Media and society play a large part in how women perceive themselves and with this in mind, Chine Mbubaegbu wrote her new book, 'Am I Beautiful?', to help young girls and women accept themselves in the way God made them.
Chine is both a journalist and a writer, and currently head of Media at the Evangelical Alliance, so she knows a thing or two about how women of all ages and backgrounds feel pressured to be, look or act in a certain way.
She discusses a range of issues in her new book, like beauty, body image and the various insecurities women have about themselves, while offering a positive perspective of how women should feel about themselves that goes against the media stereotypes and helps them to accept their self-worth regardless of what the media and society tell them.
When asked why she wrote this book, she had this to say: "I have been told I write like a journalist and in this case this was not a compliment because when I was writing this book, I was encouraged to have my own voice so my readers could identify with me."
As a devoted Christian, Chine believes self-acceptance is so important for women today and has written 'Am I Beautiful?' - launched last Thursday at the Evangelical Alliance - in the hopes of giving other women new confidence and a boost to their self-esteem.
"I remember as a young child in primary school, our school teacher asked us to do our self-portraits, and I drew myself with a red pencil and coloured myself in with a yellow pencil, and my friend looked at it and said that's not you, so I saw myself differently than how I actually was even as a child," she said.
Chine promotes the empowerment of women through her book, encouraging women to love the body they're in and gives thanks for the women they are today.
"We are judging each other, subconsciously rating members of the sisterhood as hot or not - ourselves included. As women, we can desperately be unhappy with our bodies, seeing only our lumps and bumps," she said.
In the book Chine explains further: "I think our story as Christian women really needs to be better than this. We have heard that we are made in the image of the God, in whom the essence of beauty is found. We know somewhere in the back of our minds that God looks at the inside and not at the outer appearance.
"We must teach ourselves to find value in our identity in Christ and not in the compliments we receive about our physical appearance or when we compare ourselves to anyone else."
'Am I Beautiful?' is refreshing and inspiring for women of all ages who are struggling to come to accept who they are. Chine presents her own struggles and revelations, as well as the personal stories of other Christian women who have also gone down the trail of finding themselves and coming to see their inner true self as beautiful.
Chine adds, "I think this book reaches out to all women and Christian women and even men can read this and understand how women think - I hope someone writes a male version like this for men to identify with."
