Jennifer Aniston recently published a powerful letter on the Huffington Post visiting the issue of how the media plays an instrumental part in objectifying women. As a woman in show-business, she has had first-hand experience with tabloids and paparazzi ruthlessly body- shaming and belittling her, narrating her life with lies that are far from the truth. Her personal perspective on their actions and influence to the masses are definitely apparent and is something that needs to be heard loud and clear.
These magazine covers stirred the actress up the wrong way because none of these statements are true. The speculation that she was pregnant, as the actress implies in her article, came from the many unflattering photos that the paparazzi shamelessly try to make stories out of.
She imposes the idea that society has come into an agreement to accept a certain standard of beauty. Because of this, women and girls have been conditioned to have the mindset that they should have physical characteristics similar to these women so that they can receive "proper" attention, otherwise they are unworthy of this attention.
She goes on to say that we, as individuals, are in charge of our own agreements. Just because society has this standard, this does not mean that we have any obligation to abide by it. Just because there are women who do not follow society's subtle rules of how a woman should live, like not being in a relationship or not having a child at a certain age, this does not mean we are any less worthy of anybody's attention.
She does admit that if we want to see any change on society's perspective of women, there is a good chance that this change will not be seen in the media any time soon. This confidence to truly believe that we are beautiful as we are is something we have to find within ourselves. This is not an easy feat, but it is something worth fighting for because this charade of objectification has gone on long enough.
Let me start by saying that I wholly identify with this article. As a young woman in our current society, it has been difficult to find my own definition of beautiful when there is clearly no escape from Hollywood's definition of beautiful. I watch women on television, on my computer screen and on magazines looking absolutely flawless. I ask myself all the time, "Why can't I be like that?" as if these women are templates of how I should look and live. The only reason why women look that glamorous all the time is because they're made and touched up that way. Does anyone remember the leaked, un-retouched photos of Beyonce?
The scrutiny that women have fallen victim to has been blown out of proportion because of everyone's access to social media. Take Chloe Rose Lattanzi, Olivia Newton-John's daughter. She has recently been under criticism for having "big" breasts, which can be seen on photos that she posted on Instagram of her enjoying a swim and the summer sun.
We are individuals that have the ability to control our outlook on ourselves and our own worth. This has never been limited to our physical appearances or certain personality traits, that idea has been something that has been implanted by the media. I personally cannot tell you the exact ingredients or formula to achieve this confidence of self, as I personally am still searching for these within and for myself.
