It’s cool when society begins to question what beautiful REALLY means. Over the past month, journalist Esther Honig has caught the eye of the online world with her project ‘Before & After.’ If you haven’t seen it yet, I’ll catch you up: Esther released a completely natural, non Photo-shopped portrait of her face to the world. She asked people to “Make her beautiful.” Simple instructions, right? But the public response was phenomenal, and in each entry we see a vastly different representation of beauty. From the hijab of Morocco to the olive skin of Israel, we see that beauty is not a perfect goal to strive for, but a concept formed by our culture.
SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PORN?
In each of these photos, Esther’s features are manipulated so she fits the changing concept of “beauty.” Whether it’s the made up face of a western female, or the exotic flavor of an Arab woman, we conform to these ideals because we need to feel beautiful. Porn is about making us feel good because we are in possession of the “beauty” of another person. In a relationship, we are given this love freely- it is real. But in porn, these feelings are fabricated. Porn is made of a superficial and distorted version of this beauty. In these Photo-shopped images, we are reminded that we all struggle to fit society’s definition of beauty.Porn is about creating false feelings to match a standard of beauty no one can reach. What we see in porn isn’t real, and the feelings it gives us are no substitute for love. The original photo that began this project is beautiful because it’s REAL.
A few weeks back, Fight the New Drug blogged about the story of an ex-porn producer. In this blog, he shares, “I wonder if the men and women who found the images and video content we produced of Mindy so appealing would find it attractive if they knew what it cost her. I wonder if they would be aroused if they knew the reality.” Porn is manufactured to give the viewer what they want: a false display of beauty. The consumer will feel desirable through their arousal from the content. Whether we are the consumer, the creator, or the object like Mindy, porn thrives off the illusion that we are not enough. It tells us that porn will make us feel whole, like a Photo-shopped image, and we will reach this goal through it. It tells us that real females, who have scars and are all different shapes and sizes, are not enough to fulfill sexual intimacy. It tells us that real males, who are both masculine and sensitive, are lacking if they are not objectified. But that’s a lie.
Who you are is enough. The ‘Before & After’ project reminds us that we already possess the beauty society tells us to become. Real beauty lies in real relationships, real love and imperfection. Be a Fighter, and don’t conform to the false standards of the porn industry. Fake is no substitute for real. Choose real beauty.