I remember at the tender age of 11 reading gossip magazines that featured articles talking about the beauty of a celebrity, and for every celebrity they gave a grade on how pretty they were, ranging from A to F. I also remember reading about how "fat" or "ugly" a celebrity looked when they were seen without makeup or without a beautiful dress.
Fast forward 3 years later, a male classmate of mine who was seated behind me, was talking about girls and rated every girl in our level at number out of ten. Disgusted, I turned around and a long speech was prepared in my mind and I was ready to spew out how absolutely degrading it was of him to do such a thing. But, as I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out.
But sometihng that terrified me was that my female friend who was seated beside me, looked at me quizzically and wondered what was the problem. When I asked her how she was not the least bit offended by it, she only had one thing to say, "But he said you're pretty so it shouldn't matter?"
And at fourteen, the age of self-discovery and changes, I was worried and afraid on how these people would think of me. So, I quietly turned back to my desk and continued to do my work, forcing the incident out of my mind.
This is something I forever regret doing.
Women's appearances are not objects that anyone can rate a number out of or give a grade to. We are human beings with feelings and our own minds. We are not some non-living thing that you can rate its prettiness out of. There's a fine line between calling someone beautiful and giving someone a number based on their appearances.
This is not a case of boys will be boys, this is a case of disrespect to another gender and it is not something that you can grow out of. If this type of thinking is not stopped now, there will be no growth in our mindsets and we need to stand up to these degratory remarks on not only women but men as well because they too are being rated out of a number by everyone else. It is just not as widespread as the disrespect given to girls.
Everyone is beautiful. But if everyone is obsessing over a number they're given, and if everyone continues to give each other a number, there is no more beauty in the world and it will become a very ugly place.
Stop rating humans. Start looking at the beauty.
