Why is ‘pretty’ considered such an achievement?
Being back and more engaged on social media it’s really apparent that for the most part, those considered to be the quintessential 'beautiful people' and with the ideal 'perfect bodies' are so very highly valued in society and really worshipped by the majority.
Scrolling through the discovery pages of Instagram it’s filled with so many perfect photos of women who obviously work really hard on being pretty and meeting those standards of what is considered desirable.
It’s like there is so much effort and energy placed on looking good externally and ensuring they are noticed and liked based on their perceived value, their looks. And you can clearly see as a population for most women that is what they consider their most important asset (whether they agree or acknowledge it), their appearance.
It seems like a disproportionate number of women online don't care to be seen as smart, educated, intelligent and of any value beyond their appearance. There is very little effort in writing or sharing information of valuable conversation because that takes the same focus, time and effort, which of course could be better spent looking good.
I don’t say this in judgement but simply something I have noticed when looking at what is available on Instagram in search of interesting new pages to engage with. The value we have as women is almost always our looks as a priority. The feedback and recognition is also extremely obvious. No matter how good the quality of a post or content, there is no comparison to a pretty picture. I have tested this years ago with my own profiles and content. Nothing I write could ever compare to the engagement and adoration I get from looking pretty or showing my body.
Even with all the promotion of women’s empowerment and the sharing of these types of messages, it’s still very apparent we largely do not as females regard our minds and what we contribute to the world more than we do how pretty we are. Filters, editing tools, 'on trend' fashion, perfect poses and beautiful social media grids with the focus first on foremost about being acknowledged on how pretty we are is so obviously important.
What if moving forward we all searched instead for great content and valuable insight as opposed to the perfect picture?
What if moving forward we spent minimal time on looking so pretty and getting the perfect photo and more time seeking out useful information and sharing our minds and experiences?
What if we invested more time in who we are as opposed to what we looked like?