Fakers

We spent Saturday in Baltimore at a nephew's baptism. The weather was lovely, the baptism was moving, the family was wonderful.

And the fake tans were alarming. Can someone please explain to me the need for obviously artificially dark skin in March?

Dave's step-sisters are Greek and they have naturally beautiful bronze skin. Even in the middle of winter they are dark and lovely. But some of their friends were just plain scary!





I don't think this color looks good even on a toned, bikini-clad body in July. But on an average chick's body, with boots, jeans and a bulky sweater, it causes double-takes. And not the good kind.

I spent a few minutes observing the couple of ladies who were sporting the orange, and I walked away a bit sad.

Both of the ladies are beautiful. Both have lovely smiles and pretty features. But their natural loveliness was overwhelmed by the heavy makeup, bleached blond hair and fake tans.

As the mother of a young daughter, I feel such a sense of anger that society constantly tells our girls that they must look a certain way to have value. Between the highly sexualized role-models, the constant imagery in ads of all sorts and the incredibly grown-up clothing marketed towards toddlers, it seems like our girls are fighting an uphill battle from day one. I don't allow Barbies for that very reason (that and I don't want the boys playing with b00bs).

I left the gathering with a renewed sense of urgency to remind Toots that her attitude, her smile, her kindness, her faith and her mind are what makes her beautiful.

In defense of those two ladies, I don't know them at all. They may be self-confident geniuses.