OUR MODERN FAIRY TALE OF FEMALE BEAUTY
Our daughters grow up with a modern fairy tale – which comes from some of the magazines she picks up, the movies or shows she watches, and social media posts.
And the story goes that if her body looked DIFFERENT - more like the cultural ideal - then she would be HAPPY.
Because with smaller thighs or bigger breasts, higher cheekbones, and a smaller waist, she would feel LOVED, DESIRABLE and ATTRACTIVE…
and not feel SAD or REJECTED again.
It’s a modern fairy tale that changing how she looks
IS the solution to her problem.
Any problem.
And by looking a certain way, not only would she be able to escape NEGATIVE emotion, she would also land in lots of POSITIVE ones.
Friendships, success, a new boyfriend…
All attainable through a flatter stomach!
Says our society, with which her brain has been trained to agree.
And as our daughters enter puberty, her world starts to shift.
Biologically she is wired to “get ready to leave the nest,” so she starts looking beyond her family to her friends, community, role-models in order to establish herself.
And what she so often sees projected back at her is this very message…
The problem is in the way you look!
Once you fix that, the gates to happiness will finally open.
So fueled by this promise, she decides to focus on losing weight…
And weeks or months go by before she finally reaches her goal.
And she is absolutely thrilled!!
But when she looks around, she is surprised to find that unicorns are still not prancing around. And rainbows still don’t pop up from the ground she walks on.
It’s still the exact same life, with smaller thighs perhaps.
Sure, a couple OMG’s here and there, but even those die down at some point.
And she suddenly realizes…
OH WAIT, I GOT IT ALL WRONG!
The answer is in my stomach! A flatter stomach will finally do it…
