We know love can hurt sometimes, but does the pursuit of being ‘pretty’ hurt too? 
Queen of female empowerment Beyonce has set tongues wagging with a sneek preview into the world of beauty pageants in her latest video for her single, Pretty Hurts. Her message is clear; society places too much emphasis on physical perfection and this is bad.
The seven-minute film opens backstage at a beauty pageant with a super-skinny contestant prodding the skin around her bony ribcage. Beyonce is then seen rubbing her teeth with Vaseline, a trick to help catwalk models remember to keep smiling on stage, as well as to stop their lips getting dry from showing off their super pearly-white teeth.
On stage she sings the words: “Pretty hurts/Shine a light on whatever is worst/Perfection is a disease of the nation. You can’t fix what you can’t see, it’s the soul that needs surgery.”
The video continues with her scoffing diet pills and being publicly weighed, then smashing her trophies.
Says Beyonce, “The concept of the video is really a behind the scenes look into society’s take on beauty and how it doesn’t bring you happiness and how it doesn’t move you forward in life and that it’s really finding yourself that brings you true happiness,” the director Melina Matsoukas says in the behind the scenes clip.” Beyonce adds: “I’m pretending to get a facelift and botox, it represents all of the things women go through to keep up with the pressure that society puts on us.”
Many of us of put ourselves under pressure to look a certain way (and trust us, anyone who has experienced a bikini wax knows about pain, amen) Obviously first impressions count when it comes to dating, but does trying to stand out from the competition place an even greater pressure on both men and women to look super-good? Do you feel this pressure?
There’s know doubt Beyonce is giving a great message to society but is it a tad hypocritical when she she graces the pages of magazines super-airbrushed, is always seen super-preened and surrounded by a vast team of ‘beauty’ professionals?
Do you think the pursuit of perfection hurts us not just physically but mentally too as well as hurting society as a whole?
Wow. Tell us your views @lovestruck
ps: We love you just the way you are…
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