Pre-pubescent girls are encouraged to look like teens. Teen girls are encouraged to look like they are in their 20s. Women in their 30s and older are pressured to look like they are in their 20s, and when they can no longer pass they are mocked for trying.
That is fucked up.
Girls and women of all ages are beautiful. The pre-pubescent bodies. The blossoming teen bodies. The mature curves of the 20s and 30s. The salt-and-pepper hair, silver-grey hair, and softening curves of middle and old age. It is all beautiful and precious and worthy of celebration.
Underneath their flashy ads and age-defying promises the real purpose of the fashion and beauty industries is to ruin girls’ and women’s self-esteem in order to make money. I can and should ignore them beyond the products I decide fit my personal style.
My style, not the style those liars say it “should” be based on my age or size.