Yes the title of today’s post ‘perfection is a disease of a nation’ is from Beyoncé’s song “Pretty Hurts“. I do like Beyoncé for her music and flawed feminism. We love to be picture perfect, we paint over our unique faces and than talk about being confident in our own skin. We spend countless hours applying filters to pictures or finding the right pose and then talk about accepting a healthy body image. Some would call these actions hypocrisy rather then flaws but I beg to differ.
When Beyoncé’s Instagram post with photoshopped legs caused controversy it was around the same time she had come out with this song. People had lots to say and I had a lot to think about. Why do we as successful, beautiful and confident women do that to ourselves and should we stop talking about these issues since we are hypocrites or do we go on. For me the answer definitely lies in going on. I consider it a flaw which stems from a woman’s (or any human’s) deepest sense of belonging.
As humans we long for connections physical and emotional and somehow we are wired that the more we are alike the more we will be liked. The corporations, media and the fashion industry banks on that idea every single day of our lives. It is amazing to me how much effort and money most makeup artist and people are willing to spend to apply tons of make up to their faces only to achieve a ‘natural look’ yes I have been there and am still there on certain days. I have looked idiotically in the mirror when I apply lotions, toners, foundation and powder to my face to hide a little rosacea around my cheeks and then turn around and apply pink blush-on to make my cheeks pink again. If this is not crazy then I don’t know what is but we do it and do it all the time. Case in point I am still thinking about buying a naked pallete.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with makeup or obsessing over dressing up I do it all the time and most times I do love it. What we do need to be careful about is that we don’t start to value ourselves only when we have the perfect look on. Whether it is make up, clothes, pictures or even careers.
As women we truly have to value ourselves for who we truly are. No matter how dark or grey the inside is love yourself and your body for all its greys. When you wake up in the morning look in the mirror and smile for that pretty face with messy hair. Own and adore yourself because I truly believe we cannot love or see love in other things unless we unconditionally love our self-first.