Pretty Hurts: The Impact of Beauty Standards
September 11, 2015Beyonce’s song Pretty Hurts made my internal struggles come to life before my eyes. No, I don’t know what it’s like to be considered pretty and not given validity outside of my body or looks. But I know what’s it like to be fat and for everyone to feel the need to tell me how cute I’d be if I just lost the weight.
“My aspiration in life would be…to be happy.”
There’s not much that I have in common with your stereotypical beauty queen. I’m fat. I have horrible posture. I have really bad stage fright. I don’t really have a talent that anyone in particular would want to watch.
But I do long to be beautiful. I’d be lying if I said that I’ve never wanted to fit inside of society’s beauty standards. While being happy is always an aspiration, sometimes beauty outweighs my want for happiness.
“Mama said, ‘You’re a pretty girl. What’s in your head, it doesn’t matter.”