The landscape that informs this film was revealed in a new study from Dove - Dove: The Global Beauty Confidence Report. It paints a picture of a world where women want to be free to look any way that makes them feel confident, but are aware of the many limits put upon them by other people’s judgments about their appearance. Seven in 10 women believe they get more compliments about how they look than on their professional achievements at work, for instance.
Dove points out that commentary and judgment focused on how women look can limit women and place pressure on them to conform to a narrow standard of beauty, and said that seven out of 10 women want to live in a world where women and girls are judged by what they do and say, not on their looks alone.
“Somewhere along the way, it has become the norm to judge women based on their appearance. Dove created #MyBeautyMySay because we believe a woman’s beauty should not be used to belittle her achievements – instead, her beauty should be celebrated on her terms,” said Jennifer Bremner, Director of Marketing, Dove. “We want women to challenge this behavior that has unfortunately become commonplace in our society. We are giving all women a platform to speak out and join us to change the conversation.”
Eight in 10 women believe every woman has something about her that is beautiful, yet many continue to feel limited by society’s judgments of their looks. In fact, one in two women with low body confidence admit they don’t feel self-assured enough to be assertive in their own life. The women featured in the #MyBeautyMySay film tell a different story. Dove selected all of the women featured in the #MyBeautyMySay film because they live the message that by embracing your own beauty, you can free yourself from the limits others place on you:
Heather Hardy, 34 – Since taking up kick-boxing as a hobby to get in shape, Hardy has been told she is too “pretty to fight.” She is now a star in the ring, fighting professionally and working to raise the profile of oft-neglected female boxers.
Jessica Torres, 25 – Even from a young age, Jessica was constantly told she could not wear stylish clothing because of her size. She rejected this criticism when she started her fashion blog, Tiny Red Shoes, as a way of telling the world she isn’t embarrassed, but proud, of the way she looks.
Rain Dove, 26 – Rain faced unfair ridicule for years as others claimed her looks were too masculine. Now she earns her living from the androgynous appearance she has made her own, working as a gender-free model in New York, US.
“As a child I was called ‘ugly’ and ‘plain’ because of my appearance, but the way I look has allowed me to set myself apart and lead a flourishing career as a gender-free model,” said Rain Dove. “I am lucky that I have been given a chance to speak out about the limits that have been placed upon me. By working with Dove, I hope to inspire others to relinquish the standards and rules society attempts to place on women.”
Interested?
View the #MyBeautyMySay film. Dove is inviting women to share their own stories of overcoming beauty limits with #MyBeautyMySay
Dove also believes in the importance of starting the conversation early in life around beauty confidence. To date, the Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached the lives of over 19 million girls with self-esteem building tools. Download the tools for the Dove Self-Esteem Project
Hashtags: #RealBeauty, #MyBeautyMySay
