Justice

Here's How a Bunch of People Reacted to Being Called Beautiful

December 4th 2015

Shea Glover, an 18-year-old Pace University student from Illinois, is gaining a lot of attention for her viral video project in which people react to being called beautiful.

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In the caption for the video, Glover wrote that she conducted an "independent project, which evidently turned into a social experiment halfway through, regarding beauty" at her former performing arts high school in Chicago. Glover told ATTN: via email that she decided to take on this project because she wanted to capture the beauty in her life.

"[W]hen I get inspired by the beauty in people or nature or whatever, I film it," Glover told ATTN:. "It makes me happy and it's good film practice so that's pretty much why."

Glover put classmates, faculty, and friends on camera and told them that her video project was focused on things and people she found beautiful.

As soon as they realized that this meant they were beautiful, many of the subjects blushed or smiled, appearing flattered that Glover was complimenting them.

While many seemed to love Glover's project, others appeared at least a little uncomfortable with it, and one woman seemed to think it was some sort of cruel stunt.

This response, unfortunately, isn't all that surprising, as many people have body image issues and suffer from immense insecurity in our culture. There's also a great deal of bullying in real life and online, so it's not too shocking that someone might mistake the genuine kindness behind this video for cruelty. It can also be difficult for some to recognize and own up to their beauty. Glover explained this to ATTN:.

"Unfortunately 'beauty' as in physical appearance is valued so highly in our society, yet talking about our own beauty is taboo. A lot of people don't like to think of themselves as beautiful beings, especially adolescents, so it made them visibly vulnerable."

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Regardless, Glover's project has received ample praise on social media.

"It's been fucking crazy man," Glover told ATTN:. "I had no idea it was going to blow up like this. I would say about 90 [percent] of the responses are positive."

Glover's experiment garnered a slew of dynamic reactions on Imgur as well:

People react to being called beautifulImgur - imgur.com

Watch the full video below:

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