I will always very loudly proclaim that accepting one's imperfections with a smile is what's beautiful! Hollywood/the media prevent women & girls from accepting their imperfections by not explaining how much prep work (air brushing, hours of professional make-up and hair styling, designer clothing, etc) goes into making Hollywood's imperfections momentarily disappear.

"The Women" is a new movie staring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Cloris Leachman, Bette Midler and Candice Bergen and opens in theaters September 12, 2008.

Dove was involved by making a mini documentary of the film (found here). This documentary includes a 16 year old journalist interviewing the cast of "The Women," asking them questions like "What do you think is beautiful?" Their answers are far from the Hollywood stereotype! Members of the cast openly admit to having insecurities about their looks. I agree with what they find to be beautiful. Go watch the mini documentary!

I think the best part about this short film was when the 16 year old was able to get her hair and make-up done professionally. What an eye-opener to a teenager. Those hair and make-up artists are just that -- artists. (On top of that, pictures are airbrushed till there's almost no real person left.)

In my opinion, real beauty isn't looks. Real beauty is confidence, wisdom, humor, kindness. It'd be a waste of time to try to be friends with someone who's gorgeous but is completely arrogant and rude to you. The more you see admirable characteristic traits/qualities in a person, the more you want to share a friendship with that person -- regardless of looks (unless you're totally shallow). Do you agree that there's a connection between real beauty and real friendships?