What Makes YOU Beautiful? A Conversation with College Women About Beauty

In  this day and age, beauty has become a social construct. Advertisements and magazine articles constantly bombard women, specifically between the ages of 15 and 22, with rules regarding how we dress, walk, talk, stand, eat and basically live so that we may be perfect, some may say beautiful, and basically unattainable to the opposite gender. 

But there is more to beauty than make up and clothing, or knowing how to giggle or how to look nonchalant at all times. These aspects have nothing to do with beauty. I strongly believe that beauty comes from within. And now, more and more people are beginning to realize that Photoshop is not a mirror. Photoshop does not create the standard for what beautiful is. Real, live, men and women do. And we create that standard of beauty for ourselves. The definition of beauty is being rewritten, and it is being rewritten on our terms. 

Shakanna Inman, a sophomore at Western Washington University recently sat down with a group of young women to discuss their definitions of beauty and feminism. Feminism and beauty are connected in a way that many people don't piece together at first. But in fighting for equal treatment to men as a gender, we are also fighting for our societal norm of beauty to not be dictated by Vogue. The women that Shakanna talked with, myself included, expressed many things about themselves, their concept of what beauty means to them, and whether or not they thought this made them a feminist. The answers varied on many things, but one of the points that came up over and over again was that beauty is the ability to be yourself. 

And as many women know, we aren't always accepted for being who we are. We are told to just be ourselves, but the hidden message is actually to just be ourselves as long as you look flawless 100% of the day. Women have been told for so long that our natural selves are so wrong that we spend hours a day staring at ourselves in a mirror doing our hair, our make-up, our eyebrows. And when men tell us they prefer the "natural look" they don't mean that they like girls who aren't wearing any make-up. No, they prefer girls who wear neutral tones of eyeshadow. And men, if you are reading this and thinking to yourself "that's not true" try to imagine why women as a whole are rarely seen without make up. I once had a teacher tell a girl she shouldn't wear make up because she was so pretty and when she came to school with no make up on, made fun of her for appearing ill. She had to be dismissed from class because she couldn't stop crying. 

But the day when women are not ashamed for going out barefaced is coming. Already women around the globe are embracing their definition of beauty. These women fight to be heard and to be able to say that they are beautiful just the way they are. 

As the following interviews will show, young women are over the whole "let society decide what beautiful is" trend. "What is beauty?" they were asked. Beauty is strength. Beauty is confidence. Beauty is joy. These were all answers that came back. 

Michelle Fields is a 22 year old feminist who believes that the most beautiful thing a woman can do is smile. "It's hard not feel beautiful when everyone around you is sharing your enjoyment". Michelle is very adventurous and has traveled around the country, and has even swam in the Arctic Ocean! She is a lifetime girl scout member along with her mother, whom she bonded with over their responsibility to "take care of the men". 

"Being a feminist to me is feeling like a woman and being comfortable with that".

Fields is a feminist because she believes that power should be equal, along with rights and opportunities being the same for both genders. The example she used was the disrespect she receives from not wanting children, which is becoming more and more common in our generation. "I do not believe this supports equal rights or opportunities," she writes, "men and women should have equal legal rights and be looked at equally as individuals".

Alex Synnodis-Butler agrees. "To me, feminism is being proud of yourself as a woman, no matter what that

entails".  And what makes Alex feel beautiful? Confidence. "I feel most beautiful when I feel confident in myself". 

Alex is a 19 year old sophomore who wants to major in Spanish and travel to Argentina. She considers herself a feminist and says she is happy with the rights she has and "feels good about being a woman". I personally find Alex refreshing.

It is hard for a lot of women to feel confident in their own skin. For someone to so openly embrace everything about themselves is amazing. Confidence goes a lot of way in making yourself feel good about your own brand of beauty. 

If we, as women, can start to feel more confident about how we look, how we feel, and ourselves as a whole, we can start to feel genuinely beautiful about natural selves. 

For Tara Noir, a Junior at Western, that's what beauty is. Being carefree, with no makeup and without all the hair styling. You know, just being natural. 

Tara is conflicted about whether or not she is a feminist but she's pretty positive she is. "To me, feminism means being most like yourself, and you shouldn't have people judging you for doing what you want".

Tara is going to be the first woman in her family to graduate from college is doing things for herself, and not worrying about what other people think. While she was living in Omak, WA she was sexually assaulted. "I want to be okay with it and I’m going to school to empower people to help them be okay with what happened to them".

To me, empowerment and strength are synonymous. And while empowerment is the strengthening of spirit, many women believe that bodily strength is what makes them beautiful. 

"My big brown eyes, my size, and the slow but sure growth I see in myself at the gym (make me feel beautiful). That’s why I wore a sports bra and yoga pants—I feel the most beautiful when I know I am making small accomplishments for the sake of my health and strength, those accomplishments make me happy, and it’s hard not to radiate beauty when you feel happy and strong". 

Monica Griffin is a sophomore at Western studying behind the scenes music production and journalism. She loves music "more than anything else and concerts are my spiritual home - there is no better universal language than music". She works out almost every day, in case you couldn't tell. "I love waking up sore because it means I kicked my ass the day before".

Monica considers herself a feminist, "but not a femi-nazi. I still appreciate a little chivalry. I am not blind to the mistreatment of other genders and do not think feminism is the answer to all societal problems." When asked what feminism meant to her, Monica replied, "feminism is a support network for women. It helps every woman get what she deserves and gives the community of womanhood a voice among the rest of the world". 

Celia Peacock also believes that beauty lies in strength. "I get a secret satisfaction from lifting more than boys". 

Celia enjoys her independence. As far as whether or not she is a feminist, Peacock says no. 

  

Celia wasn't the only model photographed that wasn't a feminist. Madison Hatch, another Sophomore and a hopeful exercise physiology and nutrition major believes that beauty shouldn't be determined by what you look like, but what you are doing in your surroundings. 

She believes that feminism means respect for females and equal opportunities for both genders. However, she has never considered herself a feminist because she has always felt that she has had equal opportunities in life and never needed to change how she was treated as a woman. "Personally, I have never had to think about woman's issues". 

This poses an important question. Are there people who aren't feminists in the world just because they haven't thought about gender inequality or women's issues? Unfortunately this was a question I never got to ask. 

And then there's me. I believe that a person's best attribute is their ability to shake themselves off and move on with life. Yes, I too believe that there is a certain beauty about strength. 

I am a 20 year old girl living in Omak Washington who frequently blogs about feminism and how hard it is to be a woman in today's world. So yes, I am a feminist. And to me, that means that women as a community band together and fight for equality. 

I applaud Shakanna for putting this project together. It is important to see women being able to feel beautiful in their own terms, instead of adhering to the cookie cutter woman that society would have us be. 

So, reader, after seeing these young women and reading about their brand of beautiful, what makes you feel beautiful? 

"This project is dedicated to women of all kinds. I want women to embrace what makes them feel beautiful. You can be told how pretty you are all day, but if you don't feel beautiful then it doesn't mean anything. I want women to focus on feeling beautiful, instead of what society says beauty is. Most of the women I interviewed said that they feel the best about themselves when they are most natural; not wearing makeup and not worrying about how they look. However, women feel they must conform to society to make themselves "beautiful". When we try to be someone else's misconfigured version of beauty, we are only hurting ourselves". - Shakanna Inman

All photos in this post are by Shakanna Inman, copyright Shakanna Inman, 2014. Except for the photo of Shakanna. That's by me, copyright Alexis Olmstead, 2013. 

Pretty Without Make-Up

Until I started working as a waitress I never wore make up regularly. I actually had a really difficult time applying make up. Growing up my grandma stressed that I didn't need to wear make up because I was beautiful without it, that I had gorgeous skin people would die for, that I only needed to wear it on special occasions to be fancy.

During that time I had no problem waking up in the morning and doing my hair, not doing my make up and finding no fault in how I looked. I had no problem thinking I was naturally beautiful. I always told myself that if I didn't feel pretty without make up, I wouldn't feel pretty with it, either. I went through all of high school and a year of college not wearing make up and not caring.

But then I started wearing make up. I started having to work an extra 15 -30 minutes into my routine to "put on my face" and it changed everything. I would like to pretend that starting to wear make up didn't change the way I perceived myself, but it totally did. And I know that some women wear make up to feel pretty, some women wear make up to enhance their beauty, and some just like the process of putting make up on. There is no fault in that. But I started wearing make up and suddenly I felt ugly without make up. I can pin point the moment when I changed the way I thought about how I looked with make up on, too.

Someone saw me on the street while I was walking to work, and after not seeing me for literally years their first comment was "ohmygosh you look so good...with make up on!" Their one comment killed my self confidence. And I know that is a lot of power to let one comment hold. But after going through 20 years of life believing I am beautiful without make up on, one person making it seem like I should wear make up 24/7 to continue looking pretty really just shatters all that work.

So I am fighting back. And again, with another lesson from my grandmother. Every morning when I don't put on make up and look back at the mirror, see my face, and get disappointed, I look myself straight in the eyes and say "I love you". Because to love someone, even yourself, is to love them (you) in spite of them (yourself). In spite of all the imperfections, the frizzy hairs, the pimples, the eyes that look so small without eyeliner, and in spite of the lack of self confidence I feel without make up now. Because believe it or not, I still get stopped on the street and told I'm pretty. Not often. But who goes out of their way to tell someone that they are good looking? One in a million people. But people still compliment my eyes, my smile, they tell me I'm kind for treating them well at the grocery store, on the street, and those are qualities worth loving.

And if the "I love you" trick doesn't work, I turn on Feeling Good by Micheal Buble and listen until I feel good. We shouldn't have to depend on things to make us feel gorgeous. I know we all do. But we are all beautiful in our own unique way. I have a friend who is seriously one of the most beautiful women I have ever met just because of the way she carries herself and her willingness to help anyone at any given moment. Beauty comes from your soul. Let's all try to remember that.

Alexis Olmstead is a part time waitress, and full time diva who strongly believes winged eyeliner will be her undoing. She is currently consuming too much coffee and trying to maintain her foothold on sanity. For more opinions and reflections (and a lot of ranting) check back often

The New Aerie Ad Campaign and Why It's Awesome.

aerie Real is shot by John Urbano

"The girl in this photo has not been retouched. The real you is sexy". Since aerie Real's release earlier this month the ad campaign has been receiving major attention for holding themselves to a standard of natural beauty, and not retouching the models shown in their photographs.

Everything from tattoos to stretch marks has been left on the models, all for the public to see, and honestly, I'm loving it. Everywhere I go I see pictures of what I'm supposed to look like, and what I'm supposed to be, according to society and the fashion industry. But this campaign, and aerie, get it. Because so many images are shoved at us everyday that tell us that stretch marks are wrong. Thighs that touch are wrong. (side note: a very small percent of the population has a thigh gap and it's not important to anyone, least of all dudes who will never notice.) Belly rolls are wrong. Crooked teeth and uneven skin tones are wrong. Body hair is wrong. But the whole idea that women, in their natural state, are wholly disgusting and need made over is WRONG. However, this idea is cemented into our thought processes by the women we see on tv and in magazines, who have been so airbrushed they don't even look like themselves anymore. The women we see in magazines are lies. Those women don't actually exist. Because no woman has perfect skin and is perfectly shaped and also, who has the right to dictate what classifies a woman as a "real woman"? I digress.

Aerie's target demographic is women between the ages of 15 - 21, the group that is influenced most by what they see in the media, in regards to their ideas on beauty. But now...we are being empowered. We are being told that we are okay. That is perfectly fine to look like we do. That I, with my crooked smile, thighs decorated with stretch marks, and random mole on my face, am pretty.

Thanks, Aerie.

And yes, this is definitely a marketing ploy. But hey. If aerie is trying to move merch by telling me I'm sexy in my own skin, I'm going to let them. Because the world doesn't tell me that enough, and even though I'm a confidant young woman, it's really nice to hear the world tell me I'm hot without all the make up and photoshop once in a while. In a release, aerie stated that their whole intention with the campaign was to "challenge supermodel standards in young women". Aerie wants women to feel like we don't have to be supermodels all damn day long and that's sadly, revolutionary. So many companies make their money off of telling us what we could look like in their clothes, what we should look like and what products to buy to make us look that way and here comes Aerie, holding our hands and saying "hey, so what if your thighs jiggle when you walk. You still look cute in our underwear".

As if the ad campaign isn't enough, Aerie has revamped their website to show REAL girls wearing sizes of clothing that you're searching for. On most websites you get a model wearing a 36C, pretty average (thought to be ideal but who is to say what ideal breast size is?) cup size, no matter what size you click on when taking a closer look at the product. On Aerie's new website you click on 40DD you get to see a model sporting a 40DD bra, and it is real, and it is wonderful. Aerie's site is a refreshing change from other sites that market to the same group of young women, who often use way photoshopped photos (some less obvious than others) to model their apparel. The worst offender? I bet you guessed it. Victoria's Secret who only shows one model and that model is plastic perfect in her photograph.

Aerie vs. Victoria's Secret and Forever 21

The #aeriereal trend is one that I hope other brands follow suit on. Instead of opening up Seventeen (yes, I read Seventeen) and seeing all these young ladies I can't look like because I didn't win the genetic lottery and become a superhuman, I would like to see a girl I could relate to and be one of. The solution is as simple as the Aerie Real campaign. More women need to be shown naturally, not retouched, in magazines and major advertising campaigns to let other women know that we don't have to look like supermodels day in and day out. It's okay to have a day where we just wear our hair in top-knots and go to the store in our sweats with no make up on. Anyone worth mentioning probably won't care.

So thank you, Aerie Real, for attempting to end the cycle of companies telling us what we have to wear to achieve some standard of beauty we can't actually achieve. Thank you for telling me that it is okay to feel gorgeous in my own skin, and that the real me is amazing, just the way I am.


Alexis Olmstead is an aspiring Tony winner who just landed a really cool gig portraying Dorothy in OVOC's Spring Musical, The Wizard of Oz. She frequently rants about gender inequality and how annoying she finds rude people. For more updates on her life as Dorothy or her general opinion on random things, check back often. 

Just FYI: You Look Fine

Have you ever felt guilty about eating? Like when you put food into your mouth, someone’s going to come along and tell you that you don’t deserve it, that if you keep eating the way you are, you’re going to get fat, and that you take up too much space as it is?

Have you ever looked in the mirror and pinched the extra flab on your body? Pulled it off, convinced that it’ll be gone by next week? Have you ever thought that you’re not as pretty as any of your friends because they have flat stomachs with not an inch of flab and you don’t?

Have you ever felt that you constantly had to watch what you ate, that you couldn’t eat certain foods that had carbs, that you could only eat quarter portions, have you ever stopped eating because you were convinced that was the answer to feeling prettier?

Have you ever thrown up? Stuck your finger down your throat time and time again, until nothing would come up? Have you done this and thought you felt better because of it? Have you ever done this and cried, because you felt trapped by what someone else thought was “pretty”? 

As a girl in today’s society, I, like most other girls, have experienced the feeling of unworthiness that comes with the feelings of not being pretty enough, smart enough, skinny enough…the list goes on. And why do I feel this way sometimes? Because I watch movies where instead of embracing fully figured females, they are usually the ridiculed character. I open the magazine that comes in the mail every month, and read countless tips on how to lose weight, how to get better hair, better skin, how to put on make up in the newest “sexiest” way. And I feel like I’m not good enough. Because I’m not as pretty as any of those girls. I feel like I don’t have the charm that they have, or their fast metabolisms, and that somehow, I’m going to end up in a gutter because they have the good looks the world wants and I don’t.

“But then I remember he who created me”.

God made me in his image, in his own, perfect image. And that means that I’m perfect the way that I am. I don’t have to wear a pound of make up, or starve myself or wear my hair in the latest style, because I’m already beautiful. I’ve learned that if you have confidence and believe in yourself, you’re already ten times prettier than the girl who doesn’t. 

You don’t have to feel guilty about eating, or feel fat, unworthy or like you’re not pretty just because you don’t look like the girls the media likes to exploit. Because God made everyone of all shapes and sizes, and that’s beautiful. You’re beautiful. Without us, without the people that look normal, the world would be a horribly boring place to live. 

So don’t succumb to the “I’m not good enough” monster. Because it’s a liar. 

Just FYI: You look fine.