Okay, so what is attractive? Like is it skinny...but what defines thin? Is it tall? Is it blonde? Blue-eyed? And who defines beauty? And who has the right to judge whether or not someone else is attractive?
I feel a lot of pressure to look a certain way in life. Can I shake this pressure, or is it one of those things that I'm just going to have take upon myself to deal with? I don't fit the typical description of beauty and I'm sure not in the 'popular' crowd, but does that make me ugly and uncool?
I'm not always happy with the way I look but I don't spend hours in front of the mirror in the morning. I know that people should like me for who I am and not who I look like. I also know that it really doesn't work that way. Knowing doesn't change how things really are. I do care what other people think of me. I know that I shouldn't. But I do. And that's the truth of it.
Do magazines and media influence how we think we should look? When I look at a picture of a gorgeous girl in Cosmogirl, I think, 'I wish I looked like that.' The picture, I'm sure, has been through photoshop more times than I could count and I'm sure the girl doesn't really look like that. But that doesn't really matter. I now have a idea ingrained in my head on how I should look, and instead of looking like myself, I have attempted to emulate someone else's idea of beauty.
If people were content with how they looked, teens would feel so much less pressure. The constant feeling of having to look 'right' would just disappear. Why can't we be free to do this? Even if some of us decided that we were going to look like ourselves and no longer put up with idealistic nonsense, it wouldn't go anywhere. The same cliques would exist and the teens that decided to be 'different' would still be labeled different. What can Americans do about the pressure to look 'attractive'?
Pressure to be 'attractive'
By Waitingforthewo... - Posted on October 7th, 2008
Tagged: Personal freedom
Waitingfortheworldtochange's blog
• Login or register to add your review
• 199 reads
• Email this page
What can Americans do about the pressure to look 'attractive'? Easy; stop caring about the pressure people put on you. You need to look good for you, and look 'attractive' according to your standards (not how you've been influenced by the media to THINK what attractive is). If you let other people define beauty, you're going to be struggling your entire life to live up to those unattainable standards.
Are you in high school still? You said cliques, and no one really cares about those after graduation. Once you're out of high school you get to actually find out who you are without the constraints of "being popular" thrust upon you. After I graduated high school, I saw a lot of people cross over the "clique line" because it just didn't matter anymore. People begin to see your beauty, not just how popular the people are you hang out with. There is a much better life waiting for you after high school ^^
k
**********
view my blog! http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/49917
Everyone will have the pressure to look attractive. It is the same in every culture. In many muslim countries they make the women cover up. with this in mind i dont think it is actually the media creating this pressure, but the testorone behind the media .
You have to learn to love who you are. Beauty to me can also define a personality. You could she the prettiest girl in the world but she could be a total bitch and then to me she would look ugly. It is the same with guys.
It will never matter if 100 people think you are gorgous until you really believe that you are. Alot of people think they are ugly, but they aren't. Remember we also see ourselves differently than other people see us.
I know it is tempting but stop looking at those damn magazines, they are fake and yes it is believable, but it will only bring you down.
You really have to try to not focus on the media so much, and alot of the things that influence how someone should look. In the end the only opinion that matters is your own (about yourself) because you are the one stuck with yourself the rest of your life.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~