Chicago is affected by the media's perception of beauty just like any other city. All around the city we see ads and images of thin women. In my neighborhood, it is not rare to walk down 26th street and see billboards and ads promoting what beauty should be. In 26th street there's a store that sells Brazilian jeans. These jeans are suppose to tone the buttocks and make them appear bigger. It gives women the idea that in order to be attractive and catch someone's attention, their body should look a certain way. Instead of helping our society accept differences in beauty, our own communities give the idea that a variety of beauty doesn't exist.
The issue of the Media's perception of beauty affects not only Chicago, not only La Villita, not only SOJO, but as close as home. We all know at least one person that is unhappy with the way they look because they believe that they need to be what the media says in other to be beautiful. For many years my aunt would starve herself because she wanted to "beautiful". Whenever she would eat, she would force herself to throw up. No one suspected of what was going on until she admitted that she needed help. She could've died because the media instead of helping her embrace her beauty, it led her to think that she wasn't good enough. This is just one of the many examples that happen around us. Some people aren't as lucky and end up loosing their lives in their search for beauty acceptance.
To think globally and act locally means that people should look at how a problem affects the whole world, and try to take action in their own communities and cities in order to bring change. By setting an example in our community we can inspire other parts of the world to the same. With the issue of the media's perception of beauty we can start by bringing awareness to the people closest to us, such as family, friends, and people we know from school and the neighborhood. These people can spread the word until the whole city knows. Once a whole city knows what is going on, it is easier to let the world know of the issue. It is important to make people understand that we must be happy in the skin we're in. Beauty is not defined by your face or body. Beauty is different and it can be found all around.