Magazine "Beauty"

Every time I catch a flight somewhere I remember why it is I don't buy magazines anymore. This is the only time I will ever actually pick up a trashy mag to have a flip through, in the hope it will entertain me while I fly. I have the option of either airbrushed wholesomeness or "Stars without their makeup!" What is it about these women's magazines that make them think I want to see this? I truly don't.

The options that were before me featured celebrities shot in their natural environment, not looking like their cover/photo shop version. They used some complimentary headline ie "I am a real woman" while featuring a photo showing some more curves than we are used to seeing on a cover. Wow, she's a real woman?! Shock horror! Of course she is a real woman! Just as I am, just as Angelina Jolie is, just as my mother is, just as you are. I don't understand how these magazines still make it to print. But most of all I don't understand why we still read it. I don't want to buy into the so called beauty culture as it is nowadays. Summer-time especially angers me, as I see publication after publication using the same style headline constantly. "Our real beach bodies" "Young stars Secret Surgery" and "How we did it!" (lost the weight) I don't actually care...

I hate the fascination, we as woman, can actually have with these photographs. Hearing the dialogue in my own head and hating myself for it when it creeps in. "Wow look Elle Machpherson has cellulite! And she's a model??" Um she is also 49 and f*king fabulous! So, she has cellulite. Who cares?? This is what makes the cover? How in this day and age does this still happen? I understand what the magazine was trying to do. Show us photos of these normally done up, airbrushed, beauties in their natural environment. Giving us a reason to look and think better about ourselves (after two months prior, putting the airbrushed version of the same celebrity on their cover mind you). It shouldn't be about lowering someone elses image to make us feel better about ourselves. I want to fight back against this sort of publication. I want it to change. And I'm sure most women out there feel the same.

I have been dealing with females and their bodies for over 10 years and not one of them is completely happy with what they have. I often have clients actually apologise, for me having to see their bodies unclothed. It kills me to hear this and it hurts even more if they say that I wouldn't understand. "You're younger than me, you don't have fat rolls like I do, you haven't had three kids etc etc...."  And I feel I have to point out my physical faults and flaws in order to make them feel better about their own body. Again their perception of themselves being a result of a comparison to someone else. I don't want to hear you apologise for your appearance. I don't want to hear that the woman in the lingerie poster could wear it by you don't have the body to. I don't want to hear- "I'm too fat to wear something sexy. I'm too old to wear something bright. I have too many stretch marks to warrant wearing something beautiful." I'm tired of this self deprecation and as media gets worse and worse, so will this thought process. How will the next generation be? Self esteem built up on how many likes you get on that bikini clad selfie? I dread the thought...

I don't want to see ridiculously airbrushed celebrities on magazine covers. I don't want to read how I can shed 5kg is 5 weeks. I don't want to see only size zero models being featured in fashion spreads. I don't want to see photos of celebrities in bikinis on holidays with a tacky headline. I don't want to see advertisements telling me I need to dye my hair or wax my body. I don't want to compare myself to others. I don't want to feel I have to change how I look to feel better. I actually like who I am, don't make me question that.

I'm scared of this world of judgmental beauty and I don't want to see the next generation being even more self critical than this one. I'm over comparing myself to others. I'm over women judging themselves via how they look and judging how they look based on someone elses appearance. This isn't healthy. This isn't reality. Why cant we just be ourselves and be happy with it?

I have a project in the pipe line... I look forward to telling you more about it soon.

Rant over
My Lingerie Addiction