The Un-Beautiful People

In my house, we have tons of magazines from Time to TV Guide, but the magazines that always stand out to me are Entertainment Weekly and People magazine.  It's not just because I'm a film guy; it's because of who they have on the cover, which is always celebrities (barring some tragedy).  Nothing makes me pay more attention to them than when they have a headline which says "Best Dressed" or "Sexiest Woman Alive".  You'd think something like that would make me drool, but it doesn't.  I honestly think it's sick.

Forgive me if I'm being a hard-ass on this subject, but it's the feminist in me.  I think it's nice to acknowledge beauty when it's there, but publications like magazines only advertise beauty and objectify people.  You never see average looking people like a majority of people actually are.  You see someone like Beyonce or Matt Damon.  For someone young, who reads magazines all the time, seeing those type of people all the time can be damaging to their self esteem.  They may think that to be well liked, they have to be that good looking, which can lead to serious consequences if the wrong steps are taken.

It's not just the focus on beauty I hate in magazines; it's the fact that most of the time, it's fake!  I've read in articles and books, that most magazines airbrush and clean up advertising and pictures of even the most beautiful people in the world.  Don't believe me, you can read anywhere about what happened to Beyonce or Kate Winslet when something like that happened.  They were pissed off!

I'd be lying if I said there weren't beautiful people in magazines, because I think some celebrities are attractive, but honestly, why pay attention to beauty in magazines, which is fake and unrealistic, when there is beauty around all the time?  What I mean is, there's beauty around us all the time in regular everyday people, so why focus on people in magazines?  Case in point, there's one woman I know, who is absolutely wonderful.  She's one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen in my life.  She's not a celebrity, but she's real and has personality, which to me stands out than any celebrity in some magazine.  People in magazines are beautiful, but give me a person I know any day, and I'll be satisfied.