The Race To Perfection

I remember sitting with my mother at the age of 8 and watching Miss America. I grew up in Brazil and although modeling and beauty there is something we value I had never heard of pageants of this sort. I was instantly mesmerized by all the glamour and glitter and I remember thinking "What if I looked like that?" at eight years old.
This week in Women Studies we learned a little bit more about pageants. Their history, dating back to ancient Greece to beauty contests in the 1900s. Additionally, the article touched base on the first Miss America pageant which occurred in 1921 and was described as a place "to present and package the nation's reigning ideal of femininity". The Miss America pageant also gave way to more cosmetics and women became the center of it. "The national cosmetics industry and beauty pageants emerged around the same time, as part of a growing beauty culture" and famous phrases such as "Maybe she is born with it or maybe its Maybelline" became popular.
To me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to look your best and feel your best. In fact, I believe there is something wrong with people who put others down for doing what they want to do. If you want to walk across the stage in a bathing suit - power to you! I think the moment it begins to raise concerns to me is on programs such as Toddlers & Tiaras where kids as little as four are being forced to get spray tans or false lashes by their parents.
There is a music video and song by Beyonce called "Pretty Hurts", which shows the damaging side of this industry in young women. There is a powerful line that says "Perfection is the disease of a nation, pretty hurts." There is a difference between working on your best self, doing what you love, and working towards being the best version of yourself for yourself vs doing what society thinks your best self is and hurting your inner self terribly in the race to that.
Perfection isn't real. But being the best version of yourself is. I think in more recent years there has been a more healthy way of looking at body image and beauty standards and I think that it is great to show that there are numerous ways to be your best self which doesn't necessarily involve a thigh gap.