We’ve lost perspective about what real bodies and faces look like
And what to do about it…
Meme cred: @Lucievalleebodyimage (IG)
“I know what you ate last summer.”
It’s one of the many rude comments social media trolls made about actress Jennifer Love Hewitt when she showed up at the recent 2025 movie premiere version of the 1997 film “I Know What you Did Last Summer.”
46 and wearing a black dress, she looked beautiful. She was not 18, like she was the first go round. The matter is a fact of simple math.
The problem is: it seems we’ve forgotten both simple math and basic biology and genetics.
These days we expect our bodies and faces to simply hold court in the midst of the natural aging process and criticize them when they don’t.
Truth is- this might not even fly in a different era. But today, when altered bodies and faces have become much more of the “norm,” you’re practically considered a rebel not to pay to change something about you. (Pamela Anderson, anyone?)
Speak out about it and you’re told “real women support other women” and to “mind your own business.”
The problem is: it’s unfortunately all of our business at this point.
Thanks largely to Kardashian culture (undeniable), we’ve lost all perspective of what real bodies and faces look like, anymore. I almost can’t remember a real-looking set of eyelashes or lips at this point.
And because of that beauty standard someone else set, we are now all judged by an unrealistic standard.
ps: I never asked to play along.
-Because we are paying for quick fixes and filtered faces and contending with things like AI images, we’ve created an unrealistic standard for the average person to keep up with, making us more insecure as women than ever.
-Because in most cultures, thinner bodies have become the prize, even when we say the right things like: “we love our bodies no matter what” and “we support women for whatever they look like,” there is still a stigma on anyone who is not a single digit size — the smaller, in fact, the better.
No one worried about the size of our lips 30 years ago. But when you compare your lips to a bought reality, natural lips suddenly begin to look unnatural. (That’s how the industry wants you to see things. ;)
I realize I cannot turn an entire image industry. But I do believe we can do something, even in the Church (yes, Church women co-sign to this), to help:
Be willing to be honest about whatever you get done to yourself.
No, you don’t have to. You are entitled to your privacy. And it might at first seem like a small thing. But this is one way it will help even the playing field for those who choose to do things naturally.
The reality is:
-It’s a privilege a lot of women don’t have to spend money on this type of improvement, so it’s discouraging to not be able to keep up in this way.
-Allowing people to assume 60 year old women really look 30 and people can lose major weight in mere weeks just by watching what they eat is dishonest and again, discouraging to those watching.
Since I come at this from a Christian perspective, and none of this is a black and white issue in Scripture (caveat: there are some suggestions that I think we could apply to our decision-making, which I talk about in Body & Soul), I believe all of this is a personal decision everyone must make on their own.
But we must be willing to get honest and ask ourselves what kind of message it sends our daughters and the younger generation when we “fix” ourselves while preaching to them that they are beautiful, just as they are.
Perhaps we could all benefit from a good perspective shift.
PS: Exciting news for my CCC: keep reading! I’m giving you a sneak peek of tomorrow’s Body Show with Candace Cameron Bure with some secrets BTS and what I wore week 1 + link(s)!