I was recently sent the latest video in the continuous campaign for women to learn to see themselves as beautiful. While I believe in body love, as you know, I’m getting pretty tired of the constant story of women who don’t realise how beautiful they are.
This video, which asks women what they see when they look in the mirror, shows a variety of women talking about how they don’t see someone who is beautiful, the unspoken implication being they don’t see someone who is valuable.
Therein lies the problem. A bigger one than how these women see themselves.
You don’t see these videos about men. You don’t see men being told they are, after all, beautiful and should see themselves that way. You don’t see men being reassured “don’t worry about losing part of you from cancer, you’re still pretty”.
Why?
I can’t help but think it’s because, as a society, we still judge the value of women by their appearance. We still comment on what a female politician is wearing, and ignore what she is doing. More airtime is given to Duchess Catherine’s wardrobe than her works. We still sell magazines for men objectifying the female form for their viewing pleasure, and we still sell women’s magazines doing the same.
When a woman’s photo can be stolen to promote an app for making yourself appear thinner, there is something wrong with society and how it tells women to judge themselves.
Until we stop judging the value of women by their appearance there can never be equality. Until we stop instrinsically linking a woman’s self worth to what she looks like, we will never be able to achieve for women what society has achieved for men.
The video sets forth a challenge. It asks you – what do you see when you look in the mirror.
What do I see? I see a woman who is pretty sick of this bullshit.
