You are more beautiful than you think

[Beck]

[Loz]

Saw this on Mamamia yesterday. Apart from the fact that Dove and its parent companies are animal testing pricks, this strikes me as bullshit. Are you really going to describe a stranger to another stranger in a bad way? Say things like, "Well she had three chins, her hair was long and stringy, and man did she need to pluck her eyebrows!"?? No. Of course not. You are going to say something like, "she had a full happy face, long brown hair and solid and defined eyebrows.... "

As far as self description goes i think we are just brutally honest about ourselves. I know i am. We are trained to see the flaws and imperfections. Also, as a society we look down on self admiration. If a girl describes herself as hot i know think, "What an up herself bitch!!" You don't even see the likes of Miranda Kerr or Angelina Jolie saying they think they are gorgeous. It's just not the done thing So yeah, calling crap on the whole ad. Because that's what it is, an ad. Nothing more!

[Lizzie]

I totally get your points, Loz. And yeah, obviously they're trying to sell a product...but I like the ad. It hits home to me, personally. I think that's the point, though - that I might say, oh my face is so round and fat, whereas my friend might say, "no, you've got really high cheek bones." - but I don't believe her because that's not what I see.

For me, personally, the point of the ad is that others don't see what you see as a 'major imperfection'/'disfigurement' - that they see you as 'beautiful', and that you should too. Just my thoughts.

[Loz]

I am just fine thinking the way I do though. Doesn't impact on my life at all. I know I frustrate Shaun but that is just stiff

[Lizzie]

Ah, that's really good, yes? I know for me the "my mum says I have a big jaw" was incredibly close to home

[Shaun]

Everyone sees the negatives in themselves before anything else. And it is much worse to them than anyone else would see. The ad might be designed to sell a product but it isn't wrong. I've heard so many women from Lauren to my sister, cousins, friends, all state things about themselves that they hate. Mostly I haven't known what the hell they are talking about because I don't see it. I don't believe every woman is beautiful, but I think most are a lot better looking than they think they are.

Except the ones who think too highly of themselves but it is possible that is a front.

[Loz]

You know I don't agree with you on this babe!! Never will This "everyone should think they are beautiful" stuff is a croc. There is a lof of ugliness in the world simple as that. I don't believe its detrimental in any way that I think that. I believe in the truth, especially when it comes to yourself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with self awareness. I really liked this article in the Huffington Post about the ad. This especially I agree with:

But the campaign also encourages the perception that it’s normal, if undesirable, for grown women to obsess about their imperfections. The most striking difference Zamora noticed between the women and the strangers wasn’t in their attitudes but in the depth of their knowledge. “The real women definitely gave me more information about every feature,” he says. They knew what their faces looked like in detail, and detail inevitably reveals imperfections.

That’s where the faux science is worrisome. The exercise conflates awareness of your flaws with misery and low self- esteem. Dove laments that “only 4 percent of women around the world consider themselves beautiful.” But “beautiful” means something stronger than “above average,” and there’s a big difference between not calling yourself “beautiful” and thinking you’re a worthless human being.