Some people told me, after saw my baby, to 'mold' his nose. They said i have to pull it everyday, so he could have the perfect sharp nose. Annoyed, for obvious reason, i replied that they should've told that to my parents 25 years ago. His nose is exactly mine, flat with low nasal bridge, the very opposite of caucasian nose. While people probably giving remarks for some good reason (well, i don't think so), it also shows how our society defines beauty.
I grew up hating my nose, i feel ugly. I wish i have lots of money to fix my nose, a plastic surgery is needed to be done so i can be pretty. I always notice people's nose. I tried to edit my nose in photoshop so i can see what i would look like if my nose was perfect. I'm obsessed and its bad.
Why do people come up with beauty=sharp nose=beauty?? This thought probably shaped by the beauty standards that the media keep throwing at us. Local cosmetic product using white model, the movie casts either local or half indo with long hair, fair skin, and slim body figures, shoved to us all day everyday. Its hard to not reproduce the same image of what beauty is when all you see is the same thing presented as definition of beauty.
Representation matters. When there was actually person with flat nose, say, on television, they're either laughable or negative. Its the nose of comedian and the poor peasants. The impact for me personally was the thoughts that this kind of nose is not beautiful and undesirable.
Took me years to realize that my nose is given, it isn't broken and i don't even need to fix it. Its perfect the way it is. I'm grateful and loving mine albeit still had issue with self confidence (working on it).
At the end its not only about my nose, its also your skin color, your height, your accent, your body shape. Rethinking how we perceive things brings perspectives and really helps with almost everything. Common sense isn't common anyway.
