Feeling...beautiful

A few days ago my daughter shared this Dove video on my timeline.  You've probably already seen it since it's making the rounds on the internet this week.  I watched it, I liked it, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Today, after having seen it posted by friends and friends-of-friends since Monday, I started seeing links to blog posts like this one, speaking out against the video.  I couldn't quite see what people saw in the video that made them so upset (I hadn't read the anti-posts, just saw that they were linked).

Now that I've read one of the posts I'm left with the feeling of confusion.  Why can't we take a "you're beautiful" message at face value?  Yes, I know it's an advertising campaign and that their goal is to sell more of their products.  Yes, I know that the company in question owns another company that has horrible ads that are not meant to make me feel all strong and powerful as a woman.

But, see, I *do* feel all strong and powerful as a woman, and soaps and such aren't going to take that away from me.  What I see when I watch that video is a reminder to cut myself some slack.  I see cause for a celebration if even one of the women highlighted in the video walked away from that experience feeling better about herself than when she walked in.  I see the start of discussions on self-esteem potentially happening in houses across the nation, hopefully many of them with young girls involved.

Speaking of girls, also on my wall this week have been several posts from A Mighty Girl, a recent discovery of mine.  Following this page on Facebook has led to several great discoveries and, in general, a very positive girl-power vibe emanating from my news feed each day.  I know we need to help girls see their self-worth and power in things that have nothing to do with their looks.  I know that we are, as women, so very much more than pretty faces or butts or breasts or whatever the focus might be at any given moment.  I know that we have a serious problem with the decline of girls self-esteem (did you know that self-esteem PEAKS at 9 years of age? ) and feel that the negativity of the adult women they encounter is a significant factor.

It is for all these reasons that I like what this ad campaign is bringing to the table.  We need people and the media to, even for a moment...even riddled with ulterior motives, tell us all that we're beautiful.  I was not bothered by the fact that the majority of the women featured were white (didn't even occur to me).  I didn't pick up on the subtleties implied by the descriptors being used (thin apparently appeared over and over).  I saw women discovering how hard and negative they were towards themselves, and seeing themselves through another's eyes.  I heard them say they were beautiful.

You Are Beautiful.  I Am Beautiful.  YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.