Response

            

             Beauty is everywhere. There is no doubt about that. We define beauty in many different ways in America be it from the size of our bodies, how tall we are, to the clothes on our backs. In CNN’s article, “What is Beauty and who has it?” states that beauty is in fact changing in American society.  They want to see more diversity. Diversity has a broad meaning. In my sense, it means the uniqueness of one person from their culture to even body modifications

            In the article, beauty is defined as the physical attributes of a person but as the article goes on it questions the standards of beauty in America like the way women choose to change who they are to make society think they are beautiful or even try to make them see themselves as beautiful. American women everywhere are starving themselves, applying tons of makeup, and even the extremity of plastic surgery. Women know the risks of what these things can do to you, yet they still push through to get to where they want to be and that is to meet the standards of beauty.

            As a young girl I never seemed to understand what the definition of beauty was but then as I grew older I started to think there was only one way to be beautiful and that was to be white, blond, blue eyed, and skinny. The reason I believed this was because that was all I saw on television, commercials, and advertisements. In more recent years I have noticed a difference in what people are seeing to be beautiful. A couple of weeks ago we had the Miss America competition and guess who won, a woman of Indian descent. America was appalled by this choice. And why? I have no clue. She matched what the judges wanted for Miss America. She was talented, beautiful, and had a kind way about herself.  She was the ideal candidate for diversity.

             Although, Culture is not what is seen as beauty often-in America but why not? We are such a huge country there is so many different cultures in America. Beauty is seen in the Native Americans, Mexicans, and African cultures. In the natives we see many different languages that haven’t even been written down. We see hand made pottery and the different style of clothes that they wear. In the native culture, they don’t think about the physical attributes of a person but the way people hold themselves is what makes them beautiful.  Mexicans have their own type of beauty. From the way that there language rolls off their tongues, to the food they cook, and to the way they are strongly connected to their families. It means more to them than anything. They are always together and to me that’s beauty.  Culture may not be beautiful for everyone else but this is what made America. Culture is beauty.

            Body modifications can mean many different things like tattoos, piercings, stretching, and branding. Many people do not see how in any way possible that this form of modifying of the body is beautiful. In today’s generation, many people are also taking a liking to this change. Americans in the early 1900’s did not understand the concept of body modifying so they thought it was weird or abnormal. They often called people who did so “freaks” which was normal for their time. However, in many other tribes throughout history, modifications were used to signify a person’s tribe or their importance within the tribe.

            In more recent years, people have been getting tattoos of different images that represent themselves.  Tattoos give the satisfaction of being an individual in today’s world. I myself have received many tattoos in which I consider a big part of who I am, considering that all of my tattoos represent my Navajo heritage. The idea behind my tattoos came from me missing home. As a young child, my parents divorced and not too soon afterward, my mom remarried again to a military man who took my family and I out of the reservation when I was five. I would not return to the Navajo reservation until I became eleven years old.  Then, I lived on the Navajo reservation until I was fourteen. It wasn’t until then I started to realize the significance of my heritage. Although the ideas of my Navajo related tattoos did not come to mind until I was seventeen the thought of tattoos were always beautiful to me. The beauty behind this permanent form of art on oneself deemed to be the most unique of all.

            My definition of diversity is the acceptance of all races, cultures, and perspectives. I never really knew how many different things in society could bring beauty to one person.  Everyone is different and in today’s society we are learning to accept that different is good. If I could recall every time someone has made good comments on my tattoos or even my many piercings, I would say that it has been nice to notice this change in people. I would never want to change the beauty in anyone else’s culture or what they do to their bodies as far as modifying it. America has definitely given the chance for the option of change in many different aspects and this is one I truly admire. This is how it always should be, accepting the beauty of being different. We may not fit into America’s standard of being beautiful but we will always be ourselves, no matter what anyone says.