Being short
Much of the media attention on the topic concerns cosmetic surgery enhancements, but in a Redbook magazine article years ago, Salma Hayek noted another kind of body image issue: the impact of being short.
“I am 5-2, and in Mexico it was very important to be tall. People used to say that the short thing was a deformity… I’d come home saying, Everybody teases me.’ …
“I was really upset about my height. One day, I said, ‘Who decided that it’s better to be tall? Why is it better? Am I less healthy? Am I less capable?’
I have a confidence about myself
“I realized it was a trick. Everybody tries to make you feel something, it becomes a standard, and it’s based on nothing.
“And you know what? I’ve come to a place in my life where I am viewed as someone beautiful. I’ve accomplished things a lot of tall girls never accomplished.
“I have a confidence about myself that I see a lot of tall girls don’t. So how meaningful is it, really, to be tall?”
If we got together we would be so powerful.
She is the national spokesperson for Avon’s Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program, and has donated more than $75,000 to domestic violence shelters in her Mexican hometown, Coatzacoalcos, and its neighbor Monterrey.
“Body image and domestic violence are all of ours, these issues,” says Hayek.
“The limitations that are put upon us and that we put upon ourselves keep us from being all that we can be.
“I really think it’s important that women have this kind of unity so we can support each other and love each other.
“Women are not in charge of the world. Why not? We are the majority of the world. If we got together we would be so powerful.”
As another example of her concern for body image and other issues particularly important for women, Salma Hayek was an executive producer of the tv series “Ugly Betty.”
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Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the The Creative Mind series of sites which provide “Information and inspiration to help creative people thrive.”
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