This week, I watched the new Pamela Anderson Netflix documentary, "Pamela: A Love Story." I enjoyed it overall, but knowing that Pamela has gained so much strength and confidence through surviving scandals and bad marriages, I was disappointed to see that she is insecure about her body. At one point, her mom asks her why she doesn't wear tight fitting clothes anymore, and Pamela answers that it is because nobody wants to see her body anymore. Later, she comments that people no longer want to see her breasts. The mistaken notion that women are only worth admiring when they're young probably originated in her mind during her heyday of posing nude for "Playboy." Though I have no qualms about women posing nude, I've always believed that "Playboy" magazine was the wrong venue for it. After all, "Playboy" was created and controlled by the late Hugh Hefner - a man who forbade his models to wear red lipstick because in the era he grew up in, red lipstick was a statement of strength, boldness, courage, and independence. Plus, I'm sure he had convinced his models that they are only beautiful when they are youthful.
I'm only a little bit younger than Pamela Anderson, and it stings to know that many women in our age group are hesitant to show off their bodies. Some people believe that what the years do to women's bodies is distasteful. Yet when women get plastic surgery in an attempt to look youthful, they are criticized even more. Thinking about the vitriol hurled at Madonna after her recent appearance on the Grammys is devastating. Countless people made hurtful comments about how her face has changed through the overuse of Botox and plastic surgery. They say she looks horrible and question why a woman who once had an abundance of self-confidence would now feel so badly about herself that she needs to cave into the pressure to look younger. I believe that the reason she has decided to remain wrinkle-free is because her business is pop music which is a genre of music listened to by the young. The music she has recorded for decades brings listeners back to the years they first heard the songs, and she wants her look to match how she looked during the time periods of those songs. She prefers the skin on her face to have the smoothness of youth.
In actuality, not everyone hates Madonna's new look. Many of her comments on Instagram praise her for looking beautiful. Everybody has different preferences regarding physical appearances. For instance, some people prefer thin bodies and others prefer curvy bodies; some love how women look with breast implants, others prefer natural breasts; some people find mature women more attractive, others prefer youthful women. Pamela Anderson shouldn't just assume that she is no longer desirable because her looks are now that of a mature woman. As I said, different people find different looks attractive, and I doubt she gave it a second thought years ago when she had breast implant surgery even though there are many people who prefer natural, smaller breasts.
Luckily for us, several mature women once celebrated for their beautiful faces in the 1980's are now speaking out on our behalf. Model, Paulina Porizkova, and actress, Brooke Shields, are working hard to break down the myths that older women are no longer beautiful. Paulina does this in her new "No Filter" book of essays, and Brooke does this with her website and newsletter "The Beginning is Now." Whether a woman wants to get plastic surgery to look younger or instead chooses to age naturally is nobody else's business. The most beautiful asset a woman can have is confidence. If we still believe we are beautiful, then others will too. If you've got it, flaunt it, and even if you don't think you've got it, take a chance and flaunt it anyway, and never let anyone make you feel shameful about it.
