The new Dove campaign

Lately I've been reading alot about the affect of today's culture on women, and how we can improve the lives of our daughters, what we can do to help ourselves, etc. While stumbling across the net I found dove's new campaign video 'onslaught' to be absolutely inspiring. It is a beautifully made statement piece.

It shows the pressure so many young girls feel today to look like the girls in the magazines. I've never been a feminist, I actually hope for the possibility of staying home with my children to raise them to be well adjusted because I believe that to be the most important thing you will ever do. The way the beauty industry is currently headed, however, is going to make that difficult. It is impossible, and I would argue, detrimental, to shield your child from every outside influence. They need to grow in the world, to experience it as it is, lest they be shell shocked upon moving out.

But how does someone raise their child to be happy with their body image in a world where the standard is perfection? So many people seem to lack an understanding of the difference between the image of women that they have seen on tv, in games, magazines and movies and the way we actually look. It's hard to realise that those things are fantasies, and not representations of the real world. Life doesn't play out that way, and people don't look like that all the time. Personally I think it's time for a movement that pushes for accepting a person as they are, rather than expecting them to constantly 'fix' their body for societal standards.