You're Amazing, Just The Way You Are

"Just because women in the early 90's decided that women needed to look like 12-year-old boys doesn't mean you need to let it influence you."

"No one ever said you needed to have big boobs. Well, they did, but fuck'em."

Even the kindest of men have a socially constructed idea of beauty. This isn't their fault, not entirely; If someone tells you that something is a certain way all your life, you aren't likely to forget it easily.

My beautiful boy is crass and sarcastic, and not always good at expressing his emotions, but he lacks the idea of "beauty" programmed in to so many of his peers. He may never say "You're beautiful"(maybe because he knows that I wouldn't believe him anyway), but he often reminds me that there's no need to worry about being skinny or endowed, because it doesn't matter.

Of course, it's not as simple as all that. Just like the men who've had the concept of beauty thrown at them, so do women. Like it or not, it takes more than a few sweet words to raise my self-esteem.

But hey, if he keeps talking, I'll keep listening.