Katie

I have noticed a common plight among the young women of my generation.  Many of them hold onto a multitude of insecurities about their bodies, their personalities, and their souls.  What most of them see when they look in the mirror is a vision skewed by an onslaught of brain washing media advertisements and Hollywood films.  What they don't see is reality.  In reality, they are beautiful, strong, intelligent women who should never feel embarrassed about what and who they are. 

Katie is one of the most beautiful young women that I know, but unfortunately she doesn't know it.  It took several minutes of begging and pleading multiple times on our snowshoe outing to capture these images.  The top-most picture is the typical response I usually got from her.  Unfortunatley, these few photographs barely do her beauty justice.  She is a smart, fun, gorgeous young woman (blessed with the most enchanting eyes I've ever seen ;) ) and living in this society has made it hard for her to look past her minor imperfections (that all of us have) and see her natural beauty.  It is one of my goals to someday capture the perfection I see in her so that she too may come to see them.

I am not perfect either.  I too have my weaknesses and struggle daily with my own personal perceptions.  I do, however, constantly remind myself that this is who I am and that it will never change.  Once I accept this I will find it easier to be happy and so I am trying desperately to reach that mindset.  

WARNING:  The following content is a ranting rampage.  It's not necessary to read further but if you are interested, go for it.  

Though young men are also faced with similar circumstances, the women of my generation are being told that to be beautiful, one must be unnatural.  Aside from caking on the makeup (like frosting on a cake- badum shu), we are forced to believe that to be attractive, you have to be less than 110 lbs, have straight hair, the perfect nose, the perfect mouth, the perfect eyes, the perfect facial bone structure, long legs, and a butt and boobs.  Well let me tell you, if every bone and muscle in your body is easily distinguishable beneath your skin you are not going to have a butt and boobs.  Those are luxuries held only by girls with fat.  And, low and behold, women are genetically predisposed to maintain 20-30% body fat!  It's natural, it's the way we were meant to be, and it is healthy.  Once women drop below about 15% body fat their periods stop, they get overly irritable, they get hunger pains more frequently, they get lightheaded, and their immune system becomes jeopardized which leads to a multitude of other problems.    

If we look at art throughout the history of mankind, beauty has always been associated with curves and 'padding.'  It is only in the last fifty years that the appeal of skin and bones has emerged.  And Hollywood is the driving force.  Hollywood is not reality and thus should not be setting the standards for how young women feel about themselves.   

Someone once said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I believe that beauty lies in individuality, and more importantly inside someone rather than as a function of their outward appearance.  (Though this is not always true) I have noticed a negative correlation between a young woman's attractiveness and how well she does in school.  Beauty does get you places, but it only gets you so far.  Beauty should be valued as a function of what's inside someone- their generosity, their intelligence, their humor, rather than a factor of face.  

In addition, 99.9999% of the female populous DOES NOT have straight flowing hair in conjunction with the perfect lips, perfect eyes, perfect everything and anything.   We are all unique with characteristics that are more optimal than others, but our imperfections force us to compensate for them with our personalities.  Imperfections teach us to accept others, to appreciate what we are given, and to ultimately develop a likable personality.  Without the beauty within we are just shells.