Gemma Cartwright continues to look at beauty from a new perspective...
Ask me what the least favourite part of my body is, and I'll be there for hours trying to decide. Is it my chunky ankles? My flabby stomach? My upper arms? My double chin? I could go on for hours about all the bits I hate, but ask me what I like and you'll be lucky if I can come up with anything other than 'I like my hair and my eyes are an unusual colour'. You see, as much as I can rave on about being 'proud' of my curves (sometimes), as much as I can hide beneath my hair (I really, really do this), as much as I can watch those Dove adverts and think 'good for you'...I still look in the mirror and mentally list all the things I could improve...
Last week I was subjected to a new kind of torture. A photoshoot where I had to act 'natural'. Now, I'm not afraid of having my photograph taken. In fact I have a series of poses ranging from the comedy to the 'I'm so drunk I won't remember these being taken in the morning' ready for when my friends whip out their digital cameras on nights out. However, for these particular pictures I had to just sit and smile. It was like having school photographs taken. It's incredibly easy to take the mick out of yourself, it's not so easy to look at dozens of shots of yourself half-smiling and pick out the least pretentious one. They're all pretentious. And the first thing I noticed was that the double chin I hate so much was evident in every single picture. The double chin that just won't go, no matter how much I try to diet it off my face.
It upsets me that as women we're programmed to pick out the bad stuff and always strive for something better when we're fine just the way we are. I'm all for self-improvement, but not at the risk of our sanity. Girls are getting eating disorders before they even reach their teens because they're fooled into thinking life is easier when you're slim. Newsflash! It's not. Life is easier when you're happy, and happiness shouldn't have anything to do with weight. The problem is, we're all so weight obsessed that many of us (myself included) pander to that myth. It was reported recently that 97% of women in Britain think a UK size 12 is fat. That actually makes me ashamed to be a woman. The average UK dress size is now a 16, meaning the majority of us look in the mirror and see a 'fat' woman. What a great way to start the day.
We're a long way from being able to discuss openly all the things we love about ourselves. There'll always be that awful girly rivalry where we fight over who's worst off in the looks department ("I have fat thighs, you're so slim, I hate you..."). It shouldn't be that way. We shouldn't rely on other peoples insecurities to make us feel better about ourselves. The next time you look in the mirror, pick out something you love about your appearance. Enjoy your good bits. Be proud of them, and don't let the bad bits overshadow them.
After all, I like to think my chunky ankles are overshadowed by my optimism, my ambitious and my fabulous taste in shoes!
