What’s with all the cover-up? Why not let the real you shine, even with your imperfections.

Photo filters are addicting. For some reason, they make us women feel more confident with our appearance and our body image. Plenty of women feel anxious and wonder to themselves “will that filter make me look the best? Or should I have chosen a different one?” Why can’t we appreciate and embrace our natural beauty?

Countless women’s images are being altered to fit a particular standard, and so are our perceptions of what a woman’s normal, healthy, beautiful body and lifestyle should be like. I don’t think people understand how serious an issue this is.

People talk about the fact that so many images of women are ‘perfected’ with the help of technology, but we can’t just toss it aside. They regularly rely on photo filters to boost their skin confidence and few are actually happy to post their natural picture. Today’s society has us praising female slimness as a key to attractiveness, health, desirability and success. This same culture has us women obsessed with our appearance and it contributes to women being disgusted by their bodies.

I used to be caught up with beauty and fashion magazines and all of these slim models. I would sit and admire these photos and envy their slender legs, sleek arms and perfectly tanned skin tone and then wonder, “Why can’t I look like that?” All over the television these beauty campaigns are plastered and have crossed over into reality TV too. These images are changed to fit some seriously un-human and unrealistic ideals that we view over and over. We women need to know our worth. The pictures we take are not any less beautiful because we did not apply a photo filter. The lack of filters will not make a picture less appreciated or less valuable.

We have to embrace ourselves and our individual imperfections and see that it is indeed your own unique beauty. Your reflection doesn’t define your worth.

No filter needed, because you’re perfectly you and that’s enough.