Skip Navigation

Main sections

Skip section navigation (navigation may have changed)

Due to the lapse in government funding, only websites supporting excepted functions will be updated unless otherwise funded. As a result, the information on this website may not be up to date and the agency will not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at https://www.opm.gov/.

Section navigation

girlshealth.gov logo

http://www.girlshealth.gov/

Real beauty comes from the heart (text-only)

Girl with her eyes closed.

Opening the magazine page, I don't see a reflection of myself. I see portions of women with flat stomachs and PERFECT figures. After all my life wondering why I can't be a model, and becoming filled with self-hatred, anger, and DOUBT, it HAD to stop. When I look in the mirror, I don't see Tyra Banks or Niki Taylor. I see me, a beautiful, intelligent, wonderful young woman. My brilliance shines from the inside, from my heart. Although I don't see shiny magazine pages printed with thin MADE-UP COMPUTER-EDITED WOMEN, the reality of my face and body is more beautiful than that any day. I reflect a life full of experience, full of love and anger, and my beauty overpowers a room, not just the magazine page.

 

Content last reviewed July 24, 2013
Page last updated October 31, 2013

top