The responsibility of real beauty

As a digital media major the big push for real unedited beauty has been a big deal for me. I have never been a high maintenance girl, light or no makeup, undyed hair, and my favorite outfit is sweatpants and my husbands tee's. I'm sure that most everyone has seen one of these evolution video's (my favorite is the pizza to girl video...just...ridiculous) and they really do show the extreme nature of our modern ideal of beauty. No one idea of beauty is right. In Mauritania women binge until they are ill to attain a beautiful full figure. In Japan many young women dress outlandishly and dye their hair and skin wild colors. In China tiny feet are considered beautiful and women bind their feet to the point breaking to stunt their foot growth. In Thailand women bleach their skin to achieve a pure white beauty. In Burma women use metal rings around their necks to slowly stretch them to a long elegant shape over time and eventually they stretch to the point that women cannot support their own heads without the rings. I believe that it is not only the responsibility of each person to believe in real beauty but also very much a responsibility of those in media. Please understand that each person you meet is a unique and beautiful individual.