Standing in line at the drug store, it is almost impossible not to stray your eyes over to the piles and piles of magazines perfectly placed to suck in the customers gazing upon them. What do we see? Perfect people plastered all over the covers with headlines “10 best sex tips for your man” or “How to get a celebrity body.” We see biting of lips, spray tans and very little clothes. Straight out objectification.
And we wonder why there are so many problems in our society today.
That person is skinnier than me. That person has better clothes than me. I wish my hair was different or that my thighs were thinner. I wish I liked to exercise or that I didn’t have a crooked smile. I wish I looked like the models I see in magazines. I wish I had a boyfriend and I wish I had more friends. I wish, I wish, I wish.
We live in a world with ideal images burned into our minds. What we think we should look like, talk like, dress like, etc. So much that it is slowly corrupting the young minds of my generation and generations to come. It is now the common norm for people to grow up feeling unhappy with themselves in some sort of way. I grew up never being completely okay with my body, and asking around, my friends felt the exact same way. How incredibly sad is that?
Enough is enough.
All over, we hear cheesy quotes and overused phrases advocating for self love, but it still doesn’t contrast the huge amount of objectification that carries through society on a daily.
We played with Barbies as children that are physically impossible to live up to in real life. We idolize stars we see in our favorite movie that are living a normal life, yet secretly have the most outstanding beauty in the world. We shop at stores like Hollister and Abercrombie that sexualize men by sticking them shirtless outside the store front, or magazines to people looking flawless having the times of their lives. We watch commercials where a guy sprays a bottle of AXE and women in bikinis come sprinting to his beck and call. We grow up with examples that flood our minds that we will be accepted by society if we look absolutely flawless. Like our looks, and what we wear, and how others perceive us is the most significant thing about ourselves.
I honestly think that my personality is the best thing about me. The way that I truly care about others. The way that I laugh hysterically at the most random comments. The way I awkwardly make dancing hand gestures when in the midst of silence. What makes me, me. Not the way I look. And it took me too long to realize that the way other people look at me, what other people think of me, is the last thing on any spectrum that matters. It is all about how you see yourself. And if you hate yourself for not looking flawless like those magazine covers, you aren’t doing yourself justice.
Sadly, our society will never get to a point where people are not sexualized for publicity. We will probably never reach an era where we see real, non-edited people on the cover of our favorite magazines. We will never reach that point realistically. However, that doesn’t mean we can let ourselves keep getting so subjected to the idea that looks are the most important thing. You don’t need to have a “celebrity body” or the “sexiest spring outfit.” Looks aren’t everything, and it about time to start raising a generation that fully grasps that concept.
Set by example. Dress the way you want for you. Be happy in your own skin. That is all. It is as simple as that.
