GLENCOECRIMSONTIMES

     Touched-up magazines and materialistic celebrity culture present people as gods and goddesses with perfect skin, shiny hair and big eyes. The media depicts a form of beauty that convinces teens and adults that beauty is skin deep and unachievable. Even with all the images of what beauty should be, some people have rejected this definition of beauty and are seeing it as something that lies deeper than the surface of the skin.

     I have conducted interviews with several female students to learn about the teenage girls’ perception of beauty.

     Sophomore Tsacha Hyeman described beauty as “anything not repulsive,” while others said it could be seen in actions of kindness and compassion. When senior, Olivia Burke described someone beautiful, she spoke about her mom and how “she always thinks about other people before herself.”

     Almost every person put a heavier emphasis on the heart, soul and mind rather than the skin, bust and waist.

     With her hair cut bluntly above her ears, wearing ripped black skinny-jeans, and a graphic T-shirt, sophomore Jamie Talty says culture in the United States teaches us that beauty is the way something looks.  She says “[it is] to be skinny or be muscular...or to dress a certain way.”  Yet, Talty, who does not necessarily fit that mold, still sees herself as beautiful.

     Whether or not women fit into the media’s  mold of beauty, many  women are rejecting the mold altogether and recognizing the beauty within themselves. With viral social media campaigns such as the #20BeautifulWomenChallenge encouraging women and men to post selfies acknowledging their inner and outer beauty, people are beginning to see themselves as individual, beautiful beings

     Every girl recognized the importance of acknowledging your own beauty.  Senior, Maria Gallegos pointed out that, although it can be hard, “we need to remember to love ourselves too.”

     Below are the full interviews with Olivia Burke, Jamie Talty, Tsacha Hyneman, and Maria Gallegos.