Bona fide Beauty Day: Interview with Ariana Bentz

How did you come up with the idea for a Bona fide Beauty Day?

For a methods course I did an ethnographic study on the beauty pageant culture and it amplified my disagreements with the way that women are objectified in our society. Instead of writing another paper on it, I decided to do something.

Why should we be celebrating “real” or “inner” beauty?

So that we can empower ourselves past the superficial definition of beauty fed to us by society.

Who will most benefit from the message you are trying to get across?

Hopefully everyone. This message is about women, but it is for everyone.

What are some of the events that will take place during Bona fide Beauty Day?

Recycling bins set up to recycle fashion magazines, an open mic for anyone to share their thoughts on “real” beauty, enlarged pictures of “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit models to draw on, demonstration of the tools used in PhotoShop that create unrealistic beauty, and of course, it is a day without make-up … don’t wear make-up!

Where can the “real” role models be found for women in our society today?

Any individual who doesn’t adhere to the myths attached to beauty that promote the exploitation of female bodies. Anyone and all of us should be role models by this definition.

When will society’s perspective on women change? Has there already been a change or do we have a long ways to go?

When collectively we detach ourselves from the notion that women can only express their worth through the physical body instead of expressing what they can actually do. There has been change with basic social rights, but with regard to the body, the new challenge for women is that we have gone from being abstract commodities to being literal commodities.