Just wondering

I have a friend who is a 27 yr old woman, married with a child. She happens to be considered a "larger" woman. In all the time I have known her I have always seen her dressed in some type of old t-shirt and jeans, never seemed to have any pride in her appearance. Never really seemed much interested in that. I never much cared, just figured that was her. She is my friend and I love her and accept her for who she is. So, when she came to me asking for help in picking out a new wardrobe I was a bit surprised. It was on this shopping trip that some very sad realizations occurred to me.
She was looking for something different, something cute but was hesitant to say that. Which I found a bit odd, not that she wanted something cute but that she couldn't say that. It was then that she looked at me and said "I've never owned anything that made me feel pretty." I was taken aback, here is this grown married woman, mother of 1 and she had never felt pretty? Now this may seem a bit superficial to some of you but stop and think about it. As a woman, could you imagine living your entire life and having never felt good about your appearance? All of her life it has been subtly suggested to her that because she is larger, pretty just isn't something to shoot for. No, pretty shouldn't base who you are and it shouldn't mold you as a person. But every soul deserves to feel good about themselves.
Society tells us that if you are overweight you aren't acceptable. If you aren't a size 2 and like one of the crack monkey looking runway models you aren't good enough. This is not true. What purpose does this type of media serve? What result do you think this is going to end up in?

There is a tribe, I don't remember what country it is in, that up until a few years ago had never been exposed to the western media. They had their own standards as to what was beautiful, what was acceptable and how they did things. Once they were exposed to western media they now have an onslaught of bulimia and anorexia. Hmmmmmm Interesting.

Now don't get me wrong I am not advocating obesity for medical reasons but I am advocating every human being having the right to feel good about themselves regardless of their size. What right do we have to tear apart another soul? Think about it, a girl from the time she is old enough to understand is told how pretty she is or how cute she is. Where is the intelligence? Where is the wit? Where is the sense of humor? All in all from the time she is old enough to understand none of those things are as important as her appearance. I'm not saying its right I'm just saying that's how it is. As a mother raising a girl I have always pointed out how smart she is, how funny she is, what an amazing personality she has. Of course I still tell her she is beautiful but I don't base her entire identity on that. Why do we allow society to do that to us? We dictate what is socially acceptable. All of us are beautiful in one way or another, we all have an amazing light that wants to shine through if we will just let it. If we will just look at it. When are we going to stop placing unrealistic expectations on ourselves and each other? At what point is enough enough?

I was just wondering.