Body Perception Issues
By Sekai Mulwanda

It’s an ultimate fact that our perception of the perfect woman has been so misconstrued by the media.

What the perfect women is, defined by magazines today, is either an airbrushed copy of their ‘REAL ‘selves, or a role model and walking advertisement for plastic surgery.

These are not, I repeat not, real perfect copies. Your real copy is the one that the lord God put on this planet; the woman who has a set of boobs that may droop slightly due to years of wearing the wrong bra, or maybe just because they’re a big set of knockers.  What makes them clearly real is that one is sure to be bigger than the other, in some cases like my own, sometimes annoyingly bigger than the other, but they are definitely not filled with silicone.

It’s not a surprise that some of us women, criticize and aren’t happy with our bodies. For most of us, it’s just part of our daily routine. You wake up, look in the mirror, for some it’ll be you realize another spot has grown overnight and you’re probably thinking to yourself, “fuck why cant my skin be flawless?” Or, for others, you find yourself going to be late for yet another day of work because you’re slumped in a huge heap of 50 odd outfits, that you just pulled out of your wardrobe in the hope that one,  just one, would make your thighs look smaller, your boobs the perfect shape, your waist slimmer, your bum not too big, your skin more glowing, your lips a more poutier resemblance of their former selves, your nose a cute little button, or maybe a more defined pointy look (basically just depends how you’re feeling that day) and your eyes maybe bluer, greener, or with a slight twinkle.

OK, so maybe it’s a slight exaggeration near the end, but the rest are all very true. The point is that no one is perfect, not even those who have had tons of surgery.

Take Katie Price, a women who’s not afraid to say she’s a campaign for plastic surgery, after her eighth boob job and like her second lip implant. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Katie, I really like her, but I am going to use her as my example.

The other day I had to answer a question that asked for my thoughts about how celebrities like Katie can afford to cut and snip at their bodies to perfect themselves, and what about the rest of us?

My answer, “What about the rest of us? And more to the point, who cares?”

The thing is Katie is just another fellow women, who is not happy with her body. The difference is she has slightly a better job than us, which pays a slightly better salary, of say, thousands of pounds. And so she can afford to do what she likes with it, and ladies we do remember that song (even though it may have been in a different context ) that goes, My body’s nobody’s body but mine and the idea of freedom of choice… right? So, why criticize her, she can do what she wants.

Maybe, it’s envy that she has the opportunity and we do not? But, let’s think to ourselves: if we had the opportunity to change what we weren’t happy with, would we really do it… PROBABLY!! But where does it stop?  How far would you go? You cant change yourself completely or can you?

Our imperfections are what make us who we are and are our identity. I mean, take Sarah Jessica Parker, love, love, love her in Sex and the City.  She’s petite in every way, which isn’t really seen as perfect, because these days, you have to be tall and skinny. But, she worked her look with her incredible style and confidence, which complimented her mole on her chin. Yes, she had a mole on her chin, however not anymore, because in real life, she had it removed, another case of this awful stigma .

Maybe we need to consider, that although we may not like to admit it,  we are all vain, and being slightly vain isn’t always a bad thing. But, perhaps we need to acknowledge that our vanity is beginning to take over our lives and our appearances.

Before, it used to be just the odd acrylic nail for the weekend, then it was fake tan, a little colour doesn’t hurt anyone, then there was fake hair extensions… now it’s the daily boob job, the liposuction, the lip enhancement, surgically added eyelashes, Botox, bum implants…and the list goes on.  What other ridiculous ideas are going to come about? Oh, I nearly forgot, now you can actually get your whole face changed to look like our admired celebrities. When are we going to be just happy with ourselves?

Image Credit: Glamour.com

Whispers speak louder than words, sound is better than silence, beautiful art is clumsy and fashion is music to my ears. Words by Sekai Mulwanda, 20, aspiring fashion columnist and hungry!!