Pretty Hurts

Pretty hurts. Shine the light on whatever's worse. Perfection is the disease of a nation. Trying to fix something, but you can't fix what you can't see. It's the soul that needs the surgery.

Beyoncé in "Pretty Hurts"

 



 

I may sound like a broken record, but I cannot stress enough how out of control the media and society has become in terms of the power they have over women and men’s self-image. Women believe that they can only be attractive and worth something if they are skinny, flawless, and vapid. We cannot have flaws, we cannot be intelligent, and we cannot pursue comfort; if we do then we are unattractive and unlovable. For men the media says that men have to be strong, large, masculine, powerful, arrogant, and confident. If men do not live up to these expectations, they are considered weak and a failure as a man. Although there are movements, such as this song, to let women and men know that they can be different from the expectations of society and the media. Unfortunately, we are still far away from being where we need to be.