How Do I Look?

I was channel surfing last night before going to bed and came upon a show on the Style Channel called, "How Do I Look?" The show is about choosing someone who they believe is in need of a makeover and performs some sort of "intervention" with family members or friends to get the subject to learn the error of his or her ways in the manner in which he/she dresses.

This show was painful for me to watch. The poor girl, a senior in high school, was the subject of this episode. Both her mother and sister were in on the intervention. The mother told her daughter that she would never get a boyfriend if she continued to dress the way she did. The girl's sister told her that when people ask who she is, she does not tell them that she is her sister, but instead her cousin because she is embarassed to be seen with her.

I watched the expressions on the girl's face when these comments were made. She was visibly shaken and started to cry. In addition, the show's producers allowed the mother and sister to take pieces from the girl's wardrobe and throw them out. Each person decided to choose a piece of clothing the girl happened to be wearing at the time...they didn't choose from the large pile of clothes in front of them. They literally went up to the girl and made her give up her shoes and a shell she was wearing so they could be thrown away. This deeply troubled the girl as she felt very comfortable in what she was wearing.

Please understand that I truly believe in people putting their best feet forward and project a great image, but to tell a person she will never receive the attention from a boy because of the way she is dressed or tell her that you are embarassed to be seen with her is extremely hurtful. It amazes me that people televise this...the girl was in obvious emotional pain, yet that was not a concern. Does "the show must go on" mean at the expense of someone's self-esteem?

I believe these types of shows just fuel the superficial judgment that is out there. How will we ever accept people for what is inside when we continue to judge based on what is outside?