Soft Spot

As a young woman who's struggled with self esteem and body image issues for most of my life, I've heard just about every cliche and catch phrase for improving your image of yourself. But if you're like me and the millions of other women in the world who struggle, most of it seems pretty silly and doesn't get through. I've been inspired by Dove's Real Beauty campaign since it's commercials started airing a few years ago, but I stumbled across something the other day that really shook things up for me.

Dove launched a social experiment in which women described themselves to a trained forensic portrait artist, the kind that works for police forces, who drew their face without seeing them based solely off their description. Then, the women described the face of another woman and the process was repeated. In every case, the women described a much harsher and cruel version of themselves while those describing them saw them in a much more loving light. These are complete strangers mind you.

According to Dove's statistics, only 4% of surveyed women would describe themselves as beautiful. When I read that I was really surprised but then when I thought "well do I think I'm beautiful?", my answer, like 96% of other women, was no.

The path to improved self esteem and love is a long and endless one, but it's things like this that sometimes make it a little bit easier. Much easier than a Victoria's Secret commercial at least.

To see the extended clip and the portraits of the women, visit Dove's Real Beauty Sketches.