Social/Teen Issues

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/28/style/rmake.php?page=1

'Never too young for that first pedicure'

This I article that I got from The International Herald Tribune is about how cosmetic products are being targetted at little girls, how girls have started to play with cosmetics and use beauty products even before they have reached the age of maturity and voices concerns about how these girls are getting matured at too young an age.

I personally share the views of one the parents interviewed for this article, in which she says, "I'd rather my girls try it (cosmetic products) and decide they don't need all these products to be beautiful, and then do something more vital with their time and money and efforts, like write a poem or take a walk or save the world."

In today's world, many women, teenage girls and in this case, little girls are obsessed with their outer appearance and spend lots of money, time and effort trying to make themselves look more beautiful. They buy many cosmetic products, spend time in front of the dressing table, go for manicures, pedicures, make overs and in some extreme cases, plastic surgery and use stuff like botox.
Such things are extensively advertised and glorified in the media and they are constantly bombarding females with the message that they should try to look as attractive as possible. I find it very disturbing when I hear that chinese women try make their eyes wider and bigger in an attempt to look more westernised and to look more beautiful. To me, one disliking the way she looks and wanting to adopt the looks of another race is taking things too far.

Haven’t we heard the quote 'beauty is only skin deep'? Yet the only value that is being given to women and girls is that of skin deep. In the fairy tales, prince must be brave, strong , handsome and a symbol of good against evil. The princess is beautiful and that is pretty much her role. The triumph of the prince is to be married to the beautiful princess.

The role of cosmetics and other beautifying elements, as I see it, is to make princesses for men. Of course I have not forgotten that the criteria of a prince is also to be handsome, and men also do similiar things but it is just that it is more common in women.

Going back to the newspaper above, I feel that the girls' fascination for beauty products and their innocent wishes to try them out will evolve into an obsession and they will become the next generation of women who will undervalue themselves if they do not look beautiful or if they do not meet the standards of beauty as advocated by the media or the public. I think that women should avoid over doing 'the whole "self-beautification" thing' so as to protect themselves, their daughters, sisters and in general, 'femaledom' from being beauty slaves.