by Christina A. Armani

Created on: February 21, 2007   Last Updated: March 26, 2007

Unfortunately, we can't say that beauty is only skin deep according to American standards. Beauty is more than skin deep because of the media and super skinny celebrities. When Friends was on TV, the females were extremely thin, and their contracts required to maintain a certain weight. We also have shows like House with the super thin Lisa Cuddy, the gals on Sex and the City, and lots of incredibly thin females on the FX show Nip/Tuck. Seeing such skinny beautiful women on TV puts lots of pressure on women to look good. Beautiful models and celebrities only make women want to conform to societal standards when they should be happy with who they are.

Why should there be any reason a 170 pound female can't be considered sexy? Some people find curves to be sexy, but that is not what society thinks now. Realistically, the question should not be why is beauty only skin deep? The question we need to ask is what can we do make it skin deep? The clich is "it's what's inside that counts," but does anyone believe it anymore? Every time you turn on the TV you see ads for acme creams, make-up, hair care products, diet pills, teeth whiteners, or other things to help make you beautiful.

We do have the popular saying "never judge a book by its cover," but we constantly judge people based on their outer appearance. Sex sells well and is constantly used as a marketing technique in America. From an American standpoint; the beautiful you are, the sexier you are. With diet pills and exercise equipment becoming more and more popular, how can we say that beauty is skin deep.

Beauty should be skin deep because it's what's on the inside of you that matters. Looks fade, trends come and go, but good personalities and attitudes can last forever. You can get a job because you have good looks but can you keep a job by having good looks? You keep you're job because you deserve to have the job and can do it well. You keep your job because you do quality work, always remain professional, stay punctual, and come up with good ideas, not because your boss likes eye candy.

The sad, superficial truth is that the skin deep philosophy isn't practiced anymore in the United States. Today, thousands of females and even some men are dealing with eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia just to impress others. If you aren't bothered by this fact at all, you have no heart. Who cares if you're great looking if you're totally selfish, cold-hearted, and stab your friends in the back? We need to keep in mind that someone once rightfully said, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

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