I promised to write this mostly because I’d want my future daughter to know… So here goes;

Beyoncé poses the question “are we good enough?” and “Is trying to be good enough sociological poison?”.
First, I don’t think I can answer this question entirely but I can give some insight from my own perspective, however botched it may be. Pretty does hurt, at lease in the way Mrs. Carter talks about it. I have had women (of whom I am not related too) tell me I could attain anything with the shape of my body and because I was “stacked” I shouldn’t be without anything. Of course, I am fully aware that I may be confused by my college education and the influence of a feminist mother. But, all of these Ideas have influenced my perspective of what “Pretty” means. I say that all of these comments or the lyrics of this song falls dead to the ground but If I look deep down and I mean really deep down Beyoncé is right. When a man looks at me there is no description of my education or what I think about politics anywhere on my body. What you see is what you get and If I am dieting (aka starving myself) or dressing in a way that is uncomfortable just to attract attention…. Pretty does hurt.

So why do we do it? I think we don’t feel like we are good enough.

It is true that every woman on this planet is Good enough for someone, every woman is Someone’s type, every woman is attractive to Some One. But the conflict that Beyoncé is talking about is why aren’t we good enough for our selves? I can preach all day that beauty is skin deep or the outside doesn’t count and the inside is all that matters.  But, if I was completely honest, the outside matters to us too. Women have a female “type”. We double tap pictures of sexy, perfectly toned female bodies on instagram just as much as men do. I have a type, and for some strange sociologically repressed reason my “type” is completely different than me. Maybe this is the sociological poison Mrs. Carter is referring too?…
I’m a black women, I have voluptuous curves and what I deem to be a perfectly proportioned bust. Most of my Caucasian friends say my body type is ‘their’ ideal body type but their genes didn’t work in that favor. Personally, I look at the ‘Latin’ body type as a perfect model of “pretty”. The long flowing locks of hair, slender waist, tall physique and big brown eyes and don’t forget the accent.
I took all of this into account and figured out we are  sociology poisoned. Poisoned to believe that anything besides the way God made us is beautiful.

“Pretty hurts, Shine the light on whatever’s worse. Trying to fix something But you can’t fix what you can’t see… It’s the soul that needs the surgery” – Beyoncé “Pretty Hurts”

All of these feelings are internal. Beauty, pretty, self-worth all of these feeling we lack about ourselves are effects of deep internal problems. They start from the time someone tells you that you’re ugly or when you look in the mirror and don’t see what’s in a magazine. A poisoned image of pretty does hurt. Comparing yourself to others cuts so deep until you don’t realize that you are bleeding on the inside. You have to know that you are good enough. You have to believe that you are beautiful internally.

Beauty is skin deep… probably even farther.