Real Beauty Sketches

Main Point: Don’t get bogged down in negativity and obsess over your body-image. God wants to change you into something… glorious.

Discussion Starter: This brand new video from Dove was posted on April 14, 2013, and within two weeks it already had over 30 million views. The message of the video is simple: You are more beautiful than you think.

This video is part of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign, which was launched after the company discovered that only 4 percent of women consider themselves beautiful.

I’m not surprised. Our world is dominated by messages telling us that our looks are of vital importance. Many people get overwhelmed by feelings of negativity, feeling like they can’t measure up to the standard of beauty that entertainment-media has set. Dove has launched several videos in their “Real Beauty” campaign (we’ve written other discussions on past videos) to boost women’s self esteem. We encourage you to use this clip to talk with young women especially about the way they feel about themselves.

Introducing the Clip—(You Say Something Like This): Do you know that only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful? That’s not a very big percentage. Think about this for a moment. How do you think this self-image impacts them day-to-day?

Watch this…

The Clip: The video can be found at the following link: http://youtu.be/XpaOjMXyJGk

Transition Statement- (You Say Something Like This): Wow. That video was powerful. It’s obvious that the majority of women think pretty negative about themselves.

What about you? Are you more beautiful that you think? (rhetorical question, you don’t need to try to get answers)

Divide into Small Groups:
Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups, and then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word.

CLICK HEREfor a quick training article on how to maximize your small groups using our small group format—a great resource to equip your small group leaders.

Discussion Questions:

1. AROUND THE CIRCLE: Who do you think is the most beautiful actress alive today? What makes her beautiful?


2. ASK A FEW: What will she look like when she’s 70?


3. ASK A FEW: How did the women in this video see themselves?


4. ASK A FEW: Why do you think these women see themselves so negatively?


5. ASK A FEW: One of the women in the video said she should be more grateful of her natural beauty, because that would impact “the choices in friends that we make, the jobs we apply for, how we treat our children. It impacts everything.” Do you agree? How does appreciation of our own natural beauty impact everything?


6. ASK A FEW: Another woman said that women “spend a lot of time analyzing and trying to fix the things that aren’t quite right.” What are some of the ways that women fixate negatively on their looks?


7. ASK A FEW: How does “obsessing over your looks” affect women negatively?


8. ASK A FEW: What should they be fixing their attention on?

Read the following passage:

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (New Living Translation)

12Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. 14But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.

16But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.



9. ASK SOMEONE: According to this passage, when is our veil taken away?


10. ASK A FEW: How does someone “turn to the Lord”?


11. ASK A FEW: The verse says the Spirit of the Lord gives freedom. What are some of the things that the Spirit of the Lord frees us from? (LEADER: one answer could be, “obsessing over our looks”)


12. ASK SOMEONE: What does the verse say happens to all of us when the veil is removed?


13. ASK A FEW: What does it mean to “reflect the glory of the Lord”?


14. ASK A FEW: How does God make believers more like Him and his glorious image?


15. ASK A FEW: How should that (God making us glorious) affect our self esteem?


16. AROUND THE CIRCLE: What is one way you can reflect God this week?

(For more reading, read II Cor 4:5-7)

For another great resource using the same YouTube video clip, see our “Forensic Self Image” discussion.