Why "You look like a Model" isn't a compliment

A lot of people get surprised when I get bothered by a compliment like "You look like a model" or "You should be a model" and how strongly I feel about such topic, not because I look down at models or I think I am better but because I think this topic has a strong impact on people and on our human culture, in general, that's why I am writing this post; to explain why from my point of view "You look like a model" is not a compliment and shouldn't be broadly used or accepted.

I do understand that we are superficial and get attracted to others mainly by their appearance, which is pretty normal and understandable but what I consider wrong is when appearance become everything that matters when appearance presented as superior quality or even when appearance overshadows more important qualities. Certainly, we are more than how we look, but living in a world that puts so much emphasis on looks make people glorify beauty in a disgusting manner which affects people, especially young ones in a really negative way.

Being a model literally requires NOTHING, seriously! You don't need qualifications, talent or knowledge to walk down the runway, all you need is your looks which is something predetermined by your genetics (or in some cases how much money you can spend on surgeries) and few skills no-brainer can't learn but still we find models (males and females) are categorized in the top of social structure and being viewed as role models in so many cases especially recently. Magazines, internet, and shows are presenting advises from models from dieting, fitness, fashion to even how to live your life which represents the flawed mentality of today's life. Models are not nutritionists, they might look healthy but most of the time they are not following healthy diets, models are not fitness experts, they have their own trainer who advises them and guides them all the time, and models are not fashion experts; though that might sound ridiculous but think about it, yeah they work in the fashion industry but again they have their own stylists and they only show what the designer or brands want them to represent so basically modeling is living as a doll or a manikin nothing more, something without a soul or a value.

Of course I don't mean models are less of human beings or less intelligent than any one of us, I bet there are many models who are amazing human beings and have awesome lives beside their modeling career but what I am saying is that modeling not that glorious as it seems and it doesn't require much and certainly is not the happiest career or life, there is this all dark side to it and so much stress based on superficiality, and that's why I feel so strongly toward this subject. I don't like Models being the standard I am compared to though I acknowledge the importance of appearance I don't want to be judged solely on that, I want people to see beyond looks, to care more about character, knowledge, and mentality. I want more valuable qualities to be glorified; like intelligence, compassion, open-mindedness, tolerance, joyfulness ... etc because eventually that what really matters. Looks easily can be faked, plastic surgeries are more common and accepted today than ever .. Funny enough you can take even a loan to have plastic surgery in some countries, people growing to be this obsessed with their looks which I think is very unhealthy because it drives us to the wrong direction as civilization. 

Many people will debate; what a harmless compliment as "you look like a model" has to do with our degradation as a civilization? I will respond with "A LOT" it might not be a big deal for me as a strong, grown-up person but it does a lot to a little girl/boy or a teenager, it builds up their self-perception, self-esteem, and their self-value. It classifies their values and what is important in life. it harms so much that person who suffers self-acceptance because we are molding beauty in one form and saying in an indirect way that beauty comes only in 0/XS size or in a certain height and weight which is a very distorted concept of beauty for me. Every person in this life is beautiful in their own way, and what really matters is being healthy and happy, being knowledgeable and intelligent as much as you can, and certainly beauty is when you try to be the best version of yourself and be nice, interesting, funny, compassionate, humane  and most importantly, not being a judgmental prick!

Words have tremendous power on us, we usually tend to underestimate, so a harmless compliment can build the concept or the value that we should be so careful designing because it doesn't change reality for us alone but it has an impact on life itself. Why we don't stop the comparisons all at once; I would like to be complemented by my own uniqueness, by my own concept and by my own kind of beauty. It is equally good to say simply you are beautiful without limiting that with a certain concept and let people define their own concept of beauty. That will enable people to live with their own concept of beauty and will allow us to see different types of beauty that we are not open enough now to see it. Beauty is a representation of not only looks but a soul and character as well, that we can't see until we neglect the current one-sided concept of beauty.

We are more than how we look!