Unrealistic beauty standards in the media have perpetuated the image of a flawless, confident, and drop-dead gorgeous woman as the ideal. The marketing has caused the modern woman to be objectified to a position that is little more than being an accessory to a man while men are implied to absolutely need an attractive and flawless partner to be complete. "She can't possibly survive without a man to help her," is what media suggest.

This "perfectly beautiful woman" absolutely cannot have any baggage or periods of emotional turmoil. She'll never be nervous or anxious, she'll be the perfect body type, weight, height, and oh, she'll also be a 10. These expectations, though directed towards women decreasingly often explicitly, still remain implicitly in the minds of many individuals. It's been ingrained since youth. Values that we learn while young, typically imparted onto us by family, friends, and the media, rarely are simply disregarded — they are shelved in our memories, accumulating dust over time but still retained in the library.

Why are girls expected to cry pretty? Crying is one of the best catharsis that we can perform when stressed or upset. It is when we are being vulnerable and open to the world and a moment when our emotional state getting better should have nothing to do with how we appear physically. And still, I've always heard that "Girls should cry 'pretty.'" This statement implies that my crying isn't beautiful inherently and my crying has to pass a certain beauty inspection to be passable enough to maintain my status of girlhood. It's laughable that my sobbing uncontrollably isn't considered as good enough to pass the test. You should see it, I think I look pretty good with the tears creating a powerful river down my cheeks.

Crying is the most beautiful thing. Crying means "I am going through a hard time." It's saying, "I am ready to be vulnerable and open and need comforting because I have acknowledged my struggles and emotions as valid and I feel overwhelmed and sad." Having the resolve to be so openly vulnerable and the courage to confront hard feelings of pain and sadness are absolutely beautiful. Girls shouldn't be expected to cry pretty. Neither should men. They should be just allowed to cry because how we cry and how we look while doing it should be none of the media's business.