Mirror on the Wall - Who Tells YOU What Beautiful Is

Most of us grew up hearing the classic fairy tales: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. While most boys listened and then went off to play with their cars and action figures, the majority of us girls dreamed of being princesses and happily makeup mirror ever afters. Not once did it ever occur to us that Cinderella had eleven toes on her tiny feet; that Rapunzel got hair extensions to make her ladder of lovely locks; that Sleeping Beauty was actually snoozing at a private hospital in Switzerland getting cosmetic surgery to "preserve" her looks until her prince came along. And I never in a million years thought that Snow White, when coming across the Magic Mirror, would ask, "Do I look fat?"

These scenarios sound ridiculous, right? But these are the very things that we as individuals, and as a society, are searing into our children's maleable, little psyches. Right about now you're probably saying, "I would never tell my kids something like that". But take a look at the shows and movies you're watching while they play nearby. Skim through the magazines you leave laying around for tiny eyes to peruse. Listen to the criticism you heap on yourself when you don't think they're listening. And they're always listening, especially when you think they aren't. Now, maybe you can see what I mean.

I like to read fashion magazines. Now, I could lie to you and say that I "just read them for the articles", but I won't. Truthfully, I read them for the whole package: the clothes, the makeup, the shoes, the current events, advice, health articles; all of it. The one thing I DON'T read them for is to see the skeletal remains of women encased in haute couture that they call "models". The very act of writing about them gives me shivers. What are they considered "models" of? The feminine form at it's best? Are you kidding me? These girls look as if they were to stumble on the runway, that they would shatter into a million pieces! And it's not just "models" in magazines. The celebrities on TV and in movies look like stick figures, too. The mature Oscar winner right down to the young ingénue. Not only that, but younger and younger women are getting cosmetic surgery. Botox, implants; a lift here, a tuck there. When did we decide that looking half starved and in a constant state of surprise was the epitome of beauty?

Up until the early part of the twentieth century, the ideal female form was considered to be shapely, curvacious, soft. Artists like Cezanne, Degas, Klimt, and Renoir are just some examples of those who took up their brushes to proclaim that very idea. Not in any of their paintings would you be able to count a woman's ribs or think that she had her nose done. What they saw was so beautiful that they felt compelled to immortalize it on canvas.

Now, we immortalize things digitally and photoshop or airbrush away what is considered undesirable. We tell our little girls how pretty they are and then go out and buy them dolls with tons of makeup and minimal clothing and show them what pretty is "supposed" to look like, makeup mirror effectively negating any praise we've just given them. Where does it end? When will we decide that it's better to pass down a healthy respect for ourselves and the way we look, instead of our neuroses about an unachievable, and ultimately damaging, standard set by a silent consensus.