Your Self-Esteem & the Ubiquitous Press

Having admitted on occasion that I may glance at fashion and gossip magazines when sitting in the hair salon, or that I may do a bit of the same on my smartphone if I'm having a coffee somewhere, I'd like to give voice to something that I think each time I do so. While I may be fascinated (or horrified) by the latest fashions, or read with curiosity about the serial relationship meandering of this or that celebrity, I am incensed when I see articles and photographs or social media posts addressing the following in a critical, finger-pointing fashion, and using well-known public figures to make the point:

• laugh lines
• wrinkled knees
• sagging bottoms
• extra weight
• sparse hair growth
• grey hairs
• fashion gaffes
• large thighs
• sagging necklines

I think you get the point. Unfortunately this not only happens in the tabloid-style press, but happens as well in much 'better' press, and while it is focused mainly on women, it is also beginning to focus on men (lack of biceps, biceps that are too large, receding hair line, nose hairs, belly, love handles, etc.).

As you will have guessed, my issue; my concern has to do with self-esteem in a population of individuals that already has problems with that, more than with the ethics of this particular brand of gutter class journalism. And evidently I am less concerned with the self-esteem of the celebrities who are used as lynchpins by the authors of these pieces, than with the self-esteem of the young people (and often the not so young people) who read this, and who already feel 'less than perfect' as opposed to celebrities or models they see in the press, and now, with this kind of overt and vicious criticism, feel even more damaged.

Our society places enormous weight on physical perfection, and while I am the first who may admire such physical perfection wherever it exists, I am also aware of the fact that I had to buy my freedom from such self-esteem robbing material back in the 80's when I made the concerted and deliberately conscious decision to stop buying fashion and gossip magazines because I recognized the effect they had on me and how I felt about myself. You might say I did this because my love for myself was greater than my desire to continue perusing these magazines.

Please: if any of what I have written in this brief post hits home, stop buying and reading this kind of press. Understand that it has power over you simply because your sense of self-esteem and self-love has not yet had a chance to grow to the place where such messages would no longer resonate with you. Make a choice in YOUR favor and simply no longer spend your time (and sense of inner worth) on this kind of media.

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Also visit my book website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may download excerpts or read quotations from any of my books (also in Spanish & German). My latest book Emotional Unavailability & Neediness: Two Sides of the Same Coin is available globally on Amazon in print & Kindle. You can also obtain it (or any of my other books) via Barnes & Noble.

Books by Dr. Gabriella Kortsch (English). Available globally in paperback or Kindle e-book versions

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DEINE SEELE UND DU

  

Angefangen mit Rewiring the Soul - auf Deutsch: Deine Seele und Du, jetzt weltweit erhältlich als Taschenbuch oder Kindle E-Book (Blog hier), werden auch meine anderen Bücher in Zukunft auf Deutsch bei Amazon erhältlich sein.

Libros por Gabriella Kortsch (español) ... ahora en todo el mundo en Amazon en versión bolsillo y Kindle

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