There are No Standards for Beauty

I was on Twitter recently and I came across this viral trend with the hashtag #loveyourlines Apparently it's a movement by women who decide to post pictures of their stretch marks on the internet to prove that... Actually I don't really know what they're trying to prove. Maybe it's to show solidarity with other women. I don't know. 

What I will say is...

The "beauty" industry is a money making machine. The respective brands have mastered basic supply and demand. Publications pander to your insecurities which are somehow sown into your consciousness almost as if by osmosis. It happens so seamlessly, it's as if one day you wake up and realize you hate parts of yourself. 

Imagine a world where you weren't being bombarded with what ideal size you should be. Where your options aren't reduced to algebraic terms. Plus or minus. Where you don't feel discriminated against while shopping for clothing. Where you could actually walk out of the dressing room without having to find the square root of your ass. Imagine walking to a makeup counter already feeling beautiful and leaving feeling just as bright and glowing without the armor. Not wishing you were one shade lighter so the foundation could blend or one shade darker to cover the blemishes. It's almost impossible to imagine such a world because we have been so thoroughly immersed in this reversed beauty culture for what seems like eons. It's always love yourself, BUT... We're taught to believe that something is always missing, something just isn't quite right, that's not normal. Wax this, pluck that, bleach what? And it's not going away anytime soon. There is money in taking power away from individuals and replacing that powerlessness with disorder, false hope and the promise of perfection. 

There are many women out there who have always understood this unfounded, fairytale, abusive standardized testing of  human biology, genetics and nature in the attempt at conceptualizing beauty to market for mass consumption. Fact is women have stretch marks. Women have periods. And there are hairy women and hairless women. There are biological women and trans women. Standards of beauty have no place in the lives of humans. We just are and it just is. 

When a person does not have a strong sense of self it is easy to succumb to someone else's belief of how imperfect they are. There are no standards for beauty. I repeat. THERE ARE NO STANDARDS FOR BEAUTY. Like none. Zero. 

Know yourself and love yourself on a intimate level. Develop your self awareness and make sure your choices are your own and not a result of outside influence and manipulation. Respect the skin you're in and always as in everything else in life be kind to yourself. If you are kind to yourself you won't allow anyone to be less than kind to you.