Dove Real Beauty Sketches, Pt 1

Watching the Dove Real Beauty Sketches video, I was struck by how critical the women shown were of themselves. I’ve struggled with the same kind of thing, always being more critical of myself than others. It’s startling to me that even conventionally attractive women (which most of the women featured were) can be so pessimistic of their looks. I think it shows how easily and how thoroughly we internalize messages of beauty in our culture. We’re bombarded with Photoshopped images of flawless creations that bear a passing resemblance to what humans look like in the wild, and we begin to think that’s how women should look, instead of realizing that women don’t look like that at all. I know that men as well as women have to put up with idealized beauty standards in the media, but the male friends I’ve discussed this with don’t seem to have the same level of problem regarding not meeting the ideal as my female friends. Body image problems seem to be something that women primarily deal with, which makes me think that women especially feel the pressure to conform to beauty standards. The way to deal with this double standard isn’t to make men feel more poorly about their bodies, of course, but to have more realistic models in the media. I feel like I’ve read something in the recent past about how with the rise of heavily Photoshopped male models, there has been a corresponding drop in positive body image among young men, but I can’t recall where I read it.

The second video, which was an obvious parody of the Real Beauty Sketches, was pretty funny. I think, though, having an inflated sense of your own self isn’t something that most men have. Are men more confident in their looks on average when compared to women? Without having done any actual research, I would say that men don’t think about their own beauty in the same way that women do. Most beauty products are targeted at women, whereas most male hygienic products are simply soap or deodorant. I have noticed that there seem to be more body care products aimed at men that aren’t just soap or deodorant, though, and I find that pretty troubling. The message with most beauty products seems to be, “You aren’t perfect, and that’s wrong, so here’s this thing that will help make you perfect.” Body care products seem less about actually caring for your body and more about creating in real life what we see in Photoshopped magazines. I understand grooming, and wanting to look your best, but there seems to be something more sinister underlying beauty care products that I can’t like.