Our modern society has made a habit of confronting women with nigh on impossible ideals of beauty that can be dangerous and unhealthy to try and mirror.

No longer are men and women confronted merely by the front covers of glossy magazines and stories-high billboards of dizzyingly svelt, sculpted creatures of such technicolour perfection that it's hard to imagine how they ever got that way, now we have Instagram to contend with, too. A quick scroll through the filtered corridors of Instagram would have you believe that the world is chock full of Adonis-like men and petite, blindingly white-toothed women with washboard abs to boot.

Of course, this isn't reality, rather a manufactured version of it, which can prove damaging to our mental well-being if we judge ourselves against such possible ideals.

This is why projects like Haley Morris-Cafiero's are so important; they hopefully serve as a reminder not to judge someone by one quick glance. As Cafiero herself says;

“I am engaging in the conversation of body acceptance and idealized beauty standards that unrealistic and unwanted by many people". 

Here's some of her work.

'Never judge a book by its cover' is an age old saying - and applicable here. But more than that, this photo series should serve as a reminder to all that everyone is different, it is not up to any of us to determine how another human being should look - and certainly not at the expense of attempting to humiliate or degrade them.

Our modern society has made a habit of confronting women with nigh on impossible ideals of beauty that can be dangerous and unhealthy to try and mirror.

No longer are men and women confronted merely by the front covers of glossy magazines and stories-high billboards of dizzyingly svelt, sculpted creatures of such technicolour perfection that it's hard to imagine how they ever got that way, now we have Instagram to contend with, too. A quick scroll through the filtered corridors of Instagram would have you believe that the world is chock full of Adonis-like men and petite, blindingly white-toothed women with washboard abs to boot.

Of course, this isn't reality, rather a manufactured version of it, which can prove damaging to our mental well-being if we judge ourselves against such possible ideals.

This is why projects like Haley Morris-Cafiero's are so important; they hopefully serve as a reminder not to judge someone by one quick glance. As Cafiero herself says;

“I am engaging in the conversation of body acceptance and idealized beauty standards that unrealistic and unwanted by many people". 

Here's some of her work.

'Never judge a book by its cover' is an age old saying - and applicable here. But more than that, this photo series should serve as a reminder to all that everyone is different, it is not up to any of us to determine how another human being should look - and certainly not at the expense of attempting to humiliate or degrade them.