Column

February 2005

Real Beauty

"photos from DOVE advertisement"

These are the faces that I recently came across while I was taking the long escalator in the tube. These people are nothing like Snow White or any of the super models that we often find in fashion magazines. They are all very different: very wrinkled, very freckly, huge or flat-chested. One thing they have in common, however, is that they recognise and respect their own beauty and uniqueness. These posters are by Dove, a company campaigning for real beauty. It is breathtaking to see these people looking lively and confident.

The picture on the left is 95 year old, Irene. " I've never been beautiful in my life, but I feel I am beautiful now." she says. Even with all her wrinkles, you can see how graceful she has become with age. Leah, in the middle picture, is covered with freckles, one of the reasons why she stands out from the crowd, and enjoys her uniqueness. Esther on the right has not really minded her small chest, and has learned to like and accept what she has. "Life is too short to focus on the negative, or what society perceives as negative. "

Dove conducted a research on "Real Beauty" among 3200 women in 10 countries. According to the report, only 2% think they are beautiful, and just 9% consider themselves attractive. One third of the females in the world are not happy with their weight and a shocking 59% of Japanese women are unhappy with the way they look. Even though they are not culturally used to talking highly about themselves, this figure is disappointingly high. Brazil's discontent rate was 37%, UK and America 36% and Argentina 27%. With the influence of the media and the tendency to view models and stereotypes as beautiful, it could be causing people to feel unhappy and to lose their self-esteem.

Although the research shows that few women in the world were happy with their physical appearance, they also highlighted that happiness, kindness, confidence, dignity, honour and intelligence were factors that attributed to making a woman beautiful.

Neither 95-year-old Irene nor freckled-face Leah fit our stereotype of the typical beauty. Yet, they are beautiful and extremely attractive. They accept themselves for who they are, and are confident and content - so content that they have the strength to even turn what the world might call a negative factor into positive. They do not copy others but rather value their uniqueness. By bringing out the best in themselves they make us feel good as well.

Tubes in London often increase our stress level with their delays and breakdowns, so looking at these posters was like a breath of fresh air. "It would be great if I could always bring out the real beauty in me.", I thought as I walked down the aisle with the rest of the people who must have been thinking the same thing.

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