Beauty is only skin deep

The other night I was on my way home and Bomber was on the radio, he said something that I was meaning to share here but keep putting off (thanks to more urgent news like a friggin cold).

It goes something like this: (paraphrasing, like, a lot)

Everyday on TV, on the street, in magazine, in shops, we're being fed with this idea of what the society norm is. We see how people live, how they dress, and we start to compare ourselves with "them". The damage this does to one's self esteem is horrific. Everyday we're bombard with advertising to tell us that we are not good enough, that we need their product to match the "norm". All you gentlemen out there (note: Bomber's words, not mine): everyday tell your girlfriend or your wife that she's beautiful, because everyday there's a million-dollar industry out there trying to convince her otherwise.

End of paraphrasing. :)

I'm blessed with a boyfriend who tell me I'm beautiful the way I am and try to convince me that I don't need to lose weight. But when I look around me, everyone's promoting this "norm", this ideal. It's only when I shop for clothes when the shop is having a sales that I realise my size is almost always the first to go. That I'm actually normal. It's scary isn't it? The whole world thinks you have to be skinny to be normal.

There's a reason why I don't get beauty pagent, or rather I just don't agree with it. It's like saying if you're a girl all that matter is your weight, your measurment, and how you look. They kept saying it's about more than that. Sure, that's why Miss Universe will always include a clip of every contestants in swimsuit and bending down. That's why the talent quest is mostly people dancing, singing, or doing some lame magic trick. Kudos to those who can actually plan a musical instrument there, but I'm still waiting for those show to actually let the contestant show REAL talent. A while ago a postgrad in engineering from MIT got into Miss USA, and I really hope she didn't play dumb to get there. If I were her I'd solve a second order PDE on the spot... okay maybe not, my calculus is a bit rusty. But at least I can show my neural network learning machine. Either way, I say beauty pagent is a degrade for woman. In fact Pete mention that it's degrading for men too. Kinda also reduce them to some shallow perves. After all, it doesn't matter how well you sing or dance or solve your second order PDE, it's the chick "with the biggest tits who wins" (Pete's words, not mine). And what is that saying about men?

Stand up for yourselves. Show the world that it's not the superficial stuff that matters. Tell people that we're all individual, and that you yourselves are special. Tell yourselve than you're a beautiful being made in God's image. Don't let the society reduce you to a pretty doll. We don't need to be Barbie or Ken to be loved. Don't give in the to peer pressure and try to archive the "norm" that those multi-million company try to trick you into believing. Think for yourselves. Don't EVER become a sheep.

/told you mainstream sucks...