of the African and African American women that I feel represent true beauty
through their confidence, class, personalities, and contribution to empowering
other people.
I think that people of all races and ethnicities are amazing. These are just some of the African and African American women that I feel represent true beauty through their confidence, class, personalities, and contribution to empowering other people. Disclaimer: I do not own these images. They are meant for viewing purposes only. I take no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be removed immediately
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The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, often dubbed the sexiest night on television, was filmed in New York this year on November 13th. The show will be broadcast on CBS on December 10th. I’ve watched the fashion show for a couple years now and I’m still completely blown away with how elaborate the costumes become each year. Not only has this show evolved from its 1995 debut, the whole company has changed the way a pair of underwear and a bra are seen today. The multi-million dollar company was created by Roy Raymond and his wife in 1977. It is now run by CEO, Leslie Wexner, whose net worth is $5.4 Billion, according to Forbes.com. This yearly show is meticulously planned and designed a year before. I want to touch up on this subject because a couple posts back, I talked about an essay called “Devastating Beauty” by Teal Pfeifer. And because the show will be broadcasted soon, I wanted to remind the women who plan on watching, that they shouldn’t feel inadequate about their bodies when they see these models on T.V. These models are required to go on very strict diets and exercise regimes, in order to prepare for one night of walking up and down an aisle. The reason why these models look amazing in their “attire” is because of their confidence. Their careers are basically to look confident in whatever somebody tells them to wear. My proposition is that even non-supermodel women can be confident with their figures, in whatever they choose to wear. Honestly, models aren't perfect. If anything, having to always keep the "perfect" shape, gets a little old. Believe or not, they like pizza too, and French fries and cocktails. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/victorias-secret-angels-share-post-fashion-show-rituals-20131411 How the industry has evolved. Disclaimer: I do not own these images. They are meant for viewing purposes only. I take no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be removed immediately
The up-and-coming artist Jermaine Lamarr Cole, also known as J. Cole, has a vital message for all females. To all the women with the flaws, know it's hard my darling… So all you see is what you lacking, not what you packing Take it from a man that loves what you got And baby girl you're a star, don't let 'em tell you you're not… We don't look nothing like the people on the screen You know them movie stars, picture perfect beauty queens But we got dreams and we got the right to chase ‘em Look at the nation, that’s a crooked smile braces couldn’t even straighten… The North Carolinian has a lot to say about women’s self-esteem from a male’s perspective. His hit song, “Crooked Smile” featuring TLC is not only catchy but it expresses the lack of self-esteem he’s seen in women. He seems to understand the stress that women feel when they don’t think they’re beautiful. He sees it and he tells them that they’re beautiful, but it’s something they can’t realize as true. I personally think “Crooked Smile” is a really good song with a good message. J. Cole has been around for awhile with four albums since 2009, but it isn’t until now that his song writing skills are finally appreciated by more people. His music video for the song does stray somewhat from what the lyrics are saying, but it is still a really good video that left me a bit emotional. I’m not giving anything away. You’ll just have to watch it for yourself. Disclaimer: I do not own any of these videos. Videos belong to rightful owners.
Disclaimer: I do not own these images. They are meant for viewing purposes only. I take no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be removed immediately Talk about Ms. Outgoing; Elizabeth is positively perky. She is blessed
to be a Mexican and Peruvian mix because she gets to have the best of both worlds. Her favorite feature is her grin. She does not falter when she explains that it “brightens her face and people always remember her for it,” it’s true. I’ve known Elizabeth for awhile and her facial expressions and personality are not ones to forget. She truly believes that “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Everyone has a unique view of beauty. It comes in all shapes, colors and sizes and just because society defines one kind of beauty, it does not mean anybody else isn’t beautiful. Everybody is beautiful in their own way.”
I read an essay for my English class a couple months ago called “Devastating Beauty,”
by student writer, Teal Pfeifer. This essay is one of the main reasons why I decided to create a beauty blog about diversity. It’s a very well written essay about the growing problem of females’ desire for unrealistically thin bodies. The media has defined beauty as being unhealthily thin and has created a breeding ground for poor self-image and eating disorders in young and old females. Luckily, the author suggests that fellow women should stop being victims of what the media wants them to be, and one way to do this is stop buying magazines that depicted emaciating thin models. I definitely agree with Pfeifer. The advertisement industry makes a lot of money out of displaying items in magazines, billboards, and television to make consumers think that if they had that product they would love it because it looks perfect or pretty. This is the ideal strategy because who wouldn’t want to look at or have aesthetically pleasing things. But this is at the cost of fostering self doubt and inadequacy to those that can’t obtain whatever the ad is depicting. Women are not all born the same, so why must we conform to a society that can’t accept us for being as unique as we were created; no matter our weight or body type. One of the most shocking things I learned from Pfeifer’s essay was that by the age of seventeen a young female has seen an average of 250,000 ads of underweight women, who have achieved their size, for the most part, from anorexia, bulimia or drug use. (“The Skinny”) Those thin models are found in all kinds of ads such as beauty products, clothing, and even cigarettes. It is quite sad that just the image of an extremely thin woman can reduce so much self-esteem in so many other females and force them into extreme diets and workouts. There’s nothing wrong with exercising and eating properly, it’s just that a lot of females take these to such extremely that are unhealthy. The purpose of eating right and exercising is to be healthier, not less healthy by making yourself too unnecessarily thin. Below is a citation of the essay along with a link to the actual text. Enjoy. Pfeifer, Teal. “Devastating Beauty.” The St. Martin’s Handbook. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 214-218. Print. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everyday_writer3e/studentwriting/pdf/pfeifermlaargumentessay.pdf Welcome to the first post of “The Different Sides of Beauty!” I’ve been thinking about the topic of beauty for the past couple of months, and now I finally have a way to express what I’ve been reflecting on. I have a question for you. Have you every typed in “beauty” in an image
search engine? Well, I have and what I found doesn’t really surprise me. In four out of the five search engines I used (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Aol, and Ask) I noticed that a majority of the images display air-brushed, light skinned Caucasian women. A significant amount of those women have golden blond hair and light colored eyes in shades of blue, green, and hazel. The only site that doesn’t have rows upon rows of light skinned, blonde hair, and blue eyed females is Ask.com. The first page I looked at had only two seemingly blond women. It was interesting because in all the other sites they are all images of “done-up” women, but on this site there are scenic views and references to books and movies with the word “Beauty” in it. I was not surprised that I would find a lot of light skinned and airbrushed images, but I was surprised that it was only Ask.com that displayed diverse images of beauty. And I don’t only mean diverse as in relation to skin color or ethnicity. A lot of the images are not even of people; there are pictures of flowers, action shots, geometric shapes, animals, and drawings. What I’m trying to do is get people to notice the subtle manipulation that the internet has fed its users. A majority of these websites are displaying beauty as one sided. It is insisting that if you don’t have light skin, don’t have blonde hair, or don’t have colored eyes, then you’re not beautiful enough to be featured on our site under the category of “beauty.” Am I the only one who’s noticed this? I hope not, but at the same time I hope I got somebody who hasn't thought about it to thinking about it. |
Author: NicoleI'm an African American, specifically Nigerian, college graduate from Southern California. Archives
June 2015
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