"Pretty Hurts"

Beyonce just released her music video for "Pretty Hurts" and it was jaw dropping. The first thing I had to do was come here to write about it. I recommend that everyone watch the entire video right this second by clicking here. It's worth every second of your life that you spend watching it. I find it to be an extremely powerful video and I'm sure you will feel the same way.

The message this song and video spreads is undeniable: Pretty Hurts. Beyonce says herself that the theme for her album is inspired by "finding beauty in imperfection."


This first snap shot from the video might make you roll your eyes. I know I was like, "Okay Bey, you are absolutely flawless and I know you woke up like that". Keep watching though and you will see Mrs. Carter dive into much more intimate reasons of why "pretty hurts".

 

"Perfection is a disease of a nation" -"Pretty Hurts"

In the video, Beyonce is one of several contestants in a beauty pageant. You can see that everyone is stressed, competitive towards each other, and using their own special methods to appear "perfect" for the judges.
Beyonce addresses eating disorders, specifically, several times throughout the video. One set of scenes is of Bey in the bathroom, hunched over the toilet, purging. Another quick clip that may have not been easy to catch was of one of the contestants eating cotton balls; another harmful method people use to lose weight.

Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder) in the U.S.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness.
The body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females.
47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.12
69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.13
42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
(all statistics from http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/)

Beyonce doesn't only address eating disorders though, she touches on so many other issues like: beauty standards, rejection, isolation, not fitting in, etc.
Half way through the video the judge asks Beyonce what she aspires to in life and she thoughtfully answered that she wants to be happy. This is where the video turns and Beyonce destroys all her trophies that symbolizing the pressure to be "perfect". She ends up losing the pageant to an albino contestant and that's probably not what everyone was expecting, but it reminds us that everyone is beautiful.

Beyonce has over 13 million followers on Twitter and almost 60 MILLION "likes" on Facebook. We all know who Beyonce is, regardless of our opinion of her. The fact that she is unafraid to speak of these issues on that kind of a platform speaks loads about her character. This is relevant content that is sending a really important and strong message to everyone.

 

My favorite part of this video is the message itself. We are not just being told "f**k the society and its beauty standards!" We are being called to action to change the standards of beauty, not just ignore them. Beyonce is saying that everyone, even the flawless Queen B herself, is hurt by these impossible standards of beauty. She made herself vulnerable in this video. She lets everyone know that she is victimized by standards and expectations too. Your weight, measurements, speech, or talents will never please everyone. The world needs to see just how bad "pretty hurts"; even to those you wouldn't expect to be affected by it.
Above all else, don't forget to walk through life with the belief that everyone you meet is fighting a battle.

"We try to fix something, but you can't fix what you can't see

It's the soul that needs the surgery"