Prejudice is Ugly
I'm a little bemused, or maybe not, maybe it's what I expect.
Tonight, for some unknown reason, I decided to watch the "Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice" on Channel 4. This is just another one of those popular reality TV shows, you take two people who are opposites, get them to share their experiences, and thus learn from one another. The viewer tunes in already knowing what it will preach, that the middle ground is the best place, and we all sit in this middle ground feeling quite smug and better about our selves for not being at either extremity. You've got Supersize vs Superskinny, Beauty and the Geek, How the Other Half Live, Wife Swap, the list could go on. Beauty and the Beast brings together those who are obsessed with their looks with those who have different types of facial disfigurements. The first episode saw Yasmin; who spends two hours working on her appearance each morning, meet Leo; a man who suffered third-degree burns which disfigured his face and burned his fingers 'to charcoal'.
One might expect people to side with Leo who struggles to get people to look him in the eye and that the show would push his point of view. Leo's stand on beauty at the beginning of the show is solid, well thought out, and one that certainly deserves to be pushed harder. We all know it even if we chose to ignore it. Leo comments on the trappings of the beauty industry which uses women, makes them feel vulnerable, makes them dislike their appearance, and then uses that against them to make money. The industry creates insecurities to then sell a product which is only a placebo. Women and men then reiterate what the industry has told them, they judge each other and make each other insecure. Leo sees the beauty industry as cruel, it's something he objects to. He wants women to ignore it and feel empowered. He doesn't want his daughter to be a model, he want his daughter to be a doctor or a lawyer. And it doesn't stop there. Leo went through so much reconstruction surgery that it has been a nightmare. He hates the idea that plastic surgens are making money fixing people who only have insecurities about their otherwise normal appearance, that getting plastic surgery might become the norm. These are very valid issues, ones we should all listen to, but they all appear in only the beginning of the show.
Yasmin seems to take centre stage. She's obsessed with celebrities. She is obsessed with her looks. She wants plastic surgery. She wants to become a glamour model. The show becomes less interested in our prejudices of people with facial disfigurement as it is with our prejudices against people who are obsessed with make-up. This is certainly an issue that should be acknowledged, how the beauty industry can cause people to be so obsessed with their looks, but here the show takes an uncomfortable turn. Yasmin's trauma becomes the centre of attention and far overshadows Leo's personal struggle. Yasmin gets a lot of negative attention because of her large breasts (not a nice thing, certainly) and this causes many tears, upsets, the need for all the make-up, low self-esteem, and the need for plastic surgery. Men stare at her breasts and not at her face. Men make lurid comments about her in the street. I can't help but wonder, while she's crying about this, why she said she wanted to be a glamour model. The show admits something strange. That the comments Yasmin gets and trauma she suffers is much worse than what Leo has had to put up with. That somehow she is the one who needs all the comfort.
Lets forget the fact that by following the beauty industry like she does, you are only contributing to the social need for perfection. Are such hurtful comments really worse than the kind Leo gets? The stares Leo gets? And what about the pain and surgery Leo had to suffer? How hard it was for him to deal with his disfigurement and burns (personally) along with the prejudice and insults from other people. Clearly going through what he did, he was able to rise above it... you would have to. He was very kind to Yasmin, I wonder if he was perhaps too kind.
This was not what worried me the most. The answer, the solution, the revelation, the end. Leo eventually admitted, after seeing the insults that Yasmin got on the street about her breasts, that maybe Yasmin should get the plastic surgery for a breast reduction that she wanted. Yes. You heard me. The message of the show was...
If people in the street insult you for how you look... plastic surgery is the answer.
Sure, she ditched the make-up and fake hair for a bit. However in the end Leo admitted that she was too traumatized by the comments and should get some serious surgery to fix the problem. If your boobs are causing you a lot of discomfort, yes. But because people look at your breasts? Surgery is not the answer.
The answer was obvious from the start. It is not the woman's problem, it is not something to be fixed by cosmetics or surgery. The problem is clear and simple. Women are still constantly objectified. Maybe if women stop being objectified SO MUCH and even by each other/themselves, but mostly in the media, then MAYBE the insults and stares might reduce. Society needs to respect women, women shouldn't have to change how they look and how they were born for such reasons as society not accepting them. There will always be objectification on both sides of the fence but it shouldn't breed harassment or violence. The show just skirted around all the real issues, one can only hope later episodes will be better.
And to make matters worse, one only has to see comments on the show to see everyone comment that both Leo and Yasmin are beautiful. Most of them about how beautiful Yasmin was without make-up. It would seem beauty is still the most important thing.
... In the end I'm not really sure why I care about such trashy TV.
Tonight, for some unknown reason, I decided to watch the "Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice" on Channel 4. This is just another one of those popular reality TV shows, you take two people who are opposites, get them to share their experiences, and thus learn from one another. The viewer tunes in already knowing what it will preach, that the middle ground is the best place, and we all sit in this middle ground feeling quite smug and better about our selves for not being at either extremity. You've got Supersize vs Superskinny, Beauty and the Geek, How the Other Half Live, Wife Swap, the list could go on. Beauty and the Beast brings together those who are obsessed with their looks with those who have different types of facial disfigurements. The first episode saw Yasmin; who spends two hours working on her appearance each morning, meet Leo; a man who suffered third-degree burns which disfigured his face and burned his fingers 'to charcoal'.
One might expect people to side with Leo who struggles to get people to look him in the eye and that the show would push his point of view. Leo's stand on beauty at the beginning of the show is solid, well thought out, and one that certainly deserves to be pushed harder. We all know it even if we chose to ignore it. Leo comments on the trappings of the beauty industry which uses women, makes them feel vulnerable, makes them dislike their appearance, and then uses that against them to make money. The industry creates insecurities to then sell a product which is only a placebo. Women and men then reiterate what the industry has told them, they judge each other and make each other insecure. Leo sees the beauty industry as cruel, it's something he objects to. He wants women to ignore it and feel empowered. He doesn't want his daughter to be a model, he want his daughter to be a doctor or a lawyer. And it doesn't stop there. Leo went through so much reconstruction surgery that it has been a nightmare. He hates the idea that plastic surgens are making money fixing people who only have insecurities about their otherwise normal appearance, that getting plastic surgery might become the norm. These are very valid issues, ones we should all listen to, but they all appear in only the beginning of the show.
Yasmin seems to take centre stage. She's obsessed with celebrities. She is obsessed with her looks. She wants plastic surgery. She wants to become a glamour model. The show becomes less interested in our prejudices of people with facial disfigurement as it is with our prejudices against people who are obsessed with make-up. This is certainly an issue that should be acknowledged, how the beauty industry can cause people to be so obsessed with their looks, but here the show takes an uncomfortable turn. Yasmin's trauma becomes the centre of attention and far overshadows Leo's personal struggle. Yasmin gets a lot of negative attention because of her large breasts (not a nice thing, certainly) and this causes many tears, upsets, the need for all the make-up, low self-esteem, and the need for plastic surgery. Men stare at her breasts and not at her face. Men make lurid comments about her in the street. I can't help but wonder, while she's crying about this, why she said she wanted to be a glamour model. The show admits something strange. That the comments Yasmin gets and trauma she suffers is much worse than what Leo has had to put up with. That somehow she is the one who needs all the comfort.
Lets forget the fact that by following the beauty industry like she does, you are only contributing to the social need for perfection. Are such hurtful comments really worse than the kind Leo gets? The stares Leo gets? And what about the pain and surgery Leo had to suffer? How hard it was for him to deal with his disfigurement and burns (personally) along with the prejudice and insults from other people. Clearly going through what he did, he was able to rise above it... you would have to. He was very kind to Yasmin, I wonder if he was perhaps too kind.
This was not what worried me the most. The answer, the solution, the revelation, the end. Leo eventually admitted, after seeing the insults that Yasmin got on the street about her breasts, that maybe Yasmin should get the plastic surgery for a breast reduction that she wanted. Yes. You heard me. The message of the show was...
If people in the street insult you for how you look... plastic surgery is the answer.
Sure, she ditched the make-up and fake hair for a bit. However in the end Leo admitted that she was too traumatized by the comments and should get some serious surgery to fix the problem. If your boobs are causing you a lot of discomfort, yes. But because people look at your breasts? Surgery is not the answer.
The answer was obvious from the start. It is not the woman's problem, it is not something to be fixed by cosmetics or surgery. The problem is clear and simple. Women are still constantly objectified. Maybe if women stop being objectified SO MUCH and even by each other/themselves, but mostly in the media, then MAYBE the insults and stares might reduce. Society needs to respect women, women shouldn't have to change how they look and how they were born for such reasons as society not accepting them. There will always be objectification on both sides of the fence but it shouldn't breed harassment or violence. The show just skirted around all the real issues, one can only hope later episodes will be better.
And to make matters worse, one only has to see comments on the show to see everyone comment that both Leo and Yasmin are beautiful. Most of them about how beautiful Yasmin was without make-up. It would seem beauty is still the most important thing.
... In the end I'm not really sure why I care about such trashy TV.