The pressure to be attractive, beautiful and “ladylike” (whatever that means) at all times is ingrained in most women. A lot of women have been taught it’s unattractive for anyone to know we have any sort of bodily functions. We all menstruate, bleed, vomit, and sweat just like everyone else. So why is there a pressure to go to extreme lenghts to hide our natural bodily happenings?

Photographer Hannah Altman recently created a photo series “And Everything Nice” giving us a hard look into society’s unfair standards on female beauty. The images include a woman vomiting, having a nosebleed, crying, and bloody knees — all supposedly ‘gross’ behaviors for women. As Altman explained on her web site, “the body fluids of the models have been replaced with glitter to visualize the concept of girls invariably needing to seem attractive regardless of the actual situation.”

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Altman explained how this project is meant “to be a pictorial representation of the unreasonable female standard of beauty.” What would normally be seen as a grotesque action is made marginally attractive through the use of the glitter (itself filled with “feminine” connotations). Altman’s project is definitely a step in the right direction: Life is uncontrollable and imperfect, and the burden to put your prettiest face forward is a nagging sensation that I think we’d all like to get rid of.

See more of Hannah Altman’s stunning photos below:

Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo
Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo
Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo
Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo
Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo
Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo
Image courtesy of Hannah Altman Photo

See more images at HannahAltmanPhoto.com.

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