Unpretty

A Self Image Epidemic.

Hello Lovelies. I'm Jordan Nicole :) I was fortunate enough to be born in the year 1992 and yet I have grown up in a world that makes me feel ashamed to sit here and tell you that I wear a size 10 in jeans. I am actually embarrassed to admit this fact. I feel shame about my weight and the way my body looks. I think less of myself than people who are more similar to societies ideals. How can any self respecting woman sit here and admit that she is so uncomfortable with her body? I have simply been compared to "perfection" my entire life and, like it would any human being, it has affected my view of myself.

In a world where we hear the word epidemic in relation to disease nearly every day, I think that we are letting even bigger issues go undiscussed. In many ways there is an epidemic occurring as I type this that isn't spread through the air or by touch, but by words and hate. The disease that I am referring to doesn't involve bacteria or antibiotics... It lives within a subculture of our society and breeds like wildfire when it is given the right environment and sustenance. The media supplies the life source and society supplies the means for circulation.

Negative Body Image.  

It is a disease. It is a thing that is impacted by society every day. We are born into a world that has an idea of exactly what our bodies should grow to look like. There are no factors which excuse not looking this way.  It doesn't matter what your genetics have to say about the matter. You should be doing everything in your power to live up to what is beautiful.

This mindset has led to an enormous issue on our hands. We have taught generations of women that they are basically ugly, and therefore worthless. We have set a precedent of determining worth in terms of beauty and I for one am tired of it. The real factor which propelled this issue into a full blown epidemic was the introduction of the internet into our environment.

The anonymity which is supplied by the internet has fueled so much hate of other people that society can no longer see that shaming someone else based on physical traits is actually cruel. We are so desensitized to acts of hatred that we don't see them as the problem that they are.

With all of the steps we have taken toward women being equal, it seems that we should be able to sit in a bath suit by the pool without feeling out of place. I realize that some of my insecurities stem from my own self esteem problems, which I have spent years improving, but at the same time there is an endless line of women standing beside me who feel the same way. It is 2015 and this can not be blamed on "hysteria" anymore.

The media have spread a disease which they offer no antidote for.

I think that the women on the big screen, on the small screen, and on the pages of magazines are beautiful. They are often stunning. What they aren't is perfect. Perfection is a dream that has no place in reality. They are beautiful but they are not what I need to look like. I should not aspire to be them someday. Firstly, I am genetically different than the majority of those women. Secondly, I should not aspire to be anyone but myself anyways!

The media could certainly help to cure the disease which it has spread through society, but we are not dependent on them. Love is always the solution to hate. Self love is the ultimate cure for self hate.

I love who I am. In my opinion, I am a wonderful person.

giving, caring, loving, smart, determined, responsible, nurturing, opinionated, educated, ditzy, flawed, learning, changing, forgiving,  growing, optimistic, realistic, analytical, empathetic. 

These are all words that I would sit here and use to describe myself. Note the lack of physical traits. These are the only things that should matter. I am the only person who I need to live up to. I am the only person who needs to love me.

I was part of the problem. I am becoming part of the solution.

Join me.

Brown Eyed Girl

Living In A Blue Eyed World 

Hello Lovelies. I'm Jordan Nicole :) I don't know that I can tell you the last time I turned on my television and wasn't met by a person with big, shinning, blue eyes. Eyes that someone has probably looked into and compared to the sky or the ocean but certainly not to dirt or mud. It seems like the pages of magazines are filled with those same eyes. The sea foam greens, the sky blues. They are everywhere. The thing that confuses me about this phenomenon is that statistically less than 10% of the population actually have blue eyes. Even if you lump them together with those green eyed folk you still don't get past 15%. So how is it that such a large portion of the people in the entertainment industry or in the media, that I see on a daily basis, have eyes that aren't brown (the majority holder by heaps and bounds). 

My ultimate point: Does society push an unrealistic standard of beauty, even when it comes to things like eye color which can (feasibly) not be changed?

There was this growing trend when I was in middle school, and it has just grown in the time since. That trend is colored contacts. I have red hair. Fair skin. Freckles. The logically next trait to name in that sequence is light eyes. This is the stereotype of an individual with red hair. I don't fall into that box. I have never fit into any boxes society has. You see I was born into a family with a white daddy and hispanic mama. This is in no way scandalous now but when they got married in 1983 (in the very small town where they grew up) it was still an uncommon occurrence. I am so grateful to have been raised in a mixed home. I have seen what it is like to be raised in two different cultures and that gives me so much in life. It also makes it hard when it comes to checking a box on an application.

Getting past my back story and back into my point, I do not have blue (or green) eyes. I have brown eyes. They are light and have flecks or yellow and green but they are brown nonetheless. Even though I know that my red hair makes me think about having blue eyes more than the average brown eyed girl, I am sure I am not the only one out there with this thought: where are all of the brown eyed girls when I look toward the entertainment industry? Now this isn't a commentary on race in entertainment. The assumed eye color of a hand full of races is brown and that is expected (even in those races you see people who were born with blue eyes). I am referring to the races in which that 15% apply. They are the ones who seem to be picked for oscar winning roles, grammy winning albums. In the movies when someone is talking about a love interests eyes they are almost always blue. Is this fair to all of the people out there that have brown eyes? You rarely hear people have brown eye envy but all to often hear about others being "blessed" with blues eyes. Why are blue eyes a blessing? Why are we taught to covet something that can not be changed about our body?

The list of "Hollywood" stars that have blue eyes is never ending. It contains men and women of every race.

Taylor Swift. Jennifer Lawrence. Alexis Bledel. Kate Hudson. Reese Witherspoon. Amy Adams. Blake Lively. Zooey Deschanel. Tyra Banks. Cameron Diez. Amanda Seyfried. Tyler Oakley. Katy Perry. Emma Stone. Leona Lewis. Miranda Lambert. Harry Styles. Bradley Cooper. Michael Ealy. Rachel McAdams. Liam Hemsworth. Denise Vasi. Patrick Dempsey. Zac Efron. Ryan Gosling. Zoe Sugg. Leonardo DiCaprio. Angelina Jolie. Jake Gyllenhaal. Marcus Butler. Blake Shelton. Jesse Williams. Chris Pine. Brad Pitt. Nicole Kidman. Vanessa Williams.  Brittany Snow. James Marsden. Rihanna. Anderson Cooper. Hugh Grant. Neil Patrick Harris.

I am aware that I could also write a never ending list of people who have brown eyes. That is not my point here. My point is that if you looked at the statistics, proportionally more of the people in the entertainment industry have blue eyes than in the real world. It is bad enough that children grow up coveting certain body types or hair colors. They even want certain skin tones (I mean tanning is a large industry for a reason) but we have taken it so far that eye color is on the list of enviable things. They have even taken it further than just offering colored contacts now. With modern technology they are coming up with surgeries and operations that can permanently change your brown eyes to blue. This is so dangerous and most of them have the risk of becoming permanently blind. Why are we willing to risk something as important as sight just to have blue eyes?

I am not sending hateful thoughts to people with blue eyes or to people that want them. I was simply sitting watching E News and couldn't help but think about how society pushes unrealistic standards of beauty. Where does it stop? All I know is that I don't want my future children growing up believing that the way they were born isn't enough.