True beauty or unrealistic airbrushing?
What do you think of this clip (you'll have to sit through an ad before the news clip comes on)?
I have to admit, I'm still stuck on the fact that most children have seen 80,000 ads by the time they are five. Is that not disturbing?
But back to the subject at hand, do we wonder why we have so many teens who are struggling with depression or eating disorders? When constantly bombarded with airbrushed images of perfect-looking teens and women, it's obvious that it would be hard to be content.
As I viewed this short video, I kept thinking how it's not "self-esteem" we need to be promoting, instead we need to be sharing with girls and young women that they are created in the image of God for a beautiful purpose to glorify Him. When we recognize our worth in God's eyes, our outward blemishes and imperfections seem very insignificant.
I have to admit, I'm still stuck on the fact that most children have seen 80,000 ads by the time they are five. Is that not disturbing?
But back to the subject at hand, do we wonder why we have so many teens who are struggling with depression or eating disorders? When constantly bombarded with airbrushed images of perfect-looking teens and women, it's obvious that it would be hard to be content.
As I viewed this short video, I kept thinking how it's not "self-esteem" we need to be promoting, instead we need to be sharing with girls and young women that they are created in the image of God for a beautiful purpose to glorify Him. When we recognize our worth in God's eyes, our outward blemishes and imperfections seem very insignificant.
posted by Crystal Paine at 6:00 PM
14 Comments:
Many of us DO teach girls that God made them beautiful, and they are wonderful just as they are. However, it's very difficult for them to filter out the world's beauty ideal. They are bombarded with it daily, and unfortunately, that is often what is thrust at them far more often than the truth that they are made in the image of God.
It's an uphill battle, but one that is being fought.
I posted on my blog a while back about the message that many moms even send to their kids by the comments they make kind of flippantly or to other moms within earshot.
Christian moms especially need to stop and listen to themselves as well as filter and discuss what they're seeing in the world.
It is not just girls, this affects boys and men as well. It builds an expectation in them that is hard for anyone to live up to. This in turn does end up hurting women and girls too.
Of course there is a fine line. Eating well, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight are important (basically, take good care of what God gave you), but trying to fit into a size 4 because that is what society says is beautiful, is not okay.
It can definitely be hard to remember to look at ourselves through God's eyes sometimes. I am not into the whole self-esteem thing exactly, but do believe we should be thankful for how God made us (each unique, made in His image & His vessel). That is what I hope to convey/teach my daughters. I do have to admit that that video made me feel kind of good, though. I can have moments where it is hard not to compare myself. :)
Many may not agree but I honestly think that women who go all out beauty product/procedure/etc wise do it for other women (I do not mean this in a sexual way). I think in general men are satisfied/happy/attracted to much less glamour than women want to admit. They do all of this for themselves and other women, as some sort of competition, not for the men in their lives. And they TELL men this is what they should like, though not in so many words. We need to teach our girls to truly desire to listen to their husbands and ask them what they like. And not just do what we want to do. I think some wives would be very surprised by what their husbands find appealing… For example, I know a lot of men who really do not like perfume but their wives wear it. Our husbands can help our daughters by counteracting what ‘women want’ with comments to their wives/daughters on how much they like their simple, natural, modest, look or sweet spirit, kind heart, joyful attitude, etc
I was one of those girls who succumbed to pressure of "thin" and pretty and did a lot of ungodly things to my body. I'm healthier now, but struggle daily with those thoughts. That clip is a great reminder to not only teach our daughters what true beauty is...but to teach the men who will marry them! Its hard for men, as we all know, to be bombarded by those images... My job must be to seek out godliness and a gentle, quiet spirit, first and foremost!
I am 30 years old and even I sometimes have a hard time being thankful for the way I look. There are times I look at myself in the mirror and focus on my "blemishes" and not focusing on the fact that God made me in His image for a reason and purpose.
So I can't imagine how difficult it is for impressionable young girls to remember that they are beautiful and made in the image of God!!
As a subscriber of several fashion and beauty magazines, I see how prevalent the use of Photoshop is to erase what is considered "blemishes" in the industry. They take all of the uniqueness out of the person and turn them into something that is stale and totally unrealistic. Their faces are miraculously free of any and all lines and wrinkes, their skin looks plastic, their eyes are too big for their heads, their teeth are too white and square-looking, etc. Sometimes the pictures are over-processed to where the model looks like a plastic doll, devoid of any personlity and emotion.
What really concerns and saddens me is the recent "trend" in Hollywood for new moms to shed their pregnancy weight the minute their child is born. They have to be fit, trim and strech-mark free else they are deemed "frumpy."
I admit there are times when I look through fashing magazines and find myself thinking: "I wish I looked like that." Then I have to remind myself: "Hey! She doesn't even look like that!"
How boring the world would be if we women were all 5'9" or taller, 115 lbs. blonde with blue eyes!
Um when I clicked on it I got an add for the Swiffer duster. What was it supposed to be?
I agree completely with your comment at the end of your post. I am so much in agreement with the fact that we as women are lied to about how we should look every day, but I am also in agreement that the cure for that is NOT to lift "our self-esteem," but for us to find our worth and purpose in Christ. :)
To illustrate your point a bit more, here are two pretty famous examples of airbrushing.
1. Faith Hill on the cover of Redbook.
http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/resources/2007/07/redbookcoveranime0707.gif
2. The Iwanex site. (Click on "portfolio" at the top, then on any of the pictures on the bottom.)
http://www.iwanexstudio.com/
In a world where Halle Berry and Faith Hill get photoshopped, you know things are a tad out of control.
Sorry, Crystal - I accidentally cut the last part of the Faith Hill gif off. It should be:
http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/resources/2007/07/redbookcoveranime0707.gif
This is so, so true, Crystal. I am admittedly "out of the loop" because we watch very little television, but I am still affected by the "comparison monster." I don't want this for my girls at all, so I am going to work and pray hard for wisdom about how to conteract this.
Keep this in mind as the silver hairs and laugh lines start to take over!
Just purity is a choice that must be determined before one has a chance to be tempted, the value and beauty of aging must be settled or it will catch us quite off guard. We live in a society that values youth but God puts a premium on the aged—see Proverbs 16:31 and 20:29.
I have been against promoting self-esteem for a while now. It is just esteeming SELF. When you do that it gets in the way of esteeming God, and that's why we have self-centered generations. We need to lower the esteem we have for ourself in order to learn to see things (and us) through Gods eyes.
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