My friends have been nagging me to start a blog for a while now, so I gave in and created one. The only problem was I didn't have a clue what to write about. My friends kept telling me to write about something I'm passionate about- for instance they write about music, fashion and photography (which they're bloody good at) and the only thing that sprung to mind for me was writing itself- but who wants to read a post with me gushing about how amazing writing is? So I decided to focus on writing about other things, except I hadn't concluded what these 'other things' were yet, which proved to be a problem. However, today I was browsing through my friends blog; http://mashthings.blogspot.com/2010/07/is-airbrushing-worth-it.html and was really interested in this article. So the metaphorical light bulb went on and I started writing this post.

One of the biggest debates in our society is beauty. Everybody is constantly trying to capture it, and it poses as an everlasting battle. How would you define beauty? We’re always hearing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it’s inner beauty that counts. This is hard to believe however. Speak to any person you know, especially girls, and I doubt many people would openly admit they were beautiful. So many girls are desperate to be classed as beautiful, you hear it time and time again, the endless savage comments about themselves- we moan we’re fat, ugly, have rubbish skin, our hair isn’t perfect enough- and so on. Believe me, I'm no exception to this. We’re all screaming that we want to be beautiful, we want to change, we want to be like the actresses on television, and we want to be like our gorgeous friends. People tear themselves apart in order to reach this ideal of beauty, and let’s be honest, with adverts and models and the constant attention media places on beauty and what is beauty has completely distorted our own image of beauty. All you have to do is look at a couple of blogs or chat sites and you realise how severely we’re all affected by it. As my lovely friends article points out; models are airbrushed and their body shapes distorted all in the name of consumerism. This therefore creates an unrealistic image of beauty; how can we be expected as women to live up to this image of beauty when it's not even real?

So many Girls compare themselves to others, if we don’t have the same body shape as our favourite actress or we don’t have long glossy blonde locks then we feel inadequate and ugly. It’s heart breaking to see so many people’s self esteem and confidence shattered, it makes us all feel like we’re a waste of space and can even affect some of us badly enough that we become depressed and suicidal. It can also cause eating disorders. Models, who depict our image of beauty, have become increasing thinner- unrealistically thin.

'The researchers note that according to the DSM III-R, maintaining body weight of 15% below one's expected weight is a criterion for anorexia nervosa. Other researchers have also noted the prevalence of disordered eating among fashion models (e.g., Brenner & Cunningham, 1992) and the severe health risks associated with achieving a very thin body type. Women whose body fat falls below 22% are much more susceptible to infertility, amenorrhea, ovarian and endometrial cancer, and osteoporosis (Seid, 1989). These findings suggest that the slim beauty ideal presented in the media may be unhealthy for women'

is taken from:

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=MHrCHNhw2hP2B8XvS4vctG5P3MJfC21Lc8WDG1vf4pBfGkzN5QFH!615343353!1882424585?docId=5000574256, and supports my point that the depicted image of beauty in the media is harmful. The media has set an unrealistic and unhealthy goal, and thank god for people such as the amazing Gok Wan, who has dedicated himself to making women realise that they are beautiful as they are and they should learn to accept themselves. . I guess all we can do is try and remember we’re all in the same boat- we all want to 'beautiful' and in the quest to attain this beauty we can find ourselves feeling like we're not good enough, but we just have to push past this and realise we’re all different. Different people find different things beautiful, and a lot of it is based on personality as well as our actual image. We are all beautiful in our own way, although this is easier to say than it is to perceive. We all have rubbish days, when we just want to bury our heads under our bed covers and eat a tonne of food, and not move. And we all have to endure vicious comments from others, but I guess we just have to dismiss what other people think and realise we have to do what is best for us. In the end, we’re all going to be looking back on our lives and reminiscing about it- do we want to be looking back on a life in which we spent most of our time obsessing about our looks, or would you rather be thinking about how you did the best you could to follow your dreams and aspirations? I know what I’d choose.

How would I define beauty? Beauty is whatever you choose it to be. It is in the eye of the beholder. So go and be beautiful.