For REAL?

I may be betraying my fellow ladies, my womanhood, and even my own body by writing this, but in all honesty, I don’t care.

The Dove campaign has been controversial since it came out. Was it airbrushed? Is it all-natural? Blah, blah, blah. In my experience, even pictures that don’t necessarily need to be airbrushed are. I airbrush, crop, red-eye reduce almost every single picture I post. Why? Well, because I don’t want to be remembered as the girl with the breakouts, the wrinkles, or dare I say it, the cellulite. Even though these ladies participated in an “all natural” display of womanhood and femininity, I’m sure they have no problem with having a little airbrushing performed on their not-so-perfect bodies. After all, this is a representation of them to all of the United States (and parts of the world), including their friends and families.

Realistically, this is not a picture that I would pay attention to, unless I was searching for the imperfections that I can compare my own body to. I honestly look at magazines to see how amazing the girls look, to see how the clothes fit, to have something to strive for (among other things); physically and financially. This picture just doesn’t motivate me. I don’t want to look like any one of these girls. I want to look like Kate Winslet or Beyonce. Those are my ideal body types. And, although I haven’t seen them in their underwear…I’m sure they are beautiful and totally unrealistic. And that’s how I want it. The part of them being unrealistic is what draws me to them. I mean, is there one woman out there that posts pictures on her frig or mirror of the girl next door with the perfect body? No. We post pictures of Britney Spears (pre-baby) and models for the latest Dolce and Gabbana ads.

Also, men don’t find the Dove ads attractive either. What guy stops and stares at these ads when the one next to it is a woman with a long torso, C-cups, and an amazing tan?

I may be just feeding into the pop culture ideas of what is perfect. I may be causing eating disorders among young girls as we speak. Publishers and photographers don’t have the right to tell us what we should look like, I know. But, that’s not my point. My point is, perfection is in the eye of the beholder and although these models and celebrities are airbrushed, there is some truth to how they look on TV and on the shiny pages some people worship daily. And, if that’s what motivates you, who am I to say it doesn’t belong on your refrigerator?