In regards to media hype about body confidence and girls feeling pressured to conform to some sort of beauty standard. My experience back in high school surrounding this so-called "beauty standard" was much better than what a lot of girls apparently have to put up with.
The girls were energetic, lively, and for the most part they respected themselves. We were laughing at the teenage girls magazines like seventeen and ym and their treatment of social issues, even though we were supposedly the target audience. I know I certainly did. Sure, I had fun kicking back and reading them, but I laughed at them also. I was actually insulted by the condescending attitude that those teenage girl magazines harbored toward their very readers -- us.
I do not remember any girls at my high school starving themselves to death because of supermodels. There were only maybe one or two, and they might have been anorexic or they might have had amoebic dysentery. We heard crap all the time about hollywood, fashion magazines, etc. setting some sort of unrealistic image for women to achieve.
Then I actually saw some of these “supermodels.” I probably drew up my lip in a confused sneer, and I probably had question marks in my eyes like in those old cartoons (and as mentioned in that Baby-Sitters Club book where Kristy meets the little girl with autism). Huh? This is supposed to be a standard of beauty?
Uh, okay, so those are unrealistic, fine. But they were obviously not better. Just because they were "unrealistic" and presented an unachievable, unattainable "standard" did not automatically make them better. I was nonplussed even back then that any girls would find those models attractive. What, just because the fashion catwalk is saying that this is some standard of beauty, this is automatically deemed as truth? It was self-evident that those magazines could not identify beauty.
I personally had a strong enough sense of self to think, how in the world is this considered "pretty?" I had enough presence of mind to make my own logical [[[deductions]] and come to the obvious realization that those models they put in magazines were not attractive. That's just a fact. I never believed that just because they were in the magazines, that this automatically designated those as attractive. (Roll eyes.) I simply realized matter-of-factly that it was kind of ugly. "Beauty standard?" Aggh, don’t give me that crap. This is not good-looking. This fact is obvious. For goodness sake, don't sit there and lie to me. I can see plainly with my eyes that it is not.
How about we turn to a genuine image of body confidence-- that of Venus and Serena Williams. Now they are excellent examples of healthy, powerful women who have body confidence. The Williams sisters are physically healthy, athletic, and super skilled at their chosen profession. They are driven, they are focused, they are goal-oriented.
More importantly than that, the Willliams sisters are good and kind human beings. They are intense and dynamic and they obviously love each other very much. They are proud of each other, they root for each other, each sister competes on her own, but she also encourages her sister to be the best that she can be. They have a good family relationship the way that sisters should have. By the way, I love their names. Venus and Serena. Just awesome, transcendental.
The point is that the sisters are the true embodiment (haha pun) of body confidence because they are about so much more than just than that.
For them it is not merely about the physical sack of matter that has matter and takes up space, which is disturbingly what the vast majority of media squawking of "body confidence" can be boiled down to. The media at large is presenting females with simply a shallow, materialistic interpretation of body confidence that reduces the human body to a sack of
As far as the hollywood actors/actresses setting some sort of unrealistic standard... Uhm, who cares? It’s hollywood, for goodness sake. Everything they do is fake. These females are paid to pretend to feel feelings and have thoughts that they literally do not have. They are professional liars. They are paid millions of dollars to be in... sex scenes? I really don’t see a whole lot of difference between them and strippers and prstitus. There might be one or two that manage to hang on to their self-respect, but on the whole... nyet.
What I find especially silly is the accusation that Barbie is responsible for young girls' self-esteem issues. That's right, some people are actually putting forth the notion that an inanimate plastic doll is setting an unrealistic, unachievable, too-high standard of beauty.
Um, are you kidding me? How in the hell is an inanimate object, a harmless, innocuous little toy supposed to be responsible for legions of human beings having anorexia and bulimia amongst other major self-inflicted health problems? A little doll being sold on toy store shelves is somehow responsible for an entire generation of young females having low self-esteem and insecurity?
Human beings are supposed to have free will, we are supposed to be capable of critical thinking. -- And yet we the public are supposed to believe that a goddamn plastic doll is an evil thought-control criminal hell-bent on destroying young girls' lives.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever ordered girls to look at a plastic doll as an icon of fashion and beauty. Nobody has ever said to girls, "ohh yeah totally consider Barbie as a role model for how your human body should look. Try to achieve the body proportions of an eight-inch-high plastic doll by starving yourself, by sticking your finger down your throat and throwing up." Give me a damn break.
I think that if a little kid is intelligent enough and has a sense of her own values and priorities, she will reject this on her own. When I was little, I considered Barbie too boring and bland for me to play with. I dismissed Barbie of my own volition.
There was this doll called Jem back in the eighties. She was in a rock band called Jem And The Holograms. She had crazy pink hair, she was fun and proactive, she was a lot more energetic than Barbie. I was Jem for Halloween once, way back in third grade when I was eight years old. There was a cartoon TV show of Jem at one point, which I absolutely loved. Jem had special superpowers which she could personify by activating a pair of earrings. She and her rock band and her boyfriend Rio would fight crime with these superpowers. It was awesome, I tell you.
To elaborate a little more on the Barbie equation: Some people are also saying that girls of minority races feel insecure due to the prevalence of white supermodels and the presence of white Barbie. More nonsense. I learned these higher [[levels]] of this wisdom also when I was little, back when I was in second grade. I admit, I had sometimes wished I looked like a white girl when I was little. But I learned my lesson not to.
I had a friend whose original nationality was Sri Lankan. I remember being on the school bus one time, and she had a Barbie or some sort of doll with her. My friend made the comment, "Don't you sometimes wish you had light skin, and blonde hair, and light pink lips like her?" She pointed to the various features of the doll as she said this. I remember thinking to myself, geez, is that what I sound like when I say I wish I were blonde? It sounded pathetic and sad. So on that day, I learned to be happy with my own race and mostly happy with my own looks.
The girls were energetic, lively, and for the most part they respected themselves. We were laughing at the teenage girls magazines like seventeen and ym and their treatment of social issues, even though we were supposedly the target audience. I know I certainly did. Sure, I had fun kicking back and reading them, but I laughed at them also. I was actually insulted by the condescending attitude that those teenage girl magazines harbored toward their very readers -- us.
I do not remember any girls at my high school starving themselves to death because of supermodels. There were only maybe one or two, and they might have been anorexic or they might have had amoebic dysentery. We heard crap all the time about hollywood, fashion magazines, etc. setting some sort of unrealistic image for women to achieve.
Then I actually saw some of these “supermodels.” I probably drew up my lip in a confused sneer, and I probably had question marks in my eyes like in those old cartoons (and as mentioned in that Baby-Sitters Club book where Kristy meets the little girl with autism). Huh? This is supposed to be a standard of beauty?
Uh, okay, so those are unrealistic, fine. But they were obviously not better. Just because they were "unrealistic" and presented an unachievable, unattainable "standard" did not automatically make them better. I was nonplussed even back then that any girls would find those models attractive. What, just because the fashion catwalk is saying that this is some standard of beauty, this is automatically deemed as truth? It was self-evident that those magazines could not identify beauty.
I personally had a strong enough sense of self to think, how in the world is this considered "pretty?" I had enough presence of mind to make my own logical [[[deductions]] and come to the obvious realization that those models they put in magazines were not attractive. That's just a fact. I never believed that just because they were in the magazines, that this automatically designated those as attractive. (Roll eyes.) I simply realized matter-of-factly that it was kind of ugly. "Beauty standard?" Aggh, don’t give me that crap. This is not good-looking. This fact is obvious. For goodness sake, don't sit there and lie to me. I can see plainly with my eyes that it is not.
How about we turn to a genuine image of body confidence-- that of Venus and Serena Williams. Now they are excellent examples of healthy, powerful women who have body confidence. The Williams sisters are physically healthy, athletic, and super skilled at their chosen profession. They are driven, they are focused, they are goal-oriented.
More importantly than that, the Willliams sisters are good and kind human beings. They are intense and dynamic and they obviously love each other very much. They are proud of each other, they root for each other, each sister competes on her own, but she also encourages her sister to be the best that she can be. They have a good family relationship the way that sisters should have. By the way, I love their names. Venus and Serena. Just awesome, transcendental.
The point is that the sisters are the true embodiment (haha pun) of body confidence because they are about so much more than just than that.
For them it is not merely about the physical sack of matter that has matter and takes up space, which is disturbingly what the vast majority of media squawking of "body confidence" can be boiled down to. The media at large is presenting females with simply a shallow, materialistic interpretation of body confidence that reduces the human body to a sack of
As far as the hollywood actors/actresses setting some sort of unrealistic standard... Uhm, who cares? It’s hollywood, for goodness sake. Everything they do is fake. These females are paid to pretend to feel feelings and have thoughts that they literally do not have. They are professional liars. They are paid millions of dollars to be in... sex scenes? I really don’t see a whole lot of difference between them and strippers and prstitus. There might be one or two that manage to hang on to their self-respect, but on the whole... nyet.
What I find especially silly is the accusation that Barbie is responsible for young girls' self-esteem issues. That's right, some people are actually putting forth the notion that an inanimate plastic doll is setting an unrealistic, unachievable, too-high standard of beauty.
Um, are you kidding me? How in the hell is an inanimate object, a harmless, innocuous little toy supposed to be responsible for legions of human beings having anorexia and bulimia amongst other major self-inflicted health problems? A little doll being sold on toy store shelves is somehow responsible for an entire generation of young females having low self-esteem and insecurity?
Human beings are supposed to have free will, we are supposed to be capable of critical thinking. -- And yet we the public are supposed to believe that a goddamn plastic doll is an evil thought-control criminal hell-bent on destroying young girls' lives.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever ordered girls to look at a plastic doll as an icon of fashion and beauty. Nobody has ever said to girls, "ohh yeah totally consider Barbie as a role model for how your human body should look. Try to achieve the body proportions of an eight-inch-high plastic doll by starving yourself, by sticking your finger down your throat and throwing up." Give me a damn break.
I think that if a little kid is intelligent enough and has a sense of her own values and priorities, she will reject this on her own. When I was little, I considered Barbie too boring and bland for me to play with. I dismissed Barbie of my own volition.
There was this doll called Jem back in the eighties. She was in a rock band called Jem And The Holograms. She had crazy pink hair, she was fun and proactive, she was a lot more energetic than Barbie. I was Jem for Halloween once, way back in third grade when I was eight years old. There was a cartoon TV show of Jem at one point, which I absolutely loved. Jem had special superpowers which she could personify by activating a pair of earrings. She and her rock band and her boyfriend Rio would fight crime with these superpowers. It was awesome, I tell you.
To elaborate a little more on the Barbie equation: Some people are also saying that girls of minority races feel insecure due to the prevalence of white supermodels and the presence of white Barbie. More nonsense. I learned these higher [[levels]] of this wisdom also when I was little, back when I was in second grade. I admit, I had sometimes wished I looked like a white girl when I was little. But I learned my lesson not to.
I had a friend whose original nationality was Sri Lankan. I remember being on the school bus one time, and she had a Barbie or some sort of doll with her. My friend made the comment, "Don't you sometimes wish you had light skin, and blonde hair, and light pink lips like her?" She pointed to the various features of the doll as she said this. I remember thinking to myself, geez, is that what I sound like when I say I wish I were blonde? It sounded pathetic and sad. So on that day, I learned to be happy with my own race and mostly happy with my own looks.
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