taking on the beauty industry

i saw this thanks to my friend k8. thanks katie!

as a woman who has never felt very comfortable with the way she looks, seeing this message makes me feel better. i have often wondered where the american ideal of femine beauty came from. my grandmother has told me that it has changed quite a bit.

as i have traveled i have learned that beauty is often very culturally defined. it is indeed in the eye of the beholder, but part of what makes that eye is his/her sociology. walking through a market in bulawayo, zimbabwe with my friend kim a few years ago i was taught a powerful lesson. she was at least 5 inches taller and probably 10-12 sizes bigger and in this market, she turned heads. everyone wanted to touch her. they wanted to look at her. women came up to her and touched her bum; telling her that it was a perfect ndebele bum. she was a phenomenal car stopping beauty in this market. i was a scrawny looking american. i was told that i looked like i didn't have access to enough food etc. i looked ill to them. i think we both learned that day, that no one really can define beauty any better than to say it is truth. and when it comes in the human form, we all are beautiful somewhere. in fact, we are all beautiful. not always easy to remember, but gosh it feels good when you can.