Barbie

In today's society, women have a hard time accepting the Body Positive Movement and the Love Yourself Campaign when there are still influential products around us everywhere, telling us that a certain look is still the goal. When we go shopping and look at mannequins, they are still a size 0 or 2, which gives us the perception that we would truly look good in those clothes with that body. We are surrounded by make up and perfumes and magazines, all modeled by beautiful, skinny, and flawless looking celebrities. Just by looking at social media as a whole, there is so much evidence that girls are still trying so hard, to be pretty. I have even seen it in my personal life with my friends (no hate on them though). If you look at the public page of Instagram, right off the bat, you will be bombarded with pretty girls who are skinny, who have long silky hair, good teeth, and a nice sense of fashion. They all look gorgeous but they all in a way, look the same. My friends have talked many times, and so have celebrities during interviews, that looking at social media can be such a burden on one's mental health. By comparing yourself to the next girl, and your life to what she's doing, creates an unhealthy thought process saying, "You're not good enough' or "You're not as pretty" or "Your life is more boring." Even how we edit the photos we take before we post says a lot about this culture. We make sure to edit to present the best looking picture of us, our best selves. All of the pics and poses on Instagram start to look the same, however, if one tried to not conform to the post quality, the picture is deemed not a good picture and wouldn't get as many likes. We are all trained to become barbies.

Another instance is the popularity of plastic surgery. We see it in celebrities all the time, so much that none of it shocks us. But now it's becoming a common thing within the normal population. Off the top of my head, I can name two girls I personally know who had gotten a nose job their senior year of high school and three girls who had gotten boob jobs. I feel that if this society still wasn't promoting a certain look, they wouldn't feel the need to spend thousands of dollars to feel better about themselves. Especially since I personally believe, authentic is beautiful. We are all trained to become barbies. 

My last evidence I would like to bring up that has to do with this unrealistic, pressured society for women, in labels and brands. Girls, especially present in college, can all agree that there is a joke that says that "all sorority girls dress the same way." Why do they say that? Observing more on what girls wear, it's not what they wear, but what brand they wear. Girls buy and wear Lululemon, stylish sweaters, and anything that is presented as cute AND upper class looking. In a way, the clothes we wear is another form on how we convey what we want to be identified as, to everyone else. Sure, most girls dress the same. But if they didn't, would they still be treated the same? We are all trained to become perfect dolls.