As an Australian, I am mostly unfamiliar with the celebration of Halloween. I had imagined a day full of children, pumpkins, the color orange and candy. However after going out this weekend searching for a costume of my own, I discovered I was wrong. Apparently Halloween is a holiday solely celebrated by 90 pound women dressed for sex.
I’d liken the journey of going natural to falling in a deeply obsessive and unrelenting love affair, although I wasn’t always this smitten.
It seems society has constructed an unrealistic female image that we are unable to replicate unless we harm ourselves. Advertising for fashion, cosmetics, and diets remind us that our bodies are unacceptable how they are currently. It’s no wonder we become dissatisfied and want to change to fit the ideal Hollywood appearance.
Business for skin “lightening” products and skin bleaching procedures are booming across Asia from Bombay to Tokyo. The market was estimated to be worth 18 billion dollars in 2009, according to Public Radio International, with more than 60 global companies competing for it.
When researching child beauty pageants for my college capstone project, I was surprised by some parents’ reasons for supporting the contests. I had only expected to encounter mothers who were living vicariously through their children and believed women’s bodies are more important than their brains, but a couple of parents provided reasons that somewhat made sense to me.