A friend of a friend of mine says this on a thread discussing women shaking off the shackles of beauty through photography.
"My guess is men are insecure about money and women are insecure about the body. In other words, wealth is power for.men and physical perfection is power for women. Power leading to status in society of course."
And I went into lengthy discourse just to prove that's no way to think, but it was futile.
I realize that on reflection, this is a comfortable adage people have been fed and bought into it wholesale. Like Beauty being a woman's capital an odious old Bengali saying. Or A BEAUTIFUL face has Universal victory.
My question to this gentleman should have been, "Is This what you want to teach your daughter?"
If physical perfection is the medium of exchange for obtaining power and status in society, then God help women and society.
Why laugh at Monica Lewinsky, when she is the logical product of this sort of thinking?
Another opinion of his was that a woman could attain a Barbie doll figure by working hard for it.
This is genetically untrue, and the "hard work" involved?
Dieting, slimming fads, obsessive exercise, perhaps leading to anorexia, bulimia and mental health problems.
Women be yourselves. Fat or slim be happy. And honestly losing weight for good health should be the priority, not good looks.
We don't need to Look Good at the cost of Feeling Bad about ourselves if we cannot measure up.
Feeling good should not have to be related to how we look. Remember how as children we came flying outdoors to play frisbee or French cricket dressed in Huckleberry Finn outfits, wet hair slicked back after bath? And we enjoyed just as much as the pretty girl in designer jeans did. And clothes, shoes, accessories and the perfect body or face were neither a barrier nor a passport to feeling good and making friends.
That's freedom and empowerment in society.
(c) Amrita Valan 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment