Like a lot of little girls, I played with Barbie dolls growing up. The thought never really occurred to me that the doll was completely unrealistic of what people actually looked like. Barbie had two eyes, a nose, hair, hands, feet, and the like. She seemed realistic enough for me. And yet, when we look at proportions, her eyes, breasts, and hair are far beyond average female size, while her feet, waist and nose are far smaller than average. Although it is a small example, toys- along with movies, magazines, shows, celebrities, and social media are becoming more and more the expectation of physical appearance rather than the ideal.
Let's take a look at self image and how it has changed over the years. Some may disagree, but being a Christian I think self-image really started with Adam and Eve. In Genesis chapter one verses 26-27 it reads, " And God said, Let us make man in our own image after our own likeness...So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created he them". If that is true, then our bodies should be celebrated as the glorious phenomena that they are. It seems at though over the years, especially recently, that belief has begun to crumble.
The first women's magazine (then known as periodicals) was called Lady's Mercury and was published in 1693—over three hundred years ago (according to magazinedesigning.com). Now hundreds of women's magazines circulate through the U.S. including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Allure, Elle, and Vogue just to name a few. Over the years, all of these magazines have given in to using editing programs to enhance their models and products to compete for the most enticing visual product-whether its realistic or not.
Television was invented in the early 1900's and really began to gain popularity in the sixties after colored television was invented. Television shows, commercials, advertisements, and movies have all gravitated towards the "edited look" as well, much like magazines. Actors and actresses go to unhealthy extremes to lose, gain, or maintain their weight and figures. Over the years we have seen a fluctuations of society-excepted weights for icons- body types ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Farah Fawcett. But these days, most girls find themselves comparing their bodies to those of stick-thin models such as popular actresses such as Amanda Seyfried who weighs a mere 108 lb or Kira Knightly who weighs 115 lb, while the average women in the United States weighs around 166 lbs (according to livestrong.com).
Another modern hindrance to self image is social media-the online picture book. I am guilty of searching and sifting through pictures on the beloved Pinterest of models to find cute outfits. More times than not the outfits I like are modeled by women at least ten or twenty pounds lighter than me (who have most likely been slimmed, and retouched digitally as well). It can be disappointing when all we see around us are 'perfectly thin' bodies,skin, and hair when in reality they represent the minority rather than majority and in many cases pure make believe.
I had a teacher that challenged the entire class (guys and girls) to go look in the mirror and instructed us to take a good look one morning. No matter what we saw we were supposed to tell ourselves "you look good today" out loud. It sounds easy, but as I stepped in the bathroom mirror and saw my reflection my keenly trained eyes began spotting my imperfections instantly. I had no thigh gap, I had a few pimples, baggy eyes and my hair was doing something funky. Slowly and quietly I found the words crawling out of my mouth, almost ashamed as if they weren't true.
We hear it all the time, but beauty, really, is in the eye of the beholder. And much of a person's countenance comes from their character and personality rather than physical traits inherited from parents.
As I grew older I began to realize that even in prime health condition for myself, I may never have a thigh gap. Because of my genetic makeup, I might never have flawless skin. And as much as society stresses beauty, there is only so much one person can do to improve their outer appearance before they become more plastic than skin trying to reach "perfection." So the next time you look in the mirror and you don't resemble Barbie much, then that's okay. Plastic is cheap material anyway.
