Clifton: Embracing the natural beauty within us

The beauty industry is dominating television, radio and the internet in a way that leaves the core of a girl’s sense of self-worth shattered. While this is nothing new, the industry has found a way to take advantage of the despicable position that society already puts women in, convincing women that they can never be beautiful in their natural state. Women have to look a certain way in order to be accepted as ‘beautiful.’ It’s also unacceptable for a woman to affirm her natural beauty. Those who try it are chastised by their friends and sometimes by their families too. A woman cannot be so conceited.
Instead of allowing women the same opportunity of self-expression as men, they are taught to hate themselves and to look down on anything about their personality that they’ve not enhanced artificially. It’s a system of self-hate. Mothers teach their daughters to love themselves, but as they age and interact more with society and leave the protection of the household, it gets harder for them to keep that mentality.
As a girl, I am devastated that I have to grow up in this society that teaches me to hate myself. By our teenage years, most of us are already experimenting with expensive cosmetics. We believe these will make our faces glow brighter, our teeth sparkle whiter and our hairs rest so majestically over our shoulders. Those who can afford it undergo expensive surgeries to augment their breasts or buttocks. The reason? To be more admired by the same society that created this bondage in the first place.
Instead of focusing on the things that would matter for better future careers, like studying hard, we become so fascinated by being the first to wear the most fashionable dress on campus and to be the girl that the boys think is ‘hot.’ So much for earning that accolade!

To a great extent, we can put the blame on Cosmo magazine and its cousins in that industry that continue to suffocate the young girl with the idea that she’s worthless without these expensive cosmetics, dresses, or surgeries. That girl will soon become an adult and get sucked in this expensive addiction. These beauty companies tell us that the standard is to become a skinny model or angel, and if you’re already skinny they say you should have a toned skin. Nothing is ever enough in this ever-changing industry, and although everybody knows that these expectations are unrealistic, the girl has to keep up or be left behind.
Many girls have even committed suicide and many future dreams have been shattered in the pursuit of this expectations. The consequences are endless.
The everyday effects of these pressures on a girl can be devastating. We continue chasing these dreams until, ultimately, we can no longer appreciate the beauty that is inherent in us or in other girls that we meet. We hate ourselves for not making society’s cut for the ‘beautiful’ that we become so mean-spirited, walking around like zombies chasing the next fresh blood until we get the next cosmetic fix.
But this is what I think: Ladies, instead of worrying unnecessarily about how we don’t fit in or about how we’re not as beautiful as the next person, we should take a moment to appreciate the enormous beauty that lies within us. This beauty, which no amount of cosmetic make-up can hide, is the only thing that really matters. How about understanding that these angels and models that society expects us to aspire to become are unreal?
The beauty industry knows that soon enough we’d find out that the push for cosmetic makeovers is not because they actually care about us, they knew we’d find out that it’s all about meeting their business’s bottom-line.
We’ll become happier when we realize that our beauty comes from within and not from expensive surgeries or cosmetics. Use surgeries and cosmetics if you want, but the motivation should not be because you think that’s your source of beauty or happiness.
Let’s band together to make sure every woman feels like she can still belong in our society even without expensive cosmetic makeovers. We can do this by starting a movement of girls on campus complimenting each other’s messy buns, non-makeup face and bleach-stained sweatpants. Let us embrace how we are.
Riley Clifton is a first-year majoring in communication and an IC columnist.