This is a wonderful video put out by Em Ford of My Pale Skin about what it’s like to be cyber bullied about her appearance. This video hit a cord with me, because in recent years I’ve often struggled with feeling beautiful with my bare face when I look in the mirror, but I consciously try to push against society’s pressure to cover up. The days I feel the most unattractive are the days that I purposefully resist the urge to wear makeup. I never want to feel so at home wearing makeup that I begin to hate my face without it, but it’s impossibly hard to love the skin you’re in when it doesn’t meet the standards for beauty imposed by society. My issue has never been acne, but I have been struggling with melasma (expect a separate post on this in the near future). I’ve continually striving to be kind to myself and failing, and striving some more.
Women in particular are so closely scrutinized on their appearances that it can really be hard to learn to love yourself when everything and everyone around you are saying that you need to improve. There is always something wrong, you can always be thinner, taller, have better hair, longer lashes, fuller lips, bigger busts, firmer butts, more distance between your thighs, etc. The list is endless. This video does a great job of hitting the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” nail on the head. It’s almost the norm that if you step out without makeup on that you’re going to be asked if you’re tired or sick or worn out or any other combination of words that add up to your brain translating this to mean that you look unattractive or worse…ugly.
Let’s not do this to ourselves. We would never speak to other people the way we speak to ourselves. Let’s be kind to ourselves and to each other even if it’s from behind a screen. Especially if it’s from behind a screen. It’s so easy to forget that the 2 dimensional figure on your screen or the operator of that car in front of you are people, with thoughts, feelings, families and dreams. We need to stop dehumanizing each other.
I’ve had an idea for a while now for a 365 project that I’ve been trying to figure out how to execute and this video reminded me just how much I need to do it.
So watch this and tell me what you think!
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