#11 - You Are More Than Your Looks

THE PRESSURE TO BE PRETTY. We're already going to warn you from the get-go that this is a topic that drives us nuts. Today's episode is all about how we as women are conditioned to feel like the number one thing women are valued for is their appearance. The issue with that is… society's beauty standards are constantly changing and we're placing our self-worth on something that is fleeting. We are more than just a pretty face.

[1:30] What Today's Discussion Is About - "We need to stop putting beauty as our number one value"

[2:50] How Does This Affect You Culturally?

• How the Latino and Brazilian cultures value beauty
• Societies ever-changing beauty standards.
• "Most women are not going to look like the women that society presents in ads and in movies"
• We are building unrealistic expectations

[6:45] We're Programmed To Judge People By Their Looks - It's human nature to make assumptions about somebody by how they look.

[10:00] How Media and Marketing Makes Us Believe It's Important For Us to Beautiful - the pressure to be attractive.

[11:50] Women's Looks, The Workplace & How We're Perceived

• Typical comments women receive in regards to their appearance
• Nat reads a study from the BOOK THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED that shows how women wearing makeup are perceived (seriously, this book sucks)
• The "Tony Soprano" effect for men compared to women when they're overweight - from The Confidence Code.
• "The data is devastating… only 2% of us actually think we're beautiful"

[25:35] Going Back to our Roots - It Also Starts With Family - How the women in your family talked to you about beauty ends up affecting your body image

[27:00] Natassia's Struggle With Her Looks - Dressing down and hiding her body at work so that she can be taken seriously. Worrying that if 'beauty' is all she has, then what happens once that beauty is gone?

[27:20] Our Takeaways For Today!

• Stop Judging Other Women - The Supermodel Effect.
• Don't compliment your female coworkers based off of their looks
• • "When people make you feel like the thing that stands out about you the most as a woman is your looks, that puts a lot of pressure on somebody especially when they have 0 control over how they look"
• Lead with your gifts. Recognize what YOU bring to the table.
• Where is your identity rooted? As always, get to the root.
• Watch how you talk to your children, sisters and friends.

We want to see you thrive and be the best person you can be. Make sure that your appearance and your beauty aren't the only thing you're valuing. Let us know your thoughts on today's episode and how it resonated with you!

Resources: You can look up the books and studies referenced in today's episode:

• "The Confidence Code" by by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
• "Cosmetics as a Feature of the Extended Human Phenotype: Modulation of the Perception of Biologically Important Facial Signals" Nancy L. Etcoff, Shannon Stock, Lauren E. Haley, Sarah A. Vickery and David M. House
• "Want to Be CEO? What's Your BMI?" by Leslie Kwoh, Wall Street Journal

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You are a multi-faceted, incredible being!

Baklava,

Nat & Nina