Speech on Beauty Myths

The great philosopher Confucius once said, ‘everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it’ but why? Why do we not all see the beauty surrounding us? Why is outward appearance so important? Why are our heads filled with beauty myths? Beauty myths are beliefs about qualities, which constitute beauty or attractiveness. We tend to think of our attraction toward certain physical qualities to be natural but they are learnt proven by the conceptions of beauty varying between cultures and across time, with media to blame. As society we assume that images we see in media that are highlighted and common are beautiful such as the tall, skinny, toned, ‘flawless’ models why else would they put them there? If a certain characteristic isn’t common in media then it can’t be beautiful. Media teaches us what beauty supposedly is and closes our eyes to beauty not physically shown.

There are 3 main functions of media to provide news and information, entertain and educate. Presently our society depends on the media for information and communication and as part of our daily routine. Most of the decisions we make are based on what we know as fact our assumptions and our experiences such as work where we know what to do because we have studied it and from our own experiences however in routine life and household chores we rely on media to keep us updated on news and facts, on what is important and what we need in order to get through our day and be accepted in society. We put so much trust in media but by doing so are we putting ourselves in harms way?

On average a person is exposed to over 1,500 advertisements a day. 1,500 ads we are led to believe are factual and real because we have put so much trust in the media. We start to believe that we need that cream to have flawless skin like that girl in the ad and we need that perfume to be as amazing as the next Marc Jacobs model. But the fact is that 100% of photos in professional magazines have been retouched whether by changing