Certainly, there are beautiful people in this world but our perception of beauty may vary based on beliefs, race, cultural customs and the value that each individual gives to what beauty really means to him/her. Although, I believe that western media has manipulated our vision of what a beautiful woman should look like or must be. I believe that our attitudes about beauty are shaped by irrational ideals of perfection and the craze for plastic surgery, which is becoming an obsession for many women. Unfortunately, cosmetic surgery has already taken away the lives of many women around the world and in other cases has left permanent emotional and physical scars.
I am personally concerned about the overemphasis on physical appearance, and I constantly questioning myself about how real these standards are. I feel personally attached to this issue because I have two nieces who are very special to me. Yanelsi is 14 years old and a very smart girl. In fact, she is the first in her class. Yanelsi was born with a special kind of bone defect that is making her face gradually twist toward one side (left side).
My other niece, Lucia, has hypothyroidism (under activity of the thyroid), a condition that causes her to be very overweight. She is 26 years old and a very talented artist. I consider that my nieces are beautiful girls, but they live isolated in their homes because people used to make sarcastic comments about their appearances. On more than one ocassion they have make comments about getting plastic surgery in order to "fit" and feel more "normal" around other people. It really frustrates me when I witness people's incapability to see more than what is on the surface - and the media plays a major part in how we see and judge others.
Certainly, the media has a powerful influence in our society and during the past decade they have established different standards of what a beautiful woman should be. In our days, these new standards are so impossible to attain that many women are developing obsessive behaviors trying to measure up with these standards.
So, I constantly question myself about what beauty really means to us. Are we stuck on the delusional standard establish by our media? And, why are these standards of beauty imposed on women?
I believe that women’s beauty goes beyond their physical appearance; it goes beyond this ephemeral surface that is so hardly trying to be changed into perfection.
25 most beautiful people (2010). Retrieved March, 15 2011, from
