#antiperformativity

More and more wealthy women indulged in beauty culture are considering surrogacy their only option for childbearing. These are women who want to be mothers, want to have biological offspring, but don’t want to “ruin their bodies”. Instead, they’d pay to have IVF done with a surrogate mother as the baby machine.

Confidence

Let's talk about it. Confidence, when based on shallow, fleeting concepts (like beauty standards) is actually a myth. Confidence involves the absence of insecurity or shame. If you are body-conscious or body-focused, you are incapable of feeling secure in your image. That obsession with the appearance eats away at you. You think "I hope they look at me. I hope they think I look good. How does my hair look right now? I have to find a mirror. I have to make sure I look good in this outfit."

News Flash 💁🏻

You never wear makeup for yourself. Never. Even when you apply it in the bathroom just for fun and wash it off without being seen. You’ve simply engaged in a ritual taught and influenced by society. Nobody naturally applies makeup without being conditioned to do so.

Selfie and Insta-model culture is toxic.

For many women, taking selfies is a tasking endeavor. It can take many trials to get the "perfect" selfie for posting. Additionally, looking back on selfies at a time when you were thinner or younger and thus more societally "beautiful" can be harmful on your sense of self. Add into the fact that seeing *other* people's selfies that have been posed and edited to "perfection" can damage your body image, selfie culture is plainly harmful.

Do yourself a favor and use your camera for documenting places, not faces. Capture moods! Capture only what is raw and candid, not for what other people would approve of. When I quit Instagram, I knew myself better than I ever had before. The moment I redownloaded Snapchat and saw all my memories were full of skinny, young, makeup-caked (inauthentic) versions of myself, I instantly felt insecurity. I began critiquing my current body, comparing it to my old one. That is toxic!