True Beauty

[Laro]

True Beauty - Why Should It Be Hidden?

I have had this question in my mind for several weeks now. Wherever you go, whatever magazine you read, even people that you see in movies, their beauty is altered in many ways just like in this video. Now I'm not saying that everyone does that, but the majority of the world does. These kind of false images is what forces some women/men to think that they're not pretty or slim enaugh. There are women trying to slim themselves down only to look like models in magazines.
Longer body, beautiful and slim body, glittering eyes, spotless skin, perfect lips... Why should true beauty be hidden? Or is it a new form of art or something?​

What is your opinion?​

 

[Bun]

I don't think we are doing enough as individuals and society to address the issue of aesthetics. We allow the media to distort the notion and create their own definition of what 'beautiful' really is; however, that "beauty" (whether it's known or not) is damn near impossible to obtain/maintain. It is a changing definition depending on what's hot in the world of celebrities, models and super stars. While it exists in our world (every day an average person will see about 3000 ads) it is never really explained.

What I think we should do is provide children and adults alike with knowledge about how media handles the subject of beauty, and the tools they need to critically think about what is being show to them, the techniques that advertisers use to get the 'message' through to the consumers and what the (sometimes devastating) affects can be on society; especially young kids and teenagers.

 

[Nalaar]

I have always been curious as to what person decided to flaunt their obsessive compulsive disorder for the action of "The Tweak". It's one thing to feel the innate drive to constantly straighten something until it falls off the table...or the wall because of a horrible childhood or military consequence for a minute mishap, however to extend ones disdain to the far reaches of a fellow human body....and then dare to market it? OK....yes I will analyze this. True beauty! Alright lets find it...

I believe the message of beauty gets often lost in contradictory statements. Its usually a case of :

<insert statement>.....just like your mother/father/relative! And within the same day....
<insert contradictory statement>.....just like your mother/father/relative

And most of us grow up with a desperation to keep a happy medium while jolting like a hockey puck from one side of the spectrum to the other. The happy medium is often to shut the mouth of said lion, even while the lion rages in our own head and we don't lay roses in that particular yard anymore. We do however daily visit a grave site of several qualities that gave us confidence, and read the epitaph carved into our eyes reflecting back at us. And if that string of words that sentenced us to chaos does not reverberate in our memory, the first habit selected to keep us from hearing them again or hide us from the abusive debris from having them repeated does...and that habit has never failed to fail, has it?

"Your roots are starting to show. Better hurry or you are gonna look like him."

"Need more muscle, otherwise I look like I can't defend myself again."

The face/body imported into photoshop and displayed on the cover of a magazine does not feel anymore beautiful than they did before the physical make-over, before the teenage pressure to attract the opposite sex, before the 4th grade understanding there is not a damn thing they can do to keep someone turned off....so beauty if it is to be understood as that which attracts, becomes an aversion in its truest form, as attraction is a temporary sedative. But if beauty is defined by its ability to be used as a catalyst for lasting inspiration, then the paths to feel beautiful are quite numerous. Beauty, I believe should be viewed as a concept who's components birth a perception that is all encompassing, not visibly compartmentalized.

In the faerie tale, Beauty and The Beast, our attraction to her as a character did not lie in her voluptious form and bejeweled eyes, but it naturally attatched itself to her ability to calm, comfort and keep relationship with one who had been exiled and left to himself to grow bitter and enraged. This is what the majority found beautiful. But after the actual experience, we face the mirror again, and completely forget what was all but instilled. Today taking for granted what is meant to excite a change of character is beautiful. The duplication of anything to lower self-esteem so we feel forced to fill emotional voids with tangibilities is respected, radiant and a coveted ability. Modification is beautiful. Acceptance is hideous. Gazing at the surface is.....safer, for there is less responsibility. Peering deep into the heart, mind and soul....is dangerous, especially if one is only seeking an opportunity to hide from oneself, because access to what we truly need is prohibited, against social protocol, and an unfamiliar atmosphere to be feared.

.........or have we just been conditoned to think so?

Never enough.

Enough is enough.


You are beautiful because you have purpose. You were forged to be warriors from these things. You are a prophet, prophetess, leader, fighter and/or artist. If you were brought up in church it was so you would see the evils of it and its effects of self-condemnation and judgment, and know it does not represent Gods view of you-an understanding meant to be bullhorned. If you were only subjected to secular media conditioning or attention, you were still given a perception you are not good enough. This is for you to gain strength by overcoming it. These environments made you spies, vigilantes, and survivors. Its why we game...we are born competitors. Ready to fight. And these mindsets we can fight, and we can fight those who handed them to us, as we are designed to do for the betterment of the world, so that true beauty can be recognized...and true ugliness can be revealed.

Seeking to know yourself is seeking to know the difference.

 

[Bakusa]

Beauty is what you see. I believe that beauty has no limits or restrictions, I just believe it should be tangible. If somebody puts on makeup, that's fine. If someone gets breast implants, that's fine. If someone has their whole face remodeled, that's fine. It's the end result, and the quality of the end result. That's what matters.

 

[Bambi]

I don't like the way the media portray beauty, once they have finished touching up images, the end result isn't even obtainable through normal measures for normal people, there's an image that sticks out in my mind of Eva Longoria, in the hot wimmin fred, Il edit it in after Ive posted, I mean, she's beautiful to start with, but you can just SEE where the image has been editted, esecially around her bot tom half, it doesn't even look real

And then that's when people like me start stressing even MORE about the size of my thighs or the bit of extra podge, ofc I KNOW it's not natural, but it doesn't stop me wishful thinking about wanting this 'perfect' body

Here we go:

 

[Totoro]

Firstly, that is a great vid, never seen it before!

It is a ever increasing problem in society, as we are buying into the magazine culture. Girls want to be skinnier and skinnier, and guys want to be bigger and bigger, or like the guy on the front of men's health!

Not only does this alter our perceptions about what we want ourselves to look like, but also what we want our potential partners to look like. I'm not saying that relationships are just physical appearances, but no-one will like they do in the magazines, and the sooner more people realise and accept this the better. I think the imperfections can be rather cute though.

Anyway, back to the point at hand, I think that if all girls/guys who were insecure about the way they looked had the chance to get uber photoshopped and put on a poster, maybe it'd change their views and help them move past it.

At the end of the day its all about business, and what sells, and that is apparently the fake androids that are created on the computer.

 

[Mehaha]

As for make-up I believe that it can be art. We once used mud to cover a cave wall, paint to cover a sheet of paper even ink to cover skin. So yes we can view make-up as either art or if your into it even beauty.

But in my definition a women is most beautiful when working for it.

If a girl is big naturally but cares for her body to me she is beautiful but... If she SAYS she is big naturally but cares for cheeseburgers then she has to get out of my face. People who don't care for their body in some way are hideous in my eyes.

The girl I am with now... Damn I see her run or whatever and it's like OH BABY!!! And it's not like I am some type of Fat Nazi. She does exercises that target all areas except for her breasts and ass. And I personally like her booty [LoL] what makes her attractive is her concern for her body and health.

 

[M1ghty Mous3]

I like my ladies to have a lil bit of weight. I don't mind if their skinny, but please no super skinny super model bodies. Not that that's not hot or anything, just when i hug skinny ladies it feels like imma crush them seeing as how i have some extra weight myself. As for boob size it doesn't matter to me. Big is a plus but big boobs are certainly not required. As for make up, i don't mind it. Just don't pack it on. Only a lil bit will do. Hair style doesn't matter, just keep it clean.

 

[jasminepotts]

I remember a year or so ago I did an essay for english about something like this.
But as a girl myself I do kind of relate to why people want to change themselves. There'll be an actress in a film, or a singer or something like that; a woman. There'll be photos everywhere, completely photoshopped. But still, a lot of guys won't see past all the make up and photoshop and will still be like "oh yeah they're hot etc".
It's just what society makes us believe is beautiful. They alter these people and show something that is false. Which is why a lot of girls will cover themselves in fake tan, make up and desperately try to lose weight.
But then occasionally we will see photos of these people without all the alterations, and my god some of them look terrible. But because we are so used to seeing them all made up we just want to all want to be what fits into society's notion of what is "beautiful".
For me; beauty is being happy within yourself. Not changing yourself (appearance and inner) for anyone or anything or to impress people. Not falling into society's stupid trap which is telling us what we're supposed to look like. Just general keeping yourself true.

 

[Catnip]

I just woke up from a very nice nap, so I'm a little out of it. I apologize if the following makes absolutely no sense what so ever.
My opinion is that it's stupid. No more, no less. The world revolves around appearance. When you go to an interview for a job, you're not going to show up in a dirty t-shirt and worn out jeans. You're going to look your best. Not to only feel your best, but simply because looks are basically.. everything. I think people take something as simple as that (what you wear to a date, interview, etc), and turn it into something more. Something like the example you've shown above.

 

[Flagg]

Everyone strives for perfection.

A couple of years back I used to be really into bodybuilding. I got pretty big, my diet was carefully planned, I worked out a lot. And I got attention. And the thing is, I really enjoyed it.

I dont do much now, however I am planning on getting back into it when I return to Uni in Sept.

It can get in your head though. You wonder if you could be bigger, or if you need to work on a certain part of your body. And you become something of a body facist.

Unfortunately i've always been shallow, even before my bodybuilding days. I simply like hot looking women. You can't help who/what you like. I like my women petite, pretty, with big boobs.

Having said that, I do totally disagree with the Hollywood mentality of Hyper Sexualisation of young people. Take Transformers II, everyone on that College Campus looked like they stepped out of a FHM magazine. A lot of movies these days, especially remakes, seem more focussed on how many pretty actors they can get in as opposed to people with genuine acting skill.
And those Beauty Pagent things you guys in America have for girls as young as 10, all dressing up like they're in their early twenties is totally fucked up and wrong in my opinion.

Some women actually look worse with tons of make up and too much makeup is really off putting. And some women look better with none. But then it's down to the individual. Women want to look pretty for themselves first, others second.

 

[Midnight Memoire]

This reminds me immediately of a series I read in the past. The books are by Scott Westerfeld. They are titled Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extra's. They are quite good.

The basis of the storyline is that as a child into early teens each individual grows up as an Ugly. In your late teens you are forced to endure heavy plastic surgery to become a Pretty. Pretties take a sort of dietary supplement to keep a "perfect" figure.

This all reminds me of how our society is becoming. Obsessed with perfection. Addicted to surgery. We must look the same as everyone else... Skinny.

I don't want that. I exercise regularly, but not to be "thin" but to stay healthy. I wear make-up, not so much to cover up my blemishes or conceal my true identity, but because I enjoy it. I have a bit of acne. I'm 140lbs. I'm okay with that.

I don't think that we all should stop wearing make-up or stop losing weight but I do think that we shouldn't do it to look like everyone else. I know I'm no model and I don't want to be!