The sad thing is that we berate these women and bring them down as other women. In my friendship group I have the divided camp- “oh no, no Botox or fillers, grow old gracefully”…(while sniggering at, and putting those down who do). The open- “yip, get Botox, fillers, can’t understand why you wouldn’t”… (you old looking hags), and the quiet, non disclosers… (perhaps they have… perhaps they haven’t? 🤷♀️.
The issue I have as a mother is the overarching message. You must look a certain way- at 13, at 16, at 18, at 21, at 30, at 40, at 50, at 60.
I 100% think any female should do whatever they like to their own body to make them feel good about themselves but I don’t ever think that should sacrifice the mental health of our girls/children.
I also don’t think our lovely, unfiltered, unedited CHILDREN, should feel ‘bad’ about themselves because of lies on social media- sometimes to the point of suicide.
I did my Higher English dissertation about the Information Super Highway in the 90’s (Teachers didn’t have a clue what I was talking about) basically social media/the internet). My main point was that it was unpoliced. Not much has changed.
This is a very simple fix to help mental health… remove filters… have legislation written in to any adverts/posters, regarding false advertising and false representation. Job done… for now. As in, had Botox, had fillers, had teeth done, had XYZ then you must disclose this if you’re promoting yourself as a business/obtainable entity to your audience.
Disclosure, and honesty, and integrity are absolutely key to building a safer and more ‘policed’ online community with a much better outcome for mental health.
As I said, I support all women to do what they want with their bodies/faces… but the open and honest platform would hugely help mental health. It’s ok to do whatever you want to do… just don’t lie about it and promote it… simple 🤷♀️
Molly Russell is very much in my thoughts in all of this. There is a wider picture to all of this. There’s a collective responsibility and there’s a need for ‘policing’. We have opened Pandoras Box and we need to find a way to return to healthier times before it was opened. The social media companies clearly won’t do it… so we need too. Every time you comment, I want you to think, Is that how I’d comment to my friend, to myself, to my daughter or son? We have the power… we need to use it.