A Country Molded by Unattainable Beauty Standards
As many of you know, I started Authentic Beauty after seeing the Dove Real Beauty Campaign and out of my desire to see all women everywhere embrace their Authentic beauty. I was, and still am sick & tired of all these beautiful, smart & talented women comparing themselves to the unattainable images put forth by the media. All women (and men for that matter) need to feel good about themselves no matter what! The documentary, America the Beautiful is a great & informative movie about America’s unachievable standard of beauty & the gross desire of so many women to alter their looks, instead of embracing them. We are doing a screening of the documentary on September 24th in conjunction with the Atlanta Girl Expo.
Anyway I recently heard a disturbing statistic: 78 % of young girls feel bad about themselves after seeing images (that have been altered & airbrushed by the way) of young celebrities in a magazine. C’mon people, this is horrifying! We need to help young girls see the light! This is why Project Authentic Beauty was started. I really want girls to see the mythology in the beauty industry and stop comparing themselves to unattainable images. It’s not only harmful, but silly if you really think about it.
But here is a little background on America the Beautiful. The documentary is about America’s obsession with beauty. This film was created by Darryl Roberts (a MAN) who saw not only others he was surrounded by were being affected by the beauty industries’ insane standard, but that he was too. He was in a relationship with a woman who he dearly loved & because of all the all media hype around the ideal image, he dumped her because well….he thought he could do better. After he realized he was being a bit irrational & that he loved her, he embarked on a journey to discover why he personally and we as a society are so crazy about our exterior. Out of this, came America the Beautiful. He examined how the beauty industry damages a child’s perception of beauty as well as men & womens’ perceptions. He also examines the toxicity of make-up & other beauty products, plastic surgery, make-up in history, the diet industry & he documents a model’s fall from grace from when she started when she was 12-years-old & was all over the catwalk to when she got older & “bigger.”
This documentary is important for everyone (men & women) to watch. If you are a parent, a teacher, a woman, a man or anyone who feels just a little bit concerned about where we are headed as a culture with photoshopping and an all time unrealistic standard of beauty which portrays woman as anything but real, then seeing this movie is right up your alley. This is a REAL danger as we are submitting to this standard, as our girls.
I literally stumbled upon this movie by accident & I am so thankful that I did. It was about two years ago when I did my first photo shoot for Jezebel Magazine & I was super nervous about how it came out. I was trying to see it online before the magazine came out & accidentally went to http://www.jezebel.com/ instead of http://www.jezebelmagazine.com/. Jezebel.com had a trailer for America the Beautiful & I was intrigued, so I watched it. I was literally mesmerized by the movie. AND Eve Ensler of Vagina Monologues fame (and n Authentic Beauty Client when in Atlanta) is interviewed! It wasfully in alignment with and a documentary fully communicating what I stand for and what my intention behind creating Authentic Beauty was. I did my due diligence in tracking down Darryl.He agreed to come to Atlanta.
Darryl came to Atlanta one week before my studio opened in October 2008 & was on Good Day Atlanta & CNN. He also did two screenings of the movie in which we nearly sold out. It was such an incredible experience to have met Darryl! I was so thrilled that he came. Now after 2 years and world tour of spreading the “Truth in Beauty” Message Darryl will be back as we have some more screenings of America the Beautiful coming up in September.
Join Authentic Beauty, Project Authentic Beauty, Atlanta Girl Magazine and Darryl Roberts as we present America the Beautiful on September 24th. There will be two screenings, one of which will be the PG version, appropriate for younger girls. We are still determining where we will hold the event & the after-party. Stay tuned for more details & updates & I hope to see all of you there! Also a portion of the evening’s proceeds will benefit Project Authentic Beauty, our non-profit initiative to empower women to love themselves from the inside-out.
Atlanta Girl Magazine is helping Authentic Beauty bring this amazing film to Atlanta. I am actually the Beauty Editor for Atlanta Girl & will be the keynote speaker at their expo which will be the day after the viewing of America the Beautiful on September 25. I personally think that Atlanta Girl is such a great publication & is really positive in comparison to such publications like Teen Vogue & Cosmo Girl Magazine for that age group. I am so proud & honored that I am speaking at their expo! Stay tuned for more details on that because I would love to see you bring your daughters, nieces & grandaughters and their friends!
PS I know it was announced that this event was to be held on July 30th and the Expo on July 31st. I apologize for the confusion and promise this IS THE DATE!!!
