As girls, we are told every day how we should look. Magazines scream at us when we pass by, telling us that we aren’t good enough. The model on the magazine with the perfect skin and flowing hair mocks us, as we subconsciously touch our own unruly tresses and wonder why it never looks like that. What we don’t understand is that it is all fake.

In her book “I’m No Angel,” former Victoria’s Secret model, Kylie Bisutti, describes the dramatic change that takes place before models walk the runway. Models go through hours of beauty treatments; nails are painted, skin is spray tanned, layers of makeup are applied to the face, false eyelashes go on, and hair is highlighted before extensions are attached. Even models in magazines go through this process, although their skin gets smoothed over and every imperfection is fixed before the magazine gets published. They even use Photoshop to give these models a tiny waist, long legs, and a larger bust to achieve “perfection.”

I’m sick of girls feeling insecure. I’m sick of hearing about eating disorders caused by society telling teenage girls that they are never going to be skinny enough. And I’m sick of girls feeling like they are worthless because they don’t reach that unattainable standard of beauty set by our culture. To think that you have to look a certain way to be beautiful is ridiculous. Your flaws are what make you different from everybody else. If everyone reached perfection, all originality would be gone. Nobody would have their adorable freckles, contagious laugh, or gorgeous curly hair that gets out of control every once in a while.

Cinematographer Conrad Hall says, “There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.” I couldn’t agree more with this quote, because perfect is overrated. So please, don’t let society decide who you are. Honestly, nobody will never be able to please society because it is always changing. Just be who you are, because the world needs more people who won’t let society’s twisted version of beauty define them.