The beauty-themed articles in the April 2006 O are useful. Several pages are short stories from people who have had body issues but have learned to get over them and love the “imperfection.” I always enjoy reading personal stories.
“Beauty and the Bitch” talks about your inner voice, the one that doesn’t allow you to like your looks. Some startling sentences:
“Psychologists call it normative discontent: It’s considered normal for women to be unhappy with the way we look. Follow this line of thinking: If it’s normal, then for us to fulfill our role as women, we’re supposed to be displeased with our appearance.”
It’s sad that we’re sent so many mixed messages. Women are supposed to be beautiful (or adhere to an impossible standard of beauty that’s only obtainable with an airbrush), and if we don’t feel like we are pretty, we just knock ourselves down. We should try to see ourselves through “kinder eyes” and realize that our outer shells aren’t the only things that matter.
A sidebar gives five tips on “things you should never do if you want to feel beautiful”:
- Only use a magnifying mirror if you’re tweezing your brows. If you can’t see it with the naked eye, you don’t need to worry about it. Also, magnifying can make you think you have problems that aren’t really there. The example they give is collagen-injected lips. Of course your lips look small in a magnifying mirror!
- The lighting in the bathroom should be face-friendly. No fluorescent bulbs!
- “Don’t participate in any kind of skin analysis that involves a machine.” It’s a machine usually tied to a cosmetics counter. Like they’ll never try to sell you something.
- “Avoid being lit from below.” It’s unflattering.
- Stop comparing yourself to a magazine cover! They have people (and airbrushing) to make them look good. You’re the only person helping you get ready in the morning.
The last part of the beauty section that I found interesting (there are other articles–the beautiful person who had mental problems, the spread of mixed ethnicity people and how the blending of genetics create a new definition of beautiful) is an article by Martha Beck, who’s one of the standard contributors to the magazine. She discusses the idea of self-acceptance, to not be so hinged on your looks that you think people won’t like you because of them. Beautiful people aren’t always the nicest and not having beauty doesn’t mean you’re subject to a horrible life. If you learn to accept yourself, you’ll be a more attractive person personality-wise, and that will attract all sorts of good things!
