Your Daughter is a Victim of Your "Beauty" Standards

A recent trip to the local botanical gardens yielded the observation that many women do not choose appropriate clothing or footwear for daily outings that require lots of walking. The majority of these young (and not-so-young) women chose to wear heeled footwear that was chunky, platform-style, stilettos (you name it), and often accompanied by dresses that were so snugged and shrugged that they left little to the imagination. Their purses were chained and branded. Faces covered in makeup that matched their outfits but not their, well, faces. On one arm was a purse, and on the other was a man. It was hard to tell who owned who in that relationship, and to what end game.

Supposing that the women I saw are mothers or will be mothers, it is no wonder that the following statistics are true for young girls:

(Video Uploaded Feb. 2013)

 

The reporter makes a point about women being role models to young girls by being confident in their own skin. Even though there are more reasonable options, many women make fashion mistakes based on"beauty" standards that are impossible to attain or just plain ridiculous. Mistakes that say that our purpose as women is to be attractive to the opposite sex, and that we accomplish attraction with appearance alone. What greater meaning to female life do we teach our daughters, then, if we live by these standards?

 

Instead of constantly having to "fix" things that are "wrong" with us, why not get rid of the need to be ashamed of natural imperfections that actually make us beautiful? While teaching your daughter confidence that only comes from being herself, you will also teach her that you do not have to spend tons of money to be beautiful. That there are thousands of activities more enlightening than dolling up. That her self worth compared to other women is not based on attractiveness. It is a cycle of shame (and expenditure) that you will free her from if you decide to be her first example.