I'm not an annoying feminist.

The Dove commercial. I'm sure most of you have seen it. The one where they get each woman to describe herself, then get a stranger to describe her and they compare the pictures?

Yeah.

I didn't get it.

I mean, I got it, and it was a cool idea.

But I didn't REALLY get it. What did it prove?

"I have a lot to work on with how I view myself."

Really? Because a stranger thinks you're prettier than you think you are?

Once I started writing this, I realized I sounded like an annoying extreme feminist. And I'm not. I'm just asking questions.

Just... Did you get the idea that your face and how you view your face is somehow tied to your worth?

And what if this went the other way? People are judgemental. What if a woman went in with good self esteem and then the other person describing her thought she was ugly? That would have been awkward.

I feel like I'm taking this way too deep for a silly Dove add, but I'm just thinking out loud here.

Earthly labels. Some are good, some are bad.

I don't want any of them.

I don't want to be labeled by anything I can be by myself, even if they're good labels.

Label me smart. What happens if I fail physics? There goes my worth.
Label me a talented musician. I didn't make it into the Calgary Fiddlers when I auditioned last year.
Label me reliable. What happens if I forget something?
Label me patient. What if something ticks me off and I lose my temper?
Label me strong. What happens when I break? (Notice I didn't say 'if')
Label me pretty. So what? Does that really matter? At all?

When you label yourself with earthly labels, it's *so easy* so lose your label and yourself and your worth.

Okay. So, I hate writing this. Because people are always like, "You don't need to be pretty to feel good? Yeah, that's just what pretty people say." And I don't really have any issues about how I look.

Yeah, I'm really pale and having a skin tone like my sister who looks like she's always tanned would be nice.
I have long eye lashes. But they're blonde and almost invisible without a little mascara.
I don't have perfectly clear skin.
My hair is straight but how I would love natural curls!

But does any of that *really* matter?

Does the difference between the way I describe my chin and a stranger describes my chin change who I am? Does is affect the way I treat my future children? (That line in the video alarmed me. haha) Is it really critical to my happiness?

I would hope not. Because that's pretty much saying you can't be a happy, good loving person unless you're outwardly beautiful.

One of the reasons I don't like peoples' "TBH" statuses on facebook is because I would get offended if people called me pretty in them. haha. But not even kidding, I would. If that's all you can think of to describe me, then I'm failing miserably.

Not that there's anything wrong at all with being beautiful, knowing you're beautiful and telling other people how beautiful they are. But I think the thing that bothered me about the video was that it gave me the impression that I should love myself and that I am loved BECAUSE I am beautiful.

But what if instead of making such a big deal to prove to people their beauty... We tried to prove to them how much they are loved?

Beauty doesn't make you loved.

But I think love makes you and makes you feel beautiful.