It reminds me of the ‘real woman’ nonsense that is trotted out so often. To counter negative body image and poor self esteem, the beauty industry is expected to celebrate diversity in women - to reassure women of all shapes, sizes, colours and levels of conventional attractiveness that they are ALL beautiful, and none of them should be excluded from the privilege of being hailed as such. 

But is this really what we should be advocating for? The right for a more diverse selection of women to be positively objectified for their looks? Let’s get one thing straight - the only reason advertisers and corporations cater to this kind of thinking is because they want to make money. If a corporation like Dove really cared about women, its parent group Unilever wouldn’t be shitting on them to sell Axe products to dudebros. 

Surely we should be trying to establish a culture in which being beautiful isn’t the primary currency of value? By trying to secure the ‘right’ for all women to be praised as beautiful rather than dismantling the value attached to that, it reinforces rather than challenges the superficiality of the beauty industry and by extension women’s reliance upon it.

The articulate thoughts of Clementine Ford. 

(Source: dailylife.com.au)

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