re-defining beauty

What is beauty?

I am constantly bombarded with other people's answers to this question. Everywhere I look, it seems like someone else is telling me how I should dress, act, cut my hair, do my makeup...
In other words, I am frequently being told what beauty is and what I need to do to fit the standard.
And I know I'm not the only one.

This happens to every one of us every single day. It seems like we can't escape it--whether we're turning on the TV, flipping through a magazine, logging onto Facebook, or even just walking down the street, we are assailed with images of what the world wants us to view as beautiful. In fact, we are subjected to over 3,000 advertisements a day, 90% of which are sexualized images portraying the bodies of women in some form. These ads endorse a narrow and unrealistic standard of physical beauty while conveying the message that a person's value comes only from his or her sexual appeal, even to the exclusion of other characteristics.
What does this mean to the nation's girls? More and more girls, especially those ages 8-17, are developing low self-esteem. Seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, and many admit that it is hard to do well in school when they don't feel good about the way they look. Seventy-five percent of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in unhealthy activities such as disordered eating, cutting, smoking, or drinking.

It is disheartening to realize what many girls in this country are going through. That's why I intend to focus on educating girls and their families about the importance of cultivating self-esteem by helping them embrace their own beauty and adopt positive attitudes about their bodies.

My name is Kelli Dougal, and I am Miss Carbon County Utah 2010. Basically, I am a titleholder at the local level of the Miss America pageant. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Miss America Organization, each contestant has a platform that she focuses on during the year of her reign. My platform is entitled Redefining Beauty, and it focuses on promoting self-esteem and self-acceptance.
This problem is huge, and it affects a lot more people than just the girls in Carbon County. So, I decided to make a blog in order to reach out to people everywhere dealing with these issues.

My blog is going to be divided up into three parts:
1) Media stereotypes and the negative impact of sexualization on girls
2) Helping girls build self-esteem and self-acceptance
3) Guides for parents to help their daughters

Well, that's the plan. This blog is going to be a work in progress and I plan on having regular updates. I hope you'll be able to realize why this issue is so important to me and that I can help you understand how it affects you in your own life. I also hope that something I say will strike a chord with you--if I can help even just one girl to see herself in a new light, then I consider that a success.

Kelli