A blogger got tired of dressing up for the internet. So she ditched her makeup and started a movement.
For many women bloggers, the Internet can be a terrifying place. A study by the University of Maryland discovered that writers with female names were 33 times more likely to receive online sexual harassment than men. When beauty blogger Em Ford posted an Instagram photo of herself without makeup, she was flooded with hate. But instead of withdrawing, Ford fought back by posting a powerful YouTube video exploring so much of the abuse that she, and the women like her, get for not looking “perfect.”
Since posting, Ford’s video has received close to 9 million views in less than a week. Women who’ve struggled with similar issues have started to tweet under the hashtag #YouLookDisgusting. Tweets explore the fear women experience when posting a picture of themselves with acne or terrible skin. According to Ford, her own skin problems have made it difficult to leave her house. She told BBC News, “It's made me want to cancel plans with friends. It's made me not want to blog.”
But, with her recent video, Ford has fought back against her own anxiety and against trolls. “I wanted to say, 'You know what? Perfection isn't real, and I'm just gonna show you what I look like in the morning and what I look like when I leave my house to go to work,” she said.
Take a look at Ford’s video above, or check out some of her awesome work here.
Image via YouTube
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