Ok, so as an avid magazine reader, I obviously buy Cosmopolitan. It makes sense, really, as I get my monthly dose of trash while I wait for Marie Claire to come out (and UK Glamour magazine) to repent.
In one section of Cosmopolitan, they have a little survey filled in by the celebrity they interview each month. It's just a basic one: tick the boxes, elaborate when necessary, what a no-brainer, huh? They alternate the questions each month but the one that seems to linger is the little tick a box option to describe how they feel about their body. The options are usually something like "I love it", "I hate it", "It's ok, but I'd rather change... (elaborate)" and "It's not perfect, but it's real". That seems to be the war cry of enraged women everywhere. The thing they angrily protest when they see itty-bitty models in clothing they covet or when they talk about how people like Beth Ditto are apparently bad influences because they encourage obesity. They finish their impassioned speeches with "I'm a size (whatever). My body isn't perfect, but it's real."
Now if this is you, I hate to break it to you, but you just lost your own argument. Everyone's body is perfect. If it functions and you're free from terminal illness, etc. then you have a perfect body. The human body's function is not to look pretty as far as mainstream fashion goes, it's to keep you alive, relatively free from illness and hopefully allow you to reproduce. We're all perfect, but we're not all going to look the way that we want 100% of the time.
Here's some tough love for those people out there: if you're unhappy with the way you look, you're probably really unhappy with something else... like your love life ("if I was skinnier/taller/generally prettier, maybe he might like me"), your levels of self confidence or feeling left out by your loved ones. If you magically lost the weight or grew an inch or a cup size, your problem won't magically go away. You won't be a better person and, sadly, most people won't even notice the difference.... and you'll find another 'flaw' that you think needs fixing. Not that I'm exempt from wishing I had clearer skin or longer hair or a million other tiny complaints now and then, but I channel them into something useful. I don't let it take over my life and my priorities. I understand that there are many paths to happiness, but not one of them comes from being the slimmest or the most attractive according to this season's catwalk trends.
I hate the fact that talking about body image means that people deem their physical appearance as more important than anything else. There are people dying in the street (in developed countries, not just the ones you hear about through world vision!!), there are people being murdered, raped and being denied basic human rights. People starve everyday and our finances are a mess. Our planet is going to be die because we're destroyed the environment, but all that ever makes any bloody opinion page is how it's a "negative message" to show skinny models, and a "negative message" to show fast food ads during children's television programming... TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELVES! What happened to aspiring for actual talents, skills and intelligence? What happened to caring about the community, politics or the environment or a million and one other more important things? So the next time you reach for a slice of cake and think "should I?", just eat the goddamn cake and worry about more productive things.
xxx a very aggravated bunny
In one section of Cosmopolitan, they have a little survey filled in by the celebrity they interview each month. It's just a basic one: tick the boxes, elaborate when necessary, what a no-brainer, huh? They alternate the questions each month but the one that seems to linger is the little tick a box option to describe how they feel about their body. The options are usually something like "I love it", "I hate it", "It's ok, but I'd rather change... (elaborate)" and "It's not perfect, but it's real". That seems to be the war cry of enraged women everywhere. The thing they angrily protest when they see itty-bitty models in clothing they covet or when they talk about how people like Beth Ditto are apparently bad influences because they encourage obesity. They finish their impassioned speeches with "I'm a size (whatever). My body isn't perfect, but it's real."
Now if this is you, I hate to break it to you, but you just lost your own argument. Everyone's body is perfect. If it functions and you're free from terminal illness, etc. then you have a perfect body. The human body's function is not to look pretty as far as mainstream fashion goes, it's to keep you alive, relatively free from illness and hopefully allow you to reproduce. We're all perfect, but we're not all going to look the way that we want 100% of the time.
Here's some tough love for those people out there: if you're unhappy with the way you look, you're probably really unhappy with something else... like your love life ("if I was skinnier/taller/generally prettier, maybe he might like me"), your levels of self confidence or feeling left out by your loved ones. If you magically lost the weight or grew an inch or a cup size, your problem won't magically go away. You won't be a better person and, sadly, most people won't even notice the difference.... and you'll find another 'flaw' that you think needs fixing. Not that I'm exempt from wishing I had clearer skin or longer hair or a million other tiny complaints now and then, but I channel them into something useful. I don't let it take over my life and my priorities. I understand that there are many paths to happiness, but not one of them comes from being the slimmest or the most attractive according to this season's catwalk trends.
I hate the fact that talking about body image means that people deem their physical appearance as more important than anything else. There are people dying in the street (in developed countries, not just the ones you hear about through world vision!!), there are people being murdered, raped and being denied basic human rights. People starve everyday and our finances are a mess. Our planet is going to be die because we're destroyed the environment, but all that ever makes any bloody opinion page is how it's a "negative message" to show skinny models, and a "negative message" to show fast food ads during children's television programming... TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELVES! What happened to aspiring for actual talents, skills and intelligence? What happened to caring about the community, politics or the environment or a million and one other more important things? So the next time you reach for a slice of cake and think "should I?", just eat the goddamn cake and worry about more productive things.
xxx a very aggravated bunny
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