This is my first post here on Nairaland and there's something that's so rampant in society that I want to try to change somehow. The concept of beauty. What is beauty? Is it how fair your skin is or how long your hair is or how big your assets are? People have for a long time mistaken these to be necessities of beauty. I know many girls who are undeniably pretty with nasty attitudes and vulgar tongues and she's called beautiful. There's this crazy standard of beauty that the world has made, created for the girls to follow. The ideal girl that most guys want is the fair skinned, tall, pink lipped, pointed nosed, big boobed and big bummed beauty. Sorry dudes, DNA is different. That's why bleaching cream manufacturers are smiling to the bank, that's why cosmetics sell so much (not saying it's wrong to wear make up), that's why we have plastic surgeries everywhere (it's not yet a trend in Nigeria cause we barely have plastic surgeons but if we did, it'll be an explosion). We have been taught to hate what we look like and want to look like someone else that's not who we are. That's why some people feel compelled to wear make up that completely changes their facial appearance making them unrecognizable to even people who are close to them. I don't blame girls who do those things because society's opinions have forced them to. Some people share pictures of girls or guys that aren't so physically attractive and they add captions to make people laugh at things they are insecure about. Try putting yourself in their shoes once in a while, how do you think they feel when they become internet sensations for "their ugliness". When you insult a girl for being too dark and she decides to bleach them you say she's a fake. Why did she become that? To stop all the taunts. You insult someone for having big feet or having small boobs or something that's not up to society's standard and you expect them not to want to do something about it? That's something that they're already insecure about. We all have insecurities, imagine if someone decided to capitalize on those insecurities and taunt you in front of the world. How would you feel? Before you laugh at a picture of a very black man with broken teeth, first ask why? Before you laugh at someone with a very big head and a small body, just know that it could have been you. The only difference is that everything went right during your mother's pregnancy, glory be to God. So how do you think that person with the big head feels when he/she goes online and sees all the hurtful comments you take as jokes? These are things that drive people to suicide. Don't say we're Nigerians! We don't do that. Nigerians are people with feelings too. Your genes made you good looking, not you. If it had mixed any other way it would be a different story. Help people with insecurities come to love and accept those little flaws about themselves. Don't make them feel small. They are capable of the same things you are capable of and maybe more. Change your views. Change your perspective.