I can admit openly that the pressure to look younger sucked me in about ten years ago. As if I don't have enough stress in my life; seeing all the 'perfect' looking women my age or close to my age on TV has added a lot of pressure that I wasn't even aware of until I began to listen to Terry Thatcher talk on Oprah about the added stresses of what I would classify as competition with regards to aging. Terry Thatcher has not had plastic surgery etc... and took a few pictures along with, home video's of herself without her makeup. First of all, you go girl! It's wonderful to see a celebrity show us what she honestly looks like without her makeup, and that would be like most of us; not too bad! She looked REAL. She also documented with video the makeup and hair styling that is done for the show, "Desperate Housewives," and it's quite obvious that WOW, makeup, lighting, your own hair stylist and sexy/expensive clothing can take years off of a persons true image.
There is such a double standard when it comes to men verses women. Men age gracefully, as the old saying goes. Hey guys have it easy, they just shower, comb their hair and dress. Men are considered sexy in many circles once the grays begin to grow. Women run for cover to the beauty shop or to the store to buy coloring in order to cover up those hideous grays. Men don't have to pluck their eyebrows or wax them; yet women go for whole body waxes? Men do not wear makeup to cover up what we as women consider our flaws. Men wear tight shirts and tuck them in; not a care in the world if their beer gut is hanging over their pants. Yet, women fret and run to the gym or wear looser clothing to hide the little gut that may come with aging.
Why do we as women have such a hard time accepting the fact that aging is a process and we earned the right to look 'older?' Hey I know I earned every gray I have, what about YOU? What kind of example are we setting for the younger generation of gals that are much more prone to eating disorders and low self esteem if we too, are focusing on our looks verses our life experiences? Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it's wrong to want to look our best, but at what expense?
Granted, some are blessed with genes that keep their youth around a bit longer than others, but as a society it seems there is too much emphasis put on looks, instead of valuing the person for who they are, not what they look like.
So I'm curious, is it vanity, or adult/TV peer pressure when women feel the need to hold on to their youthful looks at any cost?
No comments:
Post a Comment