WOMEN SHOULD REJECT SOCIETY'S SUPERFICIAL BEAUTY STANDARDS

Society, particularly through print and broadcast media, places a lot of pressure on women to conform to unrealistic beauty standards. There's good news though: you are free to reject these standards, accept yourself as God made you, and reject this perversion of the word 'beauty'. 

Every time a television is turned on or a magazine is opened, the genetically average woman (don't resent the word 'average', as it's the category the vast majority of us fall into!), is reminded of her physical shortcomings. The model looking back at her is typically physically stunning and doesn't have an ounce of extra body fat or cellulite to be found. And of course, no wrinkles or grey hair! 

Though women definitely have the greater challenge, in the world of the average male, the equivalent situation would be opening a bodybuilding magazine and comparing yourself to some 260-pound behemoth at 5% body fat. In this case, the first thing that needs to understand is that bodybuilding magazines exist primarily for one primary purpose: to sell supplements.

You are subconsciously being sold the notion that by taking supplement X, you will miraculously exceed your genetic limitations by 300%, possess a 500-pound bench press, and build 19-inch biceps. In reality, professional bodybuilders are genetically gifted and also spend a fortune on hard-core pharmaceuticals (not over the counter supplements,) to further expand their already significant genetic advantages. The deck is stacked, and not in your favor. 

With women, the same thing occurs, only instead of being sold size and muscle mass, they are being sold 'beauty': Long as you faithfully use wrinkle cream X before you go to bed, facial lines will be something you don't have to concern yourself with. If you use moisturizer Z, you can pause the hands of time and look 40 when you're 65. These claims are often expressed subconsciously rather than overtly, and they are typically tied to purchasing a product of one kind or another. It's nothing more than a deceptive marketing tactic, meant to brainwash the consumer into seeing the model in the magazine as the after-picture in her mind's eye. The problem is, in reality, most of us don't have the model's photogenic physical characteristics or the bodybuilder's genetics and pharmacological assistance, so we are basically being sold snake-oil.

I'm in no way suggesting that we should use having average genetics as an excuse to be unkempt and not eat well, exercise, and do all that we can naturally, to remain healthy and strong for as long as possible. BUT, even if you do those things, physical beauty is destined to fade, as time is an undefeated foe.

The younger a person is when she rejects the bogus nature of these beauty standards, the better. We've all seen the Hollywood types who visit the plastic surgeon's office more often than most of us see our families. Their faces often resemble a canvas which has been tightly stretched over a frame, and every wrinkle is temporarily subdued with the tip of a needle. The problem is that all of these measures work only in the short term. When you subdue that one wrinkle today, two will return tomorrow. When you get rid of those two tomorrow, four more will pop up to replace them, and so on. To keep up, the person has to take more and more drastic measures until, sooner or later, he or she takes on the synthetic characteristics of a store mannequin. 

It's truly an unwinnable battle, and even if it were winnable, it's a foolish one to wage to begin with, because it's a synthetic example of true beauty. Trying to cling to external beauty into old age is like swimming upstream, and the current increases in strength with each passing day. It's vastly superior to look in the mirror and realize that God made you exactly as you are, and that you are in no way inferior to someone who may possess superior physical genetics to your own. 

Once you decide to ditch the idea of conforming to the world's synthetic beauty standards, you will be freed from the chains of discontent and insecurity. You will look in the mirror and realize that true beauty is based more on internal characteristics and personality, than on creating some illusion of physical perfection. It is about having the courage to grow old gracefully, rather than engaging in some ridiculous war against the natural aging process that you (like each and every person who has come before you,) is destined to lose.

For some biblical perspective on beauty:

Pro 31:30  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 

1Pe 3:3  Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 1Pe 3:4  but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. 

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Pro 16:31  Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. 

I firmly believe that the aging process is meant to bring humility, and draw us closer to God, as His power works best in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). So, the first thing we should do is re-program our minds to reject these ridiculous stereotypes and see them for the lies they really are. Once you simply summon the courage to accept the bogymen in the closet (wrinkles; grey hair, etc.) they will immediately cease to lose their power over you, and you will be on your way to becoming a happier, more secure person.