New survey reveals only 1 in 10 women feel attractive
April 24, 2012 § 3 Comments
Talk about low self-esteem… A new survey of 1,000 women in the UK (aged 18 to 64) reveals that only one in ten says she thinks she is “attractive.” The survey was done by Dove and called the Dove Body Confidence Census 2012. Now some might argue that the survey is not reliable because it was conducted by Dove, but I think it is shedding light on a real issue and that is women’s self-confidence, or lack thereof. How can women be expected to feel good about themselves and love their bodies when the media and advertisements show beauty in only one way: pencil-thin, light/flawless skin(pore-less is more accurate, compliments of Photoshop, not nature), perfect hair, and pearly white teeth. If a woman doesn’t this realistic standard, she is made to feel as if something is wrong with her. Objectification of women’s bodies in advertising is nothing new by any means. Yet I am so, so tired of women being forced to feel like this. We all deserve to feel amazing and be treated well because of the women we are, not because we may or may not look like a Victoria’s Secret model. I wish the results of this survey would shed some light on the issue, but I doubt that will happen.
Here’s the link to the story & specifics of the survey if anyone is interested…
genderculture 
Thank you for posting this article on the blog, I think it is incredibly saddening that women constantly feel unattractive and in a large part it is because of the media sensation of a type of woman constantly being shown as attractive and desired for making the rest of us feeling unable to match up to the standard.
This is sad and all very true. Women are bombarded daily with images of how they should look. Anymore, these images are all photo-shopped and altered to be an unattainable ideal of beauty. There is no wonder why so many women feel unattractive. Every day we are told that we need to look a certain way and when we fail to meet this standard (which of course we all will) the world tells us we are not beautiful. (Then there is the problem of a lack of representation of any women who is not “fair skinned”). As a society we need to recognize the damage these beauty standards are having on women and girls, as well as the perceptions men have of the women in their lives. Women of every shape, size, and color are beautiful. Until society changes its beauty ideals to be more conducive to actual women, women will always feel as if they do not measure up.
This definitely is a survey that although may have a slight bias appeal, also takes a real issue that is common to every day life and gives some type of attention to it. We may look at the results and think that they are pretty extreme but it really isn’t about the results in my opinion. It is an issue that has been present for such a long time and is refreshing that a major company finally decided to inform the world. This information of course most likely is a part of their own advertising to increase profits but it is up to us to see what the real issue is. Women grow up in a society where if you don’t look like the “perfect woman” then you are not beautiful. Such an irrational thought if you ask me because the “perfect woman” doesn’t even look like her own real self.