Switching channels on TV on a Saturday evening, reading a fashion magazine while drinking coffee and surfing the internet for the latest news is all you need to get manipulated and attacked by a massive amount of information about how you should look like and how you could achieve it. This road to perfection, for those who chose to follow, is of course no walk round the corner but a marathon, as the goal is reaching the impossible. When the role-models, given to us by the media, are the most attractive women with a perfect body and facial features, it is at least panicking the load of work and effort we force ourselves to undertake in order to look like them.
As I was walking in central London the other day, it seemed to me that UK women were in a constant competition against each other. The weird thing was that they all seemed to fight with the same weapons, showing off their sexuality. The media has well put in women’s minds that they need to be attractive and they rush into doing whatever possible to obtain that, by wearing revealing clothes, doing Botox and having all sorts of plastic and cosmetic surgery, such as breast surgery and liposuction. The cosmetic industry has increased massively the last few years, as women put higher standards and don’t seem to be satisfied with their looks.
This battle of renewing and improving original beauty is the effort of a woman to reveal and unfold her sexuality and be as attractive as possible to men. In our nature as female beings we have the need to be loved, wanted and adored and that’s why women get a pleasure in the thought of them being irresistible. But you know that at the end of the day being passionately wanted for a night cannot satisfy your emotional needs. What most women find pleasing in this, is the feeling of authority they gain when they know that they can control man’s desire by their looks and appearance. It gives them a sense of control and power.
But is this what women’s rights and empowerment are all about? Are we really empowered or do we fall into the trap of believing that we are sexually liberated when in reality we trick ourselves into a new level of degradation and subjugation? Do we ourselves, in our search for power, accidentally mark the steps that will lead us back into being the weaker sex? When we think that we won men with the power of sexuality and beauty is it possible that we became the sex objects lots of men would like us to be?
After this consideration, I came to the conclusion that although outward appearance and beauty are privileges of being a woman, they are not what the main focus should be lightened upon. In fact our external gifts should reflect our inner charismas. Strength and generally empowerment comes from within. That’s how women fought before us, so that we could be recognized as intellectually able to be educated, work and vote. Do we, in a way, abolish their fight by the way we see ourselves? Have we diminished the importance of our emotions, thoughts, intelligence and personal voice in our battle for recognition and acceptance?
A woman’s greater weapon, in my opinion, is confidence. A person needs to know themselves and believe in oneself to take a risk for a greater purpose. Loving who you are as a woman, embracing your personality, skills and ability and respecting yourself is what you need, not only to look good but to feel good as well. In that way you make people all around you value and appreciate you for who you are.