By BR Kellie
Recently during my daily perusal of beauty websites I came across a couple of articles that had me clicking in for a read. The titles of these articles went along the lines of….
“Ten Things Only Girls With Big Foreheads Understand.”
“Five Things Only Short Girls Get.”
Of course I clicked on them, I’m short and I’ve a five-finger forehead. What were these mysterious things only people like me were going to understand?
The further I read the more disgruntled I began to feel. Just to check I wasn’t being a paranoid android I clicked into a few more articles written in the same vein … “Twenty Things Girls With Amazonia Height And Strength And Tongues As Long As Their Palms Will Only Ever Be Capable Of Understanding”… “Seventeen Moments Only Girls With Short Fingers, Long Palms And Bambi Eyes Get”…
The grumpiness grew.
You see, on the outside these articles initially seemed harmless, at times they were even amusing. Sure, those of us with big foreheads have all slapped our palms to our heads to see how many fingers we are.
“Five? I think you’ll find you’re four and a half fingers.”
“Me? I need an extra finger to make up for the extra piece of forehead above my five fingers.”
And we’ve all admired our fellow forehead idol, Tyra Banks, and her marvellous expanse of skin. But when the forehead article started talking about trying to hide the size of one’s forehead by uber-contouring or getting a fringe or wearing a hat… well… at that point I just went no and clicked out in disgust. Because at that point the article went from amusing-because-it’s-true to straight out self-shaming.
You see while I’m all for poking fun at oneself and will giggle like a mad woman whilst leaping like a spring lamb to try and reach something on the top shelf of a supermarket, I have no time for making myself feel bad about something I can’t change. To be fair, I’m lucky enough to not get hung up about genetic traits like my height and forehead, they are what they are, but I hate the idea that more impressionable folk who may already be self-conscious about their bodies would read these articles and then become even more self-conscious than they already are.
Instead of writing articles that go from having a giggle to self-shaming, why not take a positive spin on it? You’re short? You can buy a smaller car, drive it comfortably and save money on fuel. You’re tall? You can reach the tallest shelves at the supermarket without standing on tiptoes and potentially breaking an ankle. You’ve no cheekbones? You’ll look youthful longer (I’m still getting IDed at 37 – thank you extra layers of cheek chub). You have cheekbones and they’re in danger of cutting something? What the heck are you complaining about? Don’t make me come over there.
I guess what I’m getting at in my own roundabout way is that we live in a world where there really aren’t any shortage of people who enjoy taking the opportunity of reminding others what’s not great about their differences, so the last thing we should ever do is that very same thing to ourselves. Instead of self-shaming we should be self-championing. Reminding ourselves on a daily basis what it is that makes us unique, special, and therefore beautiful. So the next time you click on one of those articles that purport to tell you things only you would know about, and it moves from funny to making you feel less about yourself, shut the page down, go stand in the mirror and tell yourself your five fingered forehead is so fab Tyra would be jealous, or those extra long legs of yours would make a drag queen jealous. Then blow a kiss at yourself and go about your day knowing you’re perfect just as you are.
Rant over. Pixie out.
(Actually, not quite, tell us what you love about yourself. Let’s spread some self-love! Xxx)
I used to read these kinds of poorly executed articles until I came to a similar conclusion as you Head Pixie xx now I just pop in to BR and read the best articles about beauty, and I feel much better for not buying into the '10 things only...' articles. Love your differences and love yourself [mwah]