Skylark has written some great posts lately about beauty and the perception of beauty. From discussions of beauty pageants for young girls to this very graphic and disturbing video of women who starve themselves to try and look like this, which shows what we see in the magazines, etc. it isn’t real;

link in case the youtube video doesn’t work work for you.

I think Dove’s campaign for real beauty is a real step forward in marketing. Yes, it’s highly successful and has made a boat load of money. However, they started a self-esteem fund for girls and the amount of discussion and appreciation by women around the world has been monumental. I’m not a Dove user normally, but it’s true that I have a warm and fuzzy feeling about their product. They branded themselves well, but most of all in an honest way.

I used to breathe a sigh of relief that I have boys, thinking in some ways it might be easier. But I’ve been realizing and reading that boys now too are becoming harder on themselves, much more body conscious, starting to work out at a much younger age and turning to steroids to bulk themselves up. Last week, Alec complained about being too skinny. I cringed when I heard it. I know a degree of self awareness and comparison is normal, but as a parent, I think it is really important to have a continuous dialogue about body image, about what’s real and what isn’t. Regardless if we have boys or girls. Even with my continuous effort at weight loss, I want to bring across the message about becoming healthy and not about dieting. That diabetes and heart disease runs in my family and that I want to avoid that. I don’t stand in front of the mirror and say I look fat. I want Alec and Bram to know about being healthy and making healthy choices and not think their Mom was just trying to get skinny.

So kudos to Dove and to Skylark and all the others for raising awareness.