When you get on Instagram, what is the first thing you see? Women with toned bodies, pouty lips, and super high cheekbones. Let’s be honest, the first thing we end up thinking is, do they even eat? What you are viewing is a filtered and photoshopped version of how someone has distorted the way they look to fit how they think they should look. And, why is that you ask? Because without looking like the stereotype of women one is supposed to look like, women no longer feel pretty.
No matter how many campaigns that talk about natural beauty we see, women still strive to look this way. Either they change how they look via apps or they visit plastic surgeons to make them look that way. Can you imagine what a young 12-year-old girl on Instagram is absorbing? This girl is probably just coming into her own. She is in the process of learning to groom and feel beautiful while consuming media that has unattainable goals of beauty. Is that what we want our young youth to go through?
I remember being 15 years old and watching Britney and Christina, in their midriff tops showing off their perfect abs. I would think, “Will I ever look like that”? Sometimes it still stays with me when I go to wear a crop top or something that would show off my belly. What young minds consume, they take with them ahead. It makes an imprint and it defines what they believe.
How do we let the twerking videos on social media slide? Women can be seen shaking their bottom on Instagram because now this is what you need to do to be considered sexy. Wasn’t it sexy when a woman was mysterious? When she didn’t try too hard but had men drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
We can’t change all of this in one go, but we need to stop and think of the generations to come and what we need to teach them. If Instagram exists with these fake pictures then teach them about filters and photoshop. Show them how it is fake and shouldn’t be misused. Educate them on body shaming and encourage them to love their bodies. When they start to wear makeup, teach your little girls how to apply natural makeup and not use it to look like a completely different person. Teach them that being classy is sexy and teach them that the happiest and most confident girls are the prettiest.
In a world full of Kardashians, let’s take a minute to remind them of Audrey’s.
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