Comments on: Yo magazines: It’s time YOU went on a diet!

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:54:11 +0000

Every single day, my stepmother rains down verbal abuse on their bodies, because of, I suspect, the God-awful media. I want so badly for her to see herself the way I see her, as a beautiful person and a wonderful caregiver. It saddens me how she only sees her flaws; how she refuses to leave the house without her hair done and tons of makeup on. When I was younger, I would loathe hearing her kvetch about her body or her hair, because it made me feel insecure about my weight and my appearance. Now, I just worry about her. Fretting about looking perfect all the time is a terrible way to live. Sure, it’s nice to dress up and go all out sometimes, but to live your life in fear of if other people see you as inferior because you don’t conform to their beauty standards is awful.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 10:39:10 +0000

Thanks Stacey!
I agree, completely. I used to use personal responsibility to feel powerless.I thought that the world of media and the unattinable standards of beauty were too large, looming and overpowering and that I was a the constant mercy of what others saw on magazines and how they judged me. When I realized how much I was contributing to the problem, externally and internally (with myself, attempting to soothe an inner emptiness with an outer solution) I vowed that I didn’t want to BE like every other woman attempting to clone the autobots on magazine covers. I wanted to be different and different meant being me, in whole and beauty imperfection. There are too few symbols of humanity today and too many illustory icons of perfection.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 23:03:39 +0000

Personal responsibility is definitely key. I can’t tell you how sad it makes me to hear the women in my life beat themselves up for not being “enough.” Or even if they don’t outright say it, just the amounts of money they spend on getting laser hair removal, manicures, pedicures, eyebrow shaping, eyelid surgery (yes, I have a friend who has endured this for the sake of “beauty”), spray on tans, etc., etc., etc. It’s okay to want these things for yourself for your own reasons, to get dolled up because it makes YOU feel good for YOUR reasons, but don’t buy into them because you think you need to fit into some unrealistic standard of what the world has told you is “perfection.” Great piece, Heather.