a longer thought and yet another missed point
1) Thinness:
Strippers are indeed paid for their stage presence as well as being thin. However, a strong stage presence or act does not accurately reflect their actual confidence level. Not to mention that the typical (not stereotypical but typical) stripper is not a size 14. Tits, ass, and other curves are tough to perfect along with a flat belly, tight thighs, and no love handles. Thankfully we have plastic surgery for those things. Who wants a stripper with a muffin top or CELLULITE!? OH GOD NO!
Yet I digress.
In order to appear attractive in this society a woman must have all the desirable curves without the undesirable ones: waggly underarms, a belly, etc. Women have been taught and are continually taught that our natural selves just aren't good enough. In order to acquire a male, a woman must meld the actual with the ideal... we must obtain all the desirable qualities without sacrificing a flat stomach.
In my previous post the girl who wants to be thinner a) is 15 b) does so because she compares herself to the mass media standard c) and most importantly she wants to be considered attractive by boys*.
*I realize that these boys are not entirely at fault. They are brainwashed too. Many, however, are just asshats.*
To conclude this section: While some men prefer "natural" women, if you gave him a choice between two women size 6 and size 16, without knowing her likes, dislikes, humor type, or that ever elusive confidence level, I would bet money that the male would choose the thinner woman.
And I have NEVER seen a PlayBoy Bunny who could wear my jeans.
2) Media:
While it may seem that the news media or whatever do not perpetuate the "thinner is better" model like magazines such as Cosmo do, I DISAGREE. The female news anchors I have seen on 22News, NBC, CNN, etc are thin, young (looking) women. That's really all I have to say on that. Just because the Today Show isn't saying "WOMEN! LOVE THYSELVES AS YOU ARE" they are certainly presenting a unanimous picture. And Americans are nothing if not visual learners.
3) Social Circles:
Now this section is specifically for you Michael Whitehouse. You frequent alternative social circles than "normies." And those circles seem to accept most everyone for who they are. I have been to Haven and, from what I have witnessed, women of all shapes and confidence levels are considered HOT. While this is lovely, I have also been to SkyPlex where women of all shapes are NOT considered hot, regardless of her confidence. In the infamous hot-body contest if a girl had a muffin top because of love handles, if she had apparent cellulite on her thighs, if she had a belly that came over the waistband of her skirt it DID NOT matter how much she rocked her 10second dance she would receive less cheers and more jeers from the audience. YOU may think that curvaceous women are attractive, hell all the boys at SkyPlex might prefer the boobs, butts, and thighs you talked about but that is not what society dictates. The problems with men of this society is a whole post in itself...
It seems to me that you consider the rest of the world to be much more accepting than it is. Theory is nice but it only goes so far. While it is nice that you see women for their physical beauty, regardless of shape or size, you most definitely took and ran with what appears the be the only part of my last post you understood - the introduction. Clearly YOU know YOUR female preferences. Please keep reading...
4) THE WHOLE POINT:
It appears that the actual point of my last post was missed or ignored by a vocal reader of my livejournal. I said at one point -"what kills me is when someone thinks LESS of herself because of what one man said did didn't do or didn't say. Our power and light is most definitely not defined by the other sex. Technically, neither is it the other way around. Our glory and success comes from within ourself and we should never compromise those things because of what the media says or because of one man's negativity or violence."
My point is that I am heart broken when women consider themselves less of a person for not meeting certain (real or imagined) social standards, when a woman chooses to stay with a man who hits her because she is afraid to never have a boyfriend - to never be worth something to someone better, when a woman looks at herself and instead of saying "What's up good lookin'" she says "I'm not good enough", when a woman judges her self-worth on the opinions of others. My point is that women forget themselves. My point is not merely about weight. I repeat, IT IS NOT MERELY ABOUT WEIGHT. It is about a woman's need to recognize and appreciate herself. It is a message to women to love yourself, to give yourself permission to shine even if you didn't win the beauty pageant, to rip off the balls of the man who had the audacity to hit you and make you question your self-worth.
I work with teenagers. I was recently a teenager. I see these young women as they grow up uncertain about too many things and I am afraid that they will not recognize the strength within themselves. I know middle aged women who are just now realizing that there is something inside themselves to be discovered. And that they are afraid to uncover this actualization and success.
That last post was not directed to the men who read my livejournal. It was not a comment on ridiculous weight standards of American society. It was simply my appall and my reality check that not every woman knows she is like Mary Lyon hiking up Mount Holyoke every morning in her wool stockings pulling a carriage of really heavy things.
Strippers are indeed paid for their stage presence as well as being thin. However, a strong stage presence or act does not accurately reflect their actual confidence level. Not to mention that the typical (not stereotypical but typical) stripper is not a size 14. Tits, ass, and other curves are tough to perfect along with a flat belly, tight thighs, and no love handles. Thankfully we have plastic surgery for those things. Who wants a stripper with a muffin top or CELLULITE!? OH GOD NO!
Yet I digress.
In order to appear attractive in this society a woman must have all the desirable curves without the undesirable ones: waggly underarms, a belly, etc. Women have been taught and are continually taught that our natural selves just aren't good enough. In order to acquire a male, a woman must meld the actual with the ideal... we must obtain all the desirable qualities without sacrificing a flat stomach.
In my previous post the girl who wants to be thinner a) is 15 b) does so because she compares herself to the mass media standard c) and most importantly she wants to be considered attractive by boys*.
*I realize that these boys are not entirely at fault. They are brainwashed too. Many, however, are just asshats.*
To conclude this section: While some men prefer "natural" women, if you gave him a choice between two women size 6 and size 16, without knowing her likes, dislikes, humor type, or that ever elusive confidence level, I would bet money that the male would choose the thinner woman.
And I have NEVER seen a PlayBoy Bunny who could wear my jeans.
2) Media:
While it may seem that the news media or whatever do not perpetuate the "thinner is better" model like magazines such as Cosmo do, I DISAGREE. The female news anchors I have seen on 22News, NBC, CNN, etc are thin, young (looking) women. That's really all I have to say on that. Just because the Today Show isn't saying "WOMEN! LOVE THYSELVES AS YOU ARE" they are certainly presenting a unanimous picture. And Americans are nothing if not visual learners.
3) Social Circles:
Now this section is specifically for you Michael Whitehouse. You frequent alternative social circles than "normies." And those circles seem to accept most everyone for who they are. I have been to Haven and, from what I have witnessed, women of all shapes and confidence levels are considered HOT. While this is lovely, I have also been to SkyPlex where women of all shapes are NOT considered hot, regardless of her confidence. In the infamous hot-body contest if a girl had a muffin top because of love handles, if she had apparent cellulite on her thighs, if she had a belly that came over the waistband of her skirt it DID NOT matter how much she rocked her 10second dance she would receive less cheers and more jeers from the audience. YOU may think that curvaceous women are attractive, hell all the boys at SkyPlex might prefer the boobs, butts, and thighs you talked about but that is not what society dictates. The problems with men of this society is a whole post in itself...
It seems to me that you consider the rest of the world to be much more accepting than it is. Theory is nice but it only goes so far. While it is nice that you see women for their physical beauty, regardless of shape or size, you most definitely took and ran with what appears the be the only part of my last post you understood - the introduction. Clearly YOU know YOUR female preferences. Please keep reading...
4) THE WHOLE POINT:
It appears that the actual point of my last post was missed or ignored by a vocal reader of my livejournal. I said at one point -"what kills me is when someone thinks LESS of herself because of what one man said did didn't do or didn't say. Our power and light is most definitely not defined by the other sex. Technically, neither is it the other way around. Our glory and success comes from within ourself and we should never compromise those things because of what the media says or because of one man's negativity or violence."
My point is that I am heart broken when women consider themselves less of a person for not meeting certain (real or imagined) social standards, when a woman chooses to stay with a man who hits her because she is afraid to never have a boyfriend - to never be worth something to someone better, when a woman looks at herself and instead of saying "What's up good lookin'" she says "I'm not good enough", when a woman judges her self-worth on the opinions of others. My point is that women forget themselves. My point is not merely about weight. I repeat, IT IS NOT MERELY ABOUT WEIGHT. It is about a woman's need to recognize and appreciate herself. It is a message to women to love yourself, to give yourself permission to shine even if you didn't win the beauty pageant, to rip off the balls of the man who had the audacity to hit you and make you question your self-worth.
I work with teenagers. I was recently a teenager. I see these young women as they grow up uncertain about too many things and I am afraid that they will not recognize the strength within themselves. I know middle aged women who are just now realizing that there is something inside themselves to be discovered. And that they are afraid to uncover this actualization and success.
That last post was not directed to the men who read my livejournal. It was not a comment on ridiculous weight standards of American society. It was simply my appall and my reality check that not every woman knows she is like Mary Lyon hiking up Mount Holyoke every morning in her wool stockings pulling a carriage of really heavy things.