Real Beauty

Before I begin this post, I have to share another song that always gets to me - "The Highwayman" sung by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash... among others whose names don't pop into my head. Actually, now that I think of it, the same title by Loreena McKennitt is also fantastic, although hers is entirely different, based off of the poem by Alfred Noyes. Lol, and that reminds me of so many other great Loreena McKennitt songs, especially "The Lady of Shalott" based off Tennyson's poem. I always have to make sure I have some tissue around for these songs... I'm such a softy.

Anyhoo, to the point of this blog - redefining beauty. One of my passions (beside teaching and racial issues) is the adolescent female pysche. Of course, a huge factor in our society for girls is beauty and all that can entail. I've been thinking lately about the Dove "real beauty" campaigns and similarly how Oprah promotes a "love your own unique beauty" philosphy openly on her show. Now, I'll be the first to chime in that this campaign is leaps and bounds better than what is promoted everywhere else in the media. And yet... it's not good enough. I wonder if Oprah realizes that when she thinks she is doing good - let's say, by showing certain styles of clothing that compliment all figures, that she's really saying something to the effect of, "If you're not the ideal model of thin, you can cleverly hide it by wearing layers" or "If you're not the ideal model of height, you can mask it by wearing these jeans". Same goes for her beauty makeovers - she isn't celebrating unique beauty but instead showing how to "make do with what you've got".

I adore the Dove campaign! No hiding behind layers and sliming trends, for example. Horray for the beauty that is skin! Horray for motherly hips and thigh! And yet... all of the models are what traditional beauty would describe as "beautiful if only they would loose weight". They all have evenly distributed weight, (no pooches or anything of that nature), flawless skin, etc. I'm being extra critical, I know... but I think about it.

And now I must go bawl out my eyes to "The Highwayman" (McKennitt version).