Im Fake Too.

I remember when I was younger and TV was Good. 

Back in the late 90’s early 2000’s when :

Saved By The Bell

Fresh Prince

Full House

Family Matters

All That

The Nanny

Sister Sister

The Cosby Show

Boy Meets World

Lizzy McGuire

That’s So Raven

Used to be the Hit shows. I remember the days when TV was clean , it was informative and it was safe. I recall being young watching TV and actually being allowed to watch the shows that were being played . Vulgarity and profanity were at a minimal and parents had little to fret about when it came to their children watching television. Back when Kids were Kids.

I remember waking up on Saturday Mornings to catch Tiny Toon Adventures, Tale Spin, Doug, DarkWing Ducks, X-Men, Animaniacs, The Tick, Freakaziods and Big Comfy Couch.

Woman of all shapes and sizes were on TV then. You had the “Plus Sized” Girls, In between’s, curvy mamas and then the slim and trims. Growing up I never felt compelled to want to look a certain way because the media to me then was more accepting.

Back then in the early 2000’s there was no dominating social media outlets. Sites like Black Planet, Habbo Hotel, Hi5, World of Warcraft and MySpace were the most “social” sites around. Facebook was the most popular connecting tool then and any and everyone who wanted to connect with others had to know the persons name or at-least enough about them to be able to find them. Pictures posted were more censored and the stresses to conform were lower.

Well that’s what I think at least.

The late 2000’s brought shows such as:

Keeping Up with The Kardashians

Americas Next Top Model

Jersey Shore

Flavors Of Love

The Hills

Bad Girls Club

Dance Moms

Toddlers in Tiaras

The Simple Life

Love And Hip-Hop

The Real Housewives

Over the years the images I began to see of what a woman should look like began to change. Where slim girls once dominated social media and the TV, I began to see more altered females taking over. Regardless of what show I would watch, girls who had the perfect makeup, perfect bodies and LAID hair began to be the norm.

Please do not in any way shape or form accuse me of saying ANYTHING bad about ANYONE who looks a certain way.. I am merely stating a point.

Scrolling on my IG timeline I am bombarded<- strong word usage I know… with Vixen Like Females from all over the world. Woman who are and are not born with the perfect “36-24-42 “have taken over the Explore Page. Back in the days the perfect woman was considered one who was “36-24-36” but that has slowly changed.

Watching the progression of shows that started off in the early 2000’s that are still running on TV now, you can see how so many females and males perception of “beauty, aesthetics and body image” have changed.

I can openly admit I am a consumer who has bought into this new FAD Of having to look a certain way. Where as I used to wear minimal makeup I had found myself drowned in Youtube tutorials doing trial and errors to correct my eye liner “wing”, enhance my cheekbones contouring and have my frontal LAID. Where I was once content with my body looking a certain way, I have found myself constantly browsing for waist cinchers looking for something to make my “25” waist even smaller.

When I graduated from High School in 08 Girls were less occupied with contouring, weave and cosmetic surgeries. The only people who got their Boobs or Bum done were the people who had some means or fame or had money. The everyday girl did not have access to the resources then that she does now.

It pains me to go on the internet , walk in the mall or even scroll on my timeline and see replicas, clones of woman all over the world who have done any and everything in their power to conform their looks to the looks of what SOCIETY and the MEDIA have deemed to be the “perfect” woman. That desirable BOMBSHELL who oozes sexuality, lust and desire. That woman who “woke up like this” and by this I mean FLAWLESS.

DISCLAIMER: I am not knocking plastic surgery, implants or even people who use excessive amounts of makeup..

I know and have come across so many females who were one size one summer and by the next summer come back with HUGE breasts, NO waist and a Booty that even London Charles a.k.a Deelishis would envy.

When the media tells us a certain shoe, hair colour, eye colour, look, body type, song, brand is in we cave in and feel that we have to have it, buy it or change ourselves to fit in.

CONSUMERISM.

The worst thing about all of this is the generation coming up has gotten from bad to worse. I have bumped into girls in middle school  and high school freshman’s with bodies of grown woman clad in clothes that my mom would have beat me If I ever even tried stepping foot out the house in. Belly Buttons showing, Push-up bra induced boobs popping out and the the tightest pair of TNA and LuluLemon tights and active wear pants glued on their skin. I’m seeing parents promoting videos of their kids twerking and whining up themselves under the age of 5 for what ?

Fame?

Whats happening to us?

DO NOT get me wrong. There are a group of women out there who are not as affected by this new type of woman that’s rising up , woman who are embracing their natural beauty more than ever before.

But is that also a fad?

Is this natural hair movement something that has also been affected by the media? Are woman of colour who are filming natural hair videos and creating their own products and face regimes at home falling into the medias pull?

Is it a good thing?

Some say we as women do what we do to please and accommodate the men around us. Some say that all changes a woman does to herself is essentially to attract, keep or lure a man in.

Do we really do what we do for ourselves?

Do men determine what the media portrays?

If All these women are  “Fake”, Strongly Influenced or Brainwashed..

I guess I am too.

Omg.

I’m Fake.