Universidad Nacional del Comahue Facultad de Lenguas

Lengua inglesa IV aplicada a la traduccin

Peredo, Mara Florencia
Opinion essay

BEAUTY: If you feel, you are

I have been teaching Latin rhythms for 4 years now; but when I got my degree,
I never imagined I was going to teach more than dancing steps and techniques.
During the time I spent in front of each group of people I met many women, all
of them very particular and different from each other. However, they had one
thing in common: when the time came to decide on a costume to wear for
shows, all their insecurities where revealed. Either because they did not have a
flat belly, or because their curves were small, or because their arms were not
toned; they felt their bodies were not appropriate for a short, sparkling,
dancing dress. What happened to all these women? Their bodies did not
conform to the beauty stereotype of our society.
That situation made me wonder what beauty means for each culture. If you
were a woman living in a small society such as Myanmar (a country located at
the north of Thailand) you would be beautiful if you had metal rings around
your neck to make it longer. Having a face tattoo would be a synonym of
beauty if you were a Maori woman in New Zealand. In South Korea, Hong Kong
and India the whiter your skin, the better. And if you were part of a tribe in
Ethiopia you would have a huge embellishment made of porcelain or wood,
inserted in your lower lip as a beauty symbol.
But that is not the case in bigger communities like ours. Every day we are
faced with thousands of images of women who are thin, have glossy hair,
fashionable clothes and seem to be extremely happy and successful. What
these images are telling us is that to be good, one has to look like that. Have
you ever heard Kate Moss mantra? Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.
That shortly summarizes it. The prevalent stereotype of a beautiful girl has
prominent collarbones, a tight gap, and looks good in skinnies and crop tops.
That is beauty for our culture.
This negative stereotype has produced two different results. On the one hand,
women of all ages and some children and teenagers as well have adopted
unhealthy habits and acquired serious illnesses. Examples of these health
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Universidad Nacional del Comahue Facultad de Lenguas

Lengua inglesa IV aplicada a la traduccin
Peredo, Mara Florencia
Opinion essay
problems are anorexia and bulimia, which are common eating disorders
nowadays; and depression and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which are
psychological ones.
On the other hand, the restricted and unhealthy concept of attractiveness has
helped to create a completely different and more ample definition of beauty,
which in my opinion is the most appropriate one. The acceptance of our body
with its flaws and virtues, care of ones health and self-confidence are the most
important features of this new model.
Fortunately, many important companies have accepted this wider meaning of
beauty. The famous brand of body care products, Dove, started in 2004 a
campaign in favour of Real Beauty 1. It was so successful that it still continues
up to these days, and many other companies joined in the adoption of this new
vision.
So, what I tell every girl and woman who comes to me and say they are not
beautiful because they are not thin, or tall, or curvy enough to go on stage and
show off, wearing a clingy dress full of rhinestones; is that beauty is something
completely subjective. Being a size zero will not make you more beautiful than
someone who is a size six, because neither body structure, nor a number on a
scale define a persons beauty. What does define it is the attitude you have
towards it. If you accept yourself the way you are, you take care of your health
and wear nice clothes that benefit your body, then you will create the best
version of you and, consequently, you will feel awesome. And that is the secret:
if you feel beautiful, you are beautiful.

1 Dove Webpage: http://www.dove.com.ar/es/Tips-Temas-yHerramientas/Articulos-y-Consejos/Campana-de-Dove-por-la-Belleza-Real.aspx

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