Thoughts
Ok, i know i've said some of this stuff before, but i wanted to put my
thoughts into some sort of ordered writing, for my benefit i guess, but
also for anyone else who cares...
Real Women...
I am a child of a society of double standards; a society of "do as i say, not as i do". I am a child of a society which encourages a particular behaviour and then condemns those individuals who exhibit that behaviour. Magazines send young women "inspirational" messages of how "real" women have curves. They're headlines read, "Shocking pictures! Celebs starving themselves! Does mary-kate have anorexia?". It sounds as though these papers are finally giving girls the right message: eat properly, stay healthy, being thin isn't everything. They're particularly good at telling girls they should "appreciate beauty in all its forms". But turn the page and it's back to reality: Thin Is Beautiful. Skeletal models parade the runways -- human coathangers displaying louis vuitton and calvin klein, and just to remind the world of the truth, they're surrounded by an entourage of adoring males. Real women may have curves, but successful women put their ribs on display. Do models wearing hipsters have curves? of course not. You can see their hip bones. Their stomachs are flat and their legs are TINY. And just to reinforce the dangers of turning into a real woman, we are reminded constantly of the terrible Obesity Epidemic, and shown by caring health professionals how to lose that hideous fat. Sorry, that Beautiful fat.
Am i the only one confused by these mixed messages?
Let me use myself as an example of today's double-standards. My mother tells me i am too thin, but the very same evening some of her best friends tell me, "You're so gorgeously thin!". And when my mother comments that i shouldn't lose any more weight, suddenly everything changes. Their smiles turn to suspicious stares and they say, as if i am no longer in the room, "she's not anorexic is she?". The only conclusion i can draw is that Thin is Beautiful, but only if it is completely natural. Those of us who are fat, or who struggle to stay thin with restrictive diets and purging, are destined to be outcasts. The world looks down on real women. What's more, i implore you to find just one instance when someone has been complemented for being fat. Find me a time when you've heard the words, "Aren't you just wonderfully fat!". No, fat women are complemented on their eyes, their hair, their skin, not their figure. Very strange that we find real women so unattractive... Let's hear it again:
Thin Is Beautiful! So i ask you, why is it that day after day girls as young as nine and ten refuse meals, consulting the scales hourly for an all-encompassing judgement of their worth? It eludes me. Why is it that intelligent individuals give up their health, their friends, their fertility for an endless quest for perfection? I couldn't say. Why do good-looking teens deprive their already thin bodies of sustainance for the sake of looking like Gemma Ward and Mary-kate Olsen? It's a mystery.
I close with a quote from National Geographic, January 2000, from a girl suffering from anorexia. "I say to myself: You don't have to be thin. Then i open a magazine and see these gorgeously thin women, and they all have a handsome guy next to them. I tell myself, oh, so you do have to be thin."
Real Women...
I am a child of a society of double standards; a society of "do as i say, not as i do". I am a child of a society which encourages a particular behaviour and then condemns those individuals who exhibit that behaviour. Magazines send young women "inspirational" messages of how "real" women have curves. They're headlines read, "Shocking pictures! Celebs starving themselves! Does mary-kate have anorexia?". It sounds as though these papers are finally giving girls the right message: eat properly, stay healthy, being thin isn't everything. They're particularly good at telling girls they should "appreciate beauty in all its forms". But turn the page and it's back to reality: Thin Is Beautiful. Skeletal models parade the runways -- human coathangers displaying louis vuitton and calvin klein, and just to remind the world of the truth, they're surrounded by an entourage of adoring males. Real women may have curves, but successful women put their ribs on display. Do models wearing hipsters have curves? of course not. You can see their hip bones. Their stomachs are flat and their legs are TINY. And just to reinforce the dangers of turning into a real woman, we are reminded constantly of the terrible Obesity Epidemic, and shown by caring health professionals how to lose that hideous fat. Sorry, that Beautiful fat.
Am i the only one confused by these mixed messages?
Let me use myself as an example of today's double-standards. My mother tells me i am too thin, but the very same evening some of her best friends tell me, "You're so gorgeously thin!". And when my mother comments that i shouldn't lose any more weight, suddenly everything changes. Their smiles turn to suspicious stares and they say, as if i am no longer in the room, "she's not anorexic is she?". The only conclusion i can draw is that Thin is Beautiful, but only if it is completely natural. Those of us who are fat, or who struggle to stay thin with restrictive diets and purging, are destined to be outcasts. The world looks down on real women. What's more, i implore you to find just one instance when someone has been complemented for being fat. Find me a time when you've heard the words, "Aren't you just wonderfully fat!". No, fat women are complemented on their eyes, their hair, their skin, not their figure. Very strange that we find real women so unattractive... Let's hear it again:
Thin Is Beautiful! So i ask you, why is it that day after day girls as young as nine and ten refuse meals, consulting the scales hourly for an all-encompassing judgement of their worth? It eludes me. Why is it that intelligent individuals give up their health, their friends, their fertility for an endless quest for perfection? I couldn't say. Why do good-looking teens deprive their already thin bodies of sustainance for the sake of looking like Gemma Ward and Mary-kate Olsen? It's a mystery.
I close with a quote from National Geographic, January 2000, from a girl suffering from anorexia. "I say to myself: You don't have to be thin. Then i open a magazine and see these gorgeously thin women, and they all have a handsome guy next to them. I tell myself, oh, so you do have to be thin."