The perception that you have to have the perfect body to be more desired is wrong. The beauty/fashion industry has pushed the agenda that in order for a woman to be successful she has to be a certain body type, have certain features for her to “make it.” A poisonous reality that has even caused some women to feel insecure about their own beauty.

As I have grown and observed the beauty standards change and shift overtime, cosmetic surgery has become very popular. Women have turned to surgeons to become the beauty that they think they should be in order to be more desirable. Most often it’s because those they admire “celebrities” have pushed the idea that you have to get under the knife to be a somebody, to be beautiful. So curvy bodies and big butts are what makes a women beautiful nowadays? Crazy.

source: Harpers Bazaar

It seems as though we are teaching the women who are to come after us that the way they were born isn’t good enough. That they must alter their features because the features that they were born with are simply not going to get them very far in life. I mean most of the girls you see on big billboards, in magazines and often featured in clothing brands have a certain type of look.

It’s either you are skinny, light skinned or have some sort of cosmetic surgery to attain the big bucks, the men and the good life. But if you are curvier, darker or you haven’t modified your body in anyway. You are not noticed, you are overlooked.

source: Secret of DD

At least that is what I have observed. Growing up in Australia has often made me question my identity. Having grown up in a country town where I was the only black girl made me question if I was beautiful enough. Being the girl who was never skinny also made me feel a little bit insecure when I was around my friends who were.

What really brought the insecurities to the surface for me was the misrepresentation of girls that looked like me. Girls who had darker skin complexions, girls who had curvy bodies or girl who were simply just normal. They didn’t exist in magazines, beauty brands and sometimes I still feel like they don’t in this day and age. Especially when it comes to Australia’s beauty community. I follow a lot of beauty brands on my social media platforms and it’s very rare that I see a woman of colour represented. I am even subscribed to one of Australia’s biggest make-up brands (Mecca Cosmetics) every ad that I get sent to my email is of women who are lighter in complexion.

I’m not hating on women who have lighter skin but it’s my job to address this issue. ALL women deserve recognition and they deserve to be represented equally in the beauty and fashion communities.

I feel like we are slowly progressing but it’s not good enough. We need to push for more inclusiveness. We need more real women to grace fashion. This can only begin to happen when brands begin to stop setting unrealistic beauty standards and recognising that everyone is uniquely beautiful no matter their complexion or their body type.

Article by guest blogger Ruvimbo Togara. Instagram @ruviiixo