Hey Guys! So I really want to talk to you about something I found seriously disturbing the other day. I don't know if you know about this but there is a viral trend going on now called the "Don't Judge Me" challenge, on vine. The point of it is to make yourself look as hideous as possible then cover the camera with your hand, then in an instant transform into a super model.
At first I thought the challenge was great. It seemed to give out a positive message. Don't judge people. That's pretty straightforward. However the other day I was on youtube when I found a video of a six-year-old and a three-year-old doing it. What had initially shocked me the most was how much make-up the girls were wearing, before and after. Then, after thinking about it for a little while, I realized what kind of message these little girls would be getting out of doing something like that.
In today's world there all kinds of issues that come to the forefront in terms of self-expression and being who you are. Some of these I wish didn't exist but are still present, even today. Racism, Sexism, Bullying, Harassment, and many others. The sad part is whether children understand it or not, some of these things are happening inside schools. Children are so susceptible to what adults and society dictates and they follow their parents, the trends, or the internet to find out what's right. That's a scary thing. Think about it. Parts of the internet are completely engulfed in white supremacy and terrorism while another half thinks clothes and money should be permanently banned from our society.
Despite this though, with this trend in particular is especially hard to combat because it seems to give off a positive message. Even I thought it was an alright thing at first. If you dig deep you realize at the heart of it, there is a serious issue, for kids in particular.
At the beginning you are supposed to make yourself be as ugly as possible. You do this with make-up and with the expressions you make on your face. However they don't just make up these faces to make, these children have to find them from somewhere, the list goes on. Regardless, whoever originally made the expression was probably a real person. If not eventually they may see a real person in school, or out on the street as comparable to the ugliness they are trying to show off, and make fun of them, which is wrong. Furthermore, no one should be promoting themselves in that kind of way, because that's not real, just as much as a the beautiful phase.
After revealing themselves in the glory of how they "actually look" the person makes faces, trying to look as sexy as possible. This was especially disturbing for little kids to try and imitate. Society had for a long time always told kids to grow up a lot faster then they should. Trying on make-up, wearing a training bra, and getting your ears pierced for the first time has gotten younger as far as age limits though. Kids that are eight and nine years old are glued to cell phones instead of playing outside, and enjoying themselves. Then the media promotes obesity as a rising issue as if its a surprise. I think what disturbs me the most is that children are doing things and trying things that they just are not ready for. Girls are being pushed to be "girly" while boys always have to be "masculine". Then it goes to the absolute limit and thats where kids break. It's awful.
The truth is, kids, teenagers, and adults should all just be who they are. If a girl wants to roughhouse, and get fit she should, and if a boy wants to show a little emotion and be a little weaker he should. No one in this world has a right to hold power over someone to choose who they are going to be. That's up for them to choose. In the "Don't Judge Me" challenge neither phase of ugly/pretty is who that person is. That is just there to add shock value to the "transformation". The best way to guide children and teenagers in the right direction to being who they are is not to tell them what to do and listen to what they have to say. Lastly no one is pretty or ugly, we are all beautiful, because we are all ourselves.
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