{"id":47075,"date":"2014-02-24T00:09:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T08:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=47075"},"modified":"2014-02-24T00:09:23","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T08:09:23","slug":"as-real-as-it-gets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/47075","title":{"rendered":"As Real As It Gets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tIt has long been said that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n

But in this modernized age, it feels more as if beauty is in the eye of the media, and the rest of us are scrambling to live up to strangely synthetic ideals. As a grandmother to several growing girls, this issue strikes a chord.<\/p>\n

From movies and magazines to apps, ads, and even toys,<\/p>\n

\"Jade_J'adore_(Bratzillaz_Magic_Night_Out)_and_C_A__Cupid_(Monster_High)\"<\/a>

Photo by Anoni245 via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

“beauty” has begun to acquire a positively unnatural gleam that reminds me of polished chrome.<\/p>\n

It may be glossy, but it leaves me feeling a bit blinded.<\/p>\n

When, I wonder, did our notions of attractiveness become so sterilized?<\/p>\n

When did we forget that “flaws” like freckles and frizz are where fabulous<\/i> flourishes?<\/p>\n

\"800px-Fremont_Solstice_2012_-_242\"<\/a>

Photo by Joe Mabel via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

If you missed the viral online video<\/a> showing a perfectly lovely woman’s artificial transformation into a plasticized photo model, you may be shocked at how the images we see in the media are contorted in ways we wouldn’t even imagine. Let’s just say that leg lengthening and eye expansions are par for the course.<\/p>\n

Befuddling, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

Suddenly, thanks to computer software programs, models are not only impossibly thin, they are just plain impossible<\/i>.<\/p>\n

In light of such surreal standards of appearance, it’s no surprise that today’s women (and their developing daughters) are losing perspective on what it means to be a living, breathing, beautiful<\/i> being.<\/p>\n

And that<\/i> is what makes me love a new video produced by Dove<\/a>.\u00a0While I may not love every ingredient that goes into their products, the company’s Campaign for Real Beauty has its heart in the right place, and its latest effort is something special.<\/p>\n

Here, we find moms and daughters who are taking the media into their own hands and reclaiming their place as beauty’s beholders.<\/p>\n

You’ll want to watch this:<\/p>\n