If you’ve glanced at a magazine or turned on the TV in the last decade, you’ve got a good idea of what media’s definition of an attractive woman looks like: she’s tall, usually white, has long, flowing hair, is surgically enhanced, blemish-free and very thin. In fact, academic research tells it like we see it: studies show the women we see in media these days are thinner than ever and very often severely underweight. On top of that, surgical and digital enhancement has become an unquestioned standard. And in a world where a constant flow of media images far outnumbers women we could ever see face to face, this unrealistic ideal has become the norm in our minds. A counterfeit, dangerous, unattainable norm.
When we only see a certain type of woman presented positively in media, from fitness magazines to TV dramas, it’s no wonder media is consistently linked to body hatred, disordered eating and an unhealthy focus on appearance. Profit-driven media, hand in hand with the multi-billion-dollar beauty and weight loss industries, rely on us believing a lie. The lie tells us beauty comes in one form that anyone can attain with enough money, time and effort. It tells us that women who don’t fit the ideal are doomed to be undesirable and unhappy. This sinister lie that female worth is dependent upon appearance is incredibly successful, but now that we recognize we’re in a battle for women’s worth and well being, we can actually 
start to defend ourselves!
Beauty Redefined is dedicated to taking back “beauty” for girls and women everywhere. Join us on our Facebook fan page to continue the conversation with a community of beautiful people! For more on our work and how you can join the battle, please follow the links below!
How YOU Can Help Redefine Beauty
Here, you’ll find a compilation of practical strategies to help everyone recognize and reject harmful message and redefine beauty for themselves. For girls and women, go HERE. For boys and men, go HERE.
Recognize and Reject Harmful Messages
Here, you’ll find several selections of our academic research on popular media like fitness magazines and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, as well as other messages about women’s bodies, from the profit-driven BMI standard and normalized pornography to Photoshopping phoniness and Victoria’s Secret’s faux-empowerment.
Support Beauty Redefined!
Here you’ll find out about how to help in our mission to reclaim women’s worth. We’ve done everything from a groundbreaking billboard campaign, regular speaking engagements, a sticky note campaign across the world, and all kinds of activism through our website and Facebook page. Your support, financially and through sharing our messages, is crucial!
Speaking Engagements Overview and Schedule
Here you’ll find out about one of the most prominent ways we work to take back beauty: through a one-hour visual presentation we offer to large groups in both secular and religious settings. See our upcoming enagements here.
