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Beauty Defined

By Farah Dabbagh

As a young woman of this century, I fit many stereotypes of what most women love. I love to shop for clothes and shoes, I love to wear makeup, and I love getting a manicure (I mean honestly though, they massage your hands, who wouldn’t want that?!). I also enjoy things like wearing sweat pants, not brushing my hair every day, and showering every other day. So which of these falls under “natural beauty”? I have been asking myself this question since more and more campaigns have been targeting natural beauty and standing up against Photoshop.

Recent ads popping up all over social media are displaying more photos of normal-sized women with no make-up on. Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign or Aerie Lingerie ads have been aiming to show a more realistic view of women. Recently, a photo campaign by Ben Hopper exhibited several women with their arms raised to show their armpit hair and he named the series “Natural Beauty”. Since then, many women and girls began taking selfies of themselves sporting their armpit hair and posting those photos to social media. The Women’s Center here on campus applauds women who embrace their bodies and their minds with events like Love Your Body Day. However, I feel that although these campaigns have good intentions they have turned around and shamed the rest of who enjoy wearing makeup, doing our hair, and shaving our arm pits.

My concern is that we are leaving behind one extreme and moving on to the next. I am overjoyed that so many companies have joined this battle against the world of Photoshop, body shaming, and going against the beauty standard. However, defining beauty is what got society in this mess in the first place. Let us not define what real beauty, natural beauty, or beauty in general is. Let’s just say that everyone is beautiful in their own way.