“Feeling Pretty” is Fine, But it’s Not the Ultimate Goal

Overcompensation is still a form of emphasis.

And we need to stop disproportionately emphasizing physical appearance, regardless of whether we do it in a positive or negative manner.

We blame the media, corporate America, advertisers, mean girls, and men for crushing women under a relentless onslaught of images, ideas, and aspirations related to the perfect female visage. And, by all accounts, that blame is justified.

“Feel anything that’s more representative of you as a person than ‘pretty’.”

That’s part of the message in Amy Schumer’s new movie “I Feel Pretty” — that the world is constantly reminding women of how they look and suggesting that, for most women, it just isn’t good enough. Included in nearly ever scene in the movie (especially at the beginning) is an example of how society is unfairly focused on female appearance and how that disproportionately affects women’s lives.

This is not a new message, and yet it is one that, while we may be willing to acknowledge, we are slow to change. The problem is that while our particular brand of resistance to the problem does directly combat the undesirable outcome, it also simultaneously strengthens the troublesome core from which that outcome springs.

The key to eliminating a disproportionate level of societal focus on appearance isn’t that we focus on appearance in a different way; it’s that we stop overemphasizing appearance, regardless of whether we do it in a positive or negative way.

Aside from and in addition to her extraordinary wit and comedic delivery, Amy Schumer has built her celebrity platform partially on encouraging women to embrace their bodies, even and especially when they may be considered “less than perfect” by societal standards.