Beyonce- pretty HURTS

While I was driving home yesterday, my iPod played Pretty Hurts by Beyonce. When I first heard this song I immediately thought, "please Beyonce tell me more about how it sucks to be you and being beautiful and great." The more I listened to this I realized it is not something strictly about Beyonce but how society makes being pretty idolized in our culture.
And if you're not pretty, sucks to be you. Thanks society, you're so nice.
So for this post I really want to dissect this song and relate it to what we have learned in class about the media and how women are told to look a certain way.

Mama said, "You're a pretty girl.
What's in your head, it doesn't matter

 This is the lyric that starts out the song. I feel like no matter what gender everyone has had a 'ugly' moment. You look in the mirror and think well this is as good as it's going to get. Then you walk outside and get pretty much hit in the face with advertisements showing beautiful women with perfect bodies. When younger people are hit with that, they think something isn't right with them. In class when we looked at the TLC show Toddlers and Tiaras we saw that children are even raised up with the idea of being pretty in order to receive awards and be praised. Mama did say they were a pretty girl after all, right? I think these parents take it to far and I think it could damage them in the future, but that is just my personal opinion. My mom had to deal with my sister and I when we were younger and I can't imagine how she did it.
I was a tomboy while my sister played with barbies and wore heels at 13. We both have a disease where we pull out our hair unknowingly and it caused our childhood to be rough because we were bald for a majority of it. When I hear this part of the song it does take me back to when my sister and I struggled and my mom would try to make us feel as comfortable as possible. She focused on other things, like I played sports and so my mom would put baseball caps on me, and my sister liked wigs and to dress up so guess what she got to do? Play dress up. Maybe I'm biased because I think my mom is awesome but I think under those circumstances she did the right thing and not making it so that we felt ugly and ignored the fact that people would stare at us. She also would put on shows that were not making a big deal of 'beauty' and 'perfect images.' I think if we were flipping through the channels and saw beautiful women, and we did but not often, we would have definitely had a different childhood.

Pretty hurts, we shine the light on whatever's worst

We do shine a light on whatever is worse. For instance in NY there is a woman who is now walking around in a swimsuit. All news outlets are saying "plus-sized woman walking around blah blah" instead of using her actual name. Just focusing on the size does not help the situation, because if a size 0 for instance were to walk around I am certain they would not say "A size 0 walks around blah blah."
Also now I feel like being fit is having a major effect on today's image and now if people have any fat they focus on that aspect of themselves rather than the good. I think I can most certainly say that I have experienced this. I work out every day and when I don't I do yoga, but if I sit down and there is a 'roll' of course I want to go run as many miles as possible and focus just on that. I think this part of the song is very important. We is meaning society, which we do. A lot of shows like fashion shows focus on people's weight and make that their focus. Everyone is a target, it just depends who looks worse and if they can find harsh enough words to tear down their self esteem. Looking at you Joan Rivers.

We try to fix something but you can't fix what you can't see
It's the soul that needs the surgery

I know of too many people with eating disorders. One person I know has experienced all the eating disorders and is now getting help for it in her own way.  It was ever since she was young, about 13 maybe and did it for years til she was about 24. What I noticed during these years was that she didn't mind doing the act of the disorder but it was mainly what she was thinking that made it worse. 'Need to be thin" "need to be hot" "if my waist was tinier" you get where I'm going with this. She was pressured by society to be thin and thin she had to be. She was never overweight, but she wanted to be a size 0 and she was a 3. She is also tall so a size 3 made since for her body type. But after idolizing certain people she found that, that didn't matter and she just wanted to transform her body into something else. Now that she is past that part of her life and I hope she stays on track, she looks back and still cries about her past. The soul is what needs a surgery, not the body.

Blonder hair, flat chest
TV says, "Bigger is better."
South beach, sugar free
Vogue says, "Thinner is better."

Whoop there it is! If you think Mackelmore gets IT, you haven't met Beyonce because she made IT. In class we learned about the different ad techniques and how woman are portrayed.  In TV people give you a sense of comfort saying 'hey no you don't have to do that to be beautiful' while magazines are editing the crap out of images to make people thinner giving an unrealistic representation of bodies. If not, they are focusing on one part of the body that could look 'bad' and rip them apart. (I hate you, Joan Rivers.) I would like to say that I am not affected, but I am! How can you not look at a VS magazine and say no I'm going to eat a tub of ice cream and watch 10 seasons of a new show on Netflix. Heck, I used to take a VS magazine to the gym with me and stare at Miranda Kurr while I ran to give me 'inspiration.' I was young don't judge me.
I don't think there is a 'better.' I think you can better yourself if you want to but you shouldn't be pressured by what you see in TV and magazines to think that it is what you NEED to do in order to get something out of it. Such as rewards, men, women, food, i don't know whatever you are in to. This is my favorite part of the song simply because it says what we all want to say. Just the fact that Marylin M was what we would now consider 'plus sized' is proof enough that things have changed. Be idolize certain body types and we are obsessed about obtaining them. In the music video Beyonce is on stage in a pageant and backstage popping pills. Brovo Beyonce, thank you for shinning a light on reality.

Ain't got no doctor or pill that can take the pain away
The pain's inside and nobody frees you from your body

Uhg, I'm at the point where you can just feel the pain and just know that trying to be 'perfect' is too much to handle.  You can't be freed from your body. You are who you want to be and it is your choice, not society. I think in this song Beyonce is really hitting the nail on it's head when it comes to trying to satisfy society's need for someone perfect. It is showing it is a lot harder than it looks, there is the many routes of trying to perfect one's self and some route are not healthy and create pain in the body and soul. Fit is now the new thing and people are now being pressured into getting on a treadmill if they want to be accepted. In class we looked at how woman are show in ads and they are edited in magazines and billboards. They are not really like that. Aerie is now not editing their models, giving a real representation on body types. If only everyone could do this, that would be perfect and I think it would have a better effect on society.
You're all beautiful.

Mama said, "You're a pretty girl.
What's in your head, it doesn't matter
Read more at http://www.lyrics.com/pretty-hurts-lyrics-beyonc.html#hLPEdSc3CIm1dBLU.99Mama said, "You're a pretty girl.
What's in your head, it doesn't matter

Mama said, "You're a pretty girl.
What's in your head, it doesn't matter
Read more at http://www.lyrics.com/pretty-hurts-lyrics-beyonc.html#hLPEdSc3CIm1dBLU.99