Samantha Tadlock English 1102 Ms. Rand March 31, 2014 Who Defines True Beauty?

When it comes to defining beauty and feeling beautiful, things can become a bit controversial. There have been so many distortions of what beauty looks like placed in our minds by the society in which we were brought up. As time passed and things began to change and advance so did the perceptions of what a beautiful person looks and acts like. You can see through pictures and media how the views of beauty have changed from the past to the society we live in today. Judging someone based on what society thinks is right may not be the best thing to do, perceptions change and so does the taste of those in control of the beauty shown in media. So is there really a set criterion of what a beautiful person really looks like? Throughout time the perception of beauty has changed. You can see this, for example, through photos of Marilyn Monroe who was what you would call today, a curvy woman who many aspired to look like back in the 1950s and early 60s. Her body looked nothing like that of todays models who are tall, thin, and have the popular thigh gap that many dream of having. Aside from that, growing up, many girls were told by their fathers youre the most beautiful girl in the world. (Lee). Young girls look nothing like those in the media spotlight, does that mean theyre not beautiful? With all the changing views and opinions of beauty, who defines true beauty?

This issue of feeling beautiful is prominent in many women. Sophia Lee wrote an article and in it referenced a conversation she had with her father saying, I once wrote a tearful email to my father as a freshman in college. Everyday I walk past porcelain-skinned, beautifully dressed, pixie-nosed girls on my campus, and dont say you think Im beautiful because by now Ive caught on to your lies. When does a daughter stop believing her fathers words? The saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder holds true, but are we focusing on the wrong perceptions of ourselves? (Lee). Haley Curl said it best when she wrote Think for a moment; how many women do you know that have a tiny waist, large breasts, lean legs, and a toned rear? And how many beautiful women do you know? The two answers you came up with are, I am guessing, not the same, or at least they shouldnt be. This is powerful in that it makes you think about all those you know and who you find to be beautiful in your eyes and then it asks who of those people actually look like the models on the run way or the famous actors on the television shows, the numbers shouldnt be the same because beauty shouldnt be defined by those in the media world (Curl). There are many women that do not necessarily fit the standards of beauty that we have been taught to believe and look up to. With that being said though, there are still those out there that are constantly trying to change the way their bodies originally look, in hopes of looking like the edited models and airbrushed actresses that are shown to use in our favorite shows, movies and magazines (Curl). Society has affected the way we view ourselves enough to make us want to change how we look on a daily basis. Hale Curl gave personal insight on this by saying, To be quite brutal, the way I look in the morning is not the way I look by the time I get to class. There is a great amount of hair product, shading,

and coffee that goes into my morning routine. We women do our hair for hours, and apply make-up to cover whatever blemishes we think the world should not see. There are two viewpoints when it comes to beauty, how other people see you and how you see yourself. There might be many people out there that you see as being beautiful when they dont see it themselves (Curl). While you are seeing them as beautiful, they may see themselves in a completely different light as shown in the Dove Real Beauty Sketches advertisement. In this advertisement you see how sometimes, when asked to describe what you look like, you sometimes may exaggerate on what you consider flaws making them seem worse than they actually are. What made the advertisement even more moving was that not only did they give a description of themselves, they also came back later and were asked to describe someone that had met that was also apart of this Dove Beauty Sketch movement. The video then goes on to show the unveiling of the two photos of each person, the one where they described themselves and the one where someone else described them (Dove Real Beauty Sketches). Both photos looked totally different, one was full of the imperfections and a lot of the times the focus was set on the features that that person didnt like, while the other photo actually looked like them, bringing their good features to the central focus. The photo that looked more like them ended up being the one where someone else described their appearance. This helped prove that although we may live in a society that seems to judge the way we look and favor those that are what they consider beautiful, we are our own critics and we can be pretty hard on ourselves (Dove Real Beauty Sketches). Another video advertisement speaks strongly on true beauty and focused on the power and influences all the images that are placed in the minds of the younger girls about

what beauty is. Those can be very influential in a child life and really alter his/her thoughts about beauty and what it really looks like (Beauty Pressure). As the advertisement begins to flash all the images and commercials that are out about changing your body to look thinner, smoother, younger, and smaller we get an idea of just how much we are surrounded by these products and images (Beauty Pressure). Growing up in an environment like that can change the mindset of a child and make them believe that that is how they need to look in order to fit in with the beautiful crowd. The advertisement ends with a message at the end that said, talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does (Beauty Pressure). That is to prevent children from growing up thinking our societys media is who has the power to define beauty, they may have power but you are the only person who, in my opinion, can define what true beauty is. Both advertisements were produced by Dove which is a skincare company that is known for helping improve the look of skin and also focus on natural beauty. They have many advertisements out there that focus on showing off your natural beauty because that is what truly makes you beautiful. Doves Real Beauty campaign focused on the idea that girls are faced with many unrealistic images of what is viewed as beautiful in their society ("The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty"). In 2010, Dove set out a bold new vision for the brand with the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem which provides women with opportunities to mentor and celebrate real beauty (The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty). Many people in todays society strive to be beautiful in the eyes of society yet that comes with a price. Being in the beauty industry requires a lot of expenses. They spend about one third of their income on maintaining those good looks. I'm all for taking care of yourself and trying to look your best. But, many of these women are spending money they don't have on

creams, diets, products and cosmetic surgery. High fashion magazines feel they need to photo shop even the most gorgeous of models, so does that put even more pressure on the beautiful woman to keep up appearances? (Archer). Society has conditioned women to want the perfect sized body, but in reality no one gets to that perfect size. Photo shopping photographs to make women thinner and gives the illusion that looking like that is possible but for some its not (Women in Society). In drastic cases, many women go through different types of eating problems to feel accepted such as not eating enough or not at all, some women that feel like they will never have the perfect body, which may lead them to eat too much. Women try so hard to become the ideal women men and the rest of society desire. There are so many extremes they go through like plastic surgery. Its dangerous and permanent (Women in Todays Society). They go through all of this to acquire the beautiful prefect body that they feel society wants. One should stop and think though, what does a perfect body rally look like? One key element that seems to be present throughout is that there are a lot of women in todays society that are beautiful yet they dont fit into the standards that we have been told beautiful women fit in by the media, peers and the work force. All in all I think the only person that can truly define what true beauty is, is you. You can choose to listen to what everyone else has to say about the standards and criteria in the media and in society, but its your choice to believe it. Society will always hold beauty to high expectations that are quite literally unreachable leaving those in the media world to use photo shop and essentially lie about and hide what they actually look like to show off what media thinks true beauty is. What was meant to protect true beauty has changed and in doing so, it also changed our own definition of beauty. A beautiful woman should strike

you as different; as unique; as an individual. Her body can be attractive based on a number of things, but shouldnt one of those criteria be that she is real? (Curl). Beauty is not a universal characteristic and the standards that have been set are unrealistic in many ways. I wish that this is just a phase our society is going through and one day women will be accepted no matter what size, but I know that would not happened any time soon. For now, I hope that women become more secure with themselves and not let others destroy their beauty. (Women in Todays Society).

Works Cited: Alkon, Amy. "The Truth About Beauty." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Archer, Dale, M.D. "The Psychology of Beauty." Web log post. Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 29 June 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Curl, Haley. "What Makes a Woman Beautiful in Today's Society?" The Current. N.p., 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Dove. Dove Real Beauty Sketches. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Beauty Pressure. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

"The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty." Web log post. Eating Disorders Coalition of Tennessee. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

Lee, Sophia. "Who Defines 'Real Beauty'?" WORLD: Real Matters. WORLD News Group., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

"Women in Today's Society." Web blog post. What Is Beauty? Edublogs, 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Inquiry Project Reflection 1. What was the most interesting thing you learned in this inquiry process? The most interesting thins that I have learned from this inquiry process has just been figuring out what an inquiry actually is. Not only was I able to learn more about the topic I had chosen, I was also given a chance to see the differences between this kind of paper compared to that of a research paper. Knowing the differences and knowing that inquiry papers can be more opinionated and not as structured gave me a chance to really express my opinion on who defines true beauty. 2. What did you struggle with during the research and/or writing process? How did you overcome this obstacle? The one thing I struggle with in every paper is sitting down and starting it. Organizing my thoughts onto paper and researching the right kind of material is sometimes difficult and staring at a blank page can be intimidating. Once I was given some guidance though on how to make keywords, I was able to narrow down my research and find exactly what I needed to help support my argument. 3. Did your inquiry question change over time? If so, how did it change, and why do you think it changed? My inquiry question stayed the same throughout the whole process. Beauty is such a broad topic and there is a lot of controversy and debate on the subject so there was no need to change the topic. 4. Why is it important to look at a historical view of your topic/question? Dealing with my inquiry question, it was extremely important to look at the historical aspect of the topic. Knowing that throughout history the views and perceptions of beauty has changed gave me the chance to show that maybe the standards that are placed by the media of a certain society arent the true standards of beauty because over time those standards and criteria have changed. 5. Do you think your analytical/evaluation skills have changed as a result of the inquiry project? If so, how? Ive always had a hard time with my analytical skills but I feel with, not only this paper but also the others we have done this semester, I have changed and shown some improvement in the way I evaluate and analyze certain material. I feel I am more able to reflect on the research I have done instead of just summarizing it. 6. What are you most proud of in this process? Throughout this whole process I am most proud of the direction my paper took. In papers like this there is no wrong answer as long as you can back up your argument with sources. My paper could have taken a different route had I changed the type of sources I used. The most powerful sources would have to be the two Dove advertisements, they not only helped support my argument they also were great videos to take information from. 7. What more would you like to know about this subject? Theres obviously a lot more that could be learned from this topic. One thing that I would like to learn is how the media in particular feels about how they make some people feel and how sometimes what they show and portray can sometimes make others feel less of themselves and want to change their appearance.