The Fight for Natural Beauty

The Axe Effect: the official website. It says everything about the condition of our world and how it sees beauty. “Click here to see nice girls turn naughty.” “Click here to see the world’s DIRTIEST film – so dirty you’ll beg for a shower.” These words flash across the screen, accompanied by images that I’d rather not describe. It is saddening to see how the world’s perspective of beauty has been distorted and destroyed throughout the centuries, degrading women to objects, not people.

Botox, liposuction, cosmetic surgery, makeup, pedicures, manicures, facials, body lotion, perfume, moisturizers, cosmetic Bariatric surgery, diet-pills and more…these are things that are pushed towards women in today’s world. Advertisers tell us that we’re not pretty enough as we are; they tell us that we need all this to make ourselves “truly beautiful.” They tell us to forget the idea of “natural beauty” and try to persuade us that we need all these objects, procedures and more to be attractive and to get the “hot guy.”

It isn’t just things we can pay for, though. In today’s culture, the music and lyrics that blare out from the radio also encourage us to use our bodies – and not our personalities – to catch a man. “Slow bangin shorty like a belly dancer with it. Smell good, pretty skin, so gangsta with it.” Those are some of the opening lines to the song “Don’t Cha” as rapped by Busta Rhymes. Right after that comes the Pussycat Dolls, who put out the song. One of the things they say is, “Don't cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me?” The message being portrayed by this group of women is quite clear: be hot, be raw, be flirtatious, and you’ll get the guy you want.

It’s not just singing groups, however. Women also have to deal with the unrealistic expectations of men. I recently asked a young man who I know who he would choose out of two of my friends: my drop-dead gorgeous friend, or my simple, yet pretty friend. It was automatically the former. He didn’t even need to think. Men want the gorgeous girl by their side.

Now, there are the notable exceptions to the rule, so please don’t think that I’m a ranting, raving feminist who thinks all men should be shot. I have been blessed with many guy friends who are able to see past what the world says is “real beauty” and can see the natural beauty. To be told that I am beautiful by one of them means a thousand times more then if I were wearing makeup, and then told I was beautiful. I know that they mean what they say, and that I didn’t need to put on a show to get their praise.

One man I am thankful for is my father, who shows me everyday that there are men in this world who are worth looking up to. When he met my mother, she didn’t wear makeup, yet he says that he fell in love with her at first sight, despite the three or four scarves she had on, the baggy overalls, and sweatshirt she was wearing. Later on, when he wasn’t with her, his friends would tell my mom that he wouldn’t even look at other women. He saw my mom as she was, and not as an object that should be won over, slept with, and then dumped. This is, for me, an example of a “real man.”
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That's the beginning to a paper I'm writing for my literature class. I'll post the entire thing here once I'm done.

Your comments on it would be greatly appreciated.