I love this photo.
It illustrates the flaw in the mainstream “you’re fine just the way you are” message. For one, the ideal paints an inaccurate picture of those who are stereotypically beautiful. More importantly, it’s a contributing factor to a generation of poor health and plastic surgery.
I read the message as, “you’re never going to look this good, so stop trying and be happy with where you’ve ended up.”
Really? That’s it? In every other aspect of life, one is expected to incessantly strive for more, stopping at nothing until supreme greatness is achieved. Why does physical appearance shirk this rule? The logic of the message makes no sense, so the message needs to change.
Instead of attempting to boost the self esteem of those who aren’t stereotypically beautiful, we should be communicating that the models featured in magazines and on TV are only “beautiful” after tons of makeup and post-processing have been applied. In reality, they look very interesting, but certainly not “beautiful.”
Instead, the real definition of beauty is actually the androgynous, anamorphic faces you see in the photo. Things like plastic surgery and makeup just turn all the complex and interesting aspects of them into dull, lifeless shapes.
Many of the models in this photo arrestingly beautiful. If I stumbled across any of these in a magazine, I would certainly stop flipping the page. That’s the point, right?
