Last month, Sarah of Enjoying the Epiphany gifted me with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award! Thank you, Sarah, I am very honoured!
One of the many things I like about Sarah's delightful blog is her commitment to celebrating the beauty of women of ALL sizes. Her blog promotes the view that there is no "perfect" size to be. There is no "wrong" size to be. All women are entitled to enjoy their lives free of such size tyranny.
That's a worldview with which I profoundly agree.
Ideologies serving the power structures of this world control women's lives and neutralize our effectiveness by fostering negative body image obsessions. The media, fashion industry and consumerism are all part of this. Girls and women are constantly bombarded with messages that our natural appearance is not good enough or attractive enough. To be considered "acceptable," we must believe / do / buy [insert their message / product / unattainable ideal here]. And even then, we'll always fall short. ALWAYS.
But simply blaming these forces of control will not free women from this bondage. We must actively detox our thoughts and retrain our minds from a lifetime of indoctrination. We must truly understand that all women are beautiful just the way we are -- including ourselves!
Like all evil systems, the tyranny of the "beauty myth" cannot operate without our acquiescence and co-operation. We must stop giving our allegiance to ideas that oppress us.
Now, having said all this . . . .
Just disregard those posts I did last week admiring Jessica Rabbit and bemoaning Nutella's effects on my ass, okay?
Those posts just prove that detoxing and retraining our minds is not a quick 'n easy thing to do! But seriously, we must do so.
just like bra burning and letting go of panty hose! we need to do image burning!
ReplyDeleteIf we are concerned about every stray hair (just learned having hair on my toes is a sign of good blood circulation), if we don't eat enough to be able to sleep and we don't sleep enough so our bodies can heal - we are so controlable. Whose idea was it that we are all the same size? Follow the money. Whose idea was it that we all worship the same way? Follow the money. I believe we can only be free when we love one another (do no harm) - but we just don't give a damn about what other people say (take no shit)... I'm working on the 'take no shit'part - I don't care what people I don't know think about me.
ReplyDeleteYou can talk me into anything when you show pix of cute kitties!
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! I just decided that from now on instead of wanting to lose weight to look better, I am not just going to focus on being healthy and feeling good!
ReplyDeletelove the kitten pictures :)
ReplyDeleteThe same problem exists for males. Everybody expects from us also to be muscly or manly and macho... and you're considered ugly if you have a belly and you know that for most men belly grows naturally after we cross 30th birthday :(
I follow no one's instructions but my own. My body, my instructions. I feel good, not bothered if I don't look "good" to those in the big, bad world. Its me, take it as you see it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the Award! Well deserved.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is nothing wrong with admiring someone else (Jessica Rabbit) for certain attributes that person may have. It is when a person goes to extremes to mimic the person admired that harm is caused - usually to the person doing the mimicking. And bemoaning the Nutella is okay if you can no longer fit into your clothes. :0)
But yes, there is no 'ideal shape'! We are all unique and should accept that fact. Though it has taken me years to come to this realization. I, too, had fallen prey to the Great Commercial Machine's train of thought....
p.s. love the last picture!
@Samantha - thank you, I now feel much better about my toes =)))
ReplyDeleteDebra - congrats on your award!!
I had a very bumpy ride with my self esteem and self image for years and then it crashed and burned the last few years and I'm now in a good place because of all the self work I've done. It's got to come from within and when television and media shoves it down our kids throats that they "have" to be paper thin to look good, it's my job as a mom to let my kids know it's just not the reality of life.
Great post!!
We "as sisters" could start a change by simply looking for the beauty in a person...
ReplyDeleteA well-deserved award Debra!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the award! Love the 'friends' pic - so adorable. I second Samantha Stephens - well said.
ReplyDeletetake a bow my love
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your award. We love you.
ReplyDeleteMary
Congratulations on the award Debra,
ReplyDeleteDezmond said exactly the same thing that I was going to say. It's becoming more and more difficult to maintain the image of what a guy is supposed to look like according to magazines and models, so I get it.
Everybody has something beautiful about them, I wish it easier to be comfortable being who we are and not who, somebody designing a magazine, says we should be.
Congrats on the well deserved award. Thanks Samantha for the hairy toe info. And the pix of the kitties are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteMoney (greed) is the reason we are all automatons when it comes to "how we should be". Business wants us to want whatever kind of bean juice they are selling to be what their fellow money mongers are touting what we should look like, eat, desire, visit, wear, aspire to. As in my younger days....we have to resist the Establishment. Go stick a flower in the barrel of the economic gun of the tyrants. Peace out.
Although I certainly agree that many of our beliefs come from advertisements, tv and such... I think what is even worse than body image is the way media shows woman as Snookies and Big Texas with catty negative plastic surgery ladened beeches. Besides that rude, in your face, screaming woman with bad attitudes... It's all just become ok to behave like that... People put their children on YouTube behaving like that and it gets millions of hits.
ReplyDeletebody Image? Well I k ow that when I put on weight I am uncomfortable especially around my stomach... So then I am upset with myself and not happy with it. So when I put on weight and I can't kid myself into thinking I feel ok and am proud of myself because I am not...and the media has nothing to do with that.
Beautiful Debra!! Atta girl... eat all the Nutella you want!!!
ReplyDeletexoxo-
Sarah
Congrats on the award! Us women have to stick together, and put an end to all that pressure society puts on us.
ReplyDeleteyou deserve all the awards you get..
ReplyDeleteJeesh while i was in Ottawa weeping briny tears of patriotic ecstasy you were back in Edmonton complaining about nutella butts? Well nevermind, I am in total agreement with your point in this blog and proud of your award!! (JUST really sorry I missed the nutella butt blog)
ReplyDeleteGreat award, Debra. And very excellent points! I agree completely on every score, and of those of the comments.
ReplyDeleteM'thinks that there is room for everything in the world. For Jessica Rabbit's big boobies, generous hips, and fantastical waist, and for my big butt and bee stings for boobs, too.
ReplyDeleteYou know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in the brain of the people who understand that you are only as ugly as you allow others to make you. When I was growing up my grandma dearest (who I didn't really meet until I was a teenager) used to tell me that I was a very ugly child: "your nose is too flat, your legs are too long and skinny, your hair is too curly... blah, blah, blah." Well, her heart was too nasty and I wasn't going around telling her about it, was I? Anyhoo, she never made me feel ugly. I felt rather disgusting things for her, but I had a father who would always remind me that if I wanted to see the best looking girl in the world, I should walk down to the river and smile at the face grinning at me in the still water.
Amen, sister! I love the "thick and thin" lolcat. Have you ever read The Beauty Myth?
ReplyDeleteI love this: women empowering women, women supporting women. It just makes my heart sing :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I don;t care if my ass drags on the ground... must.have.nutella.
ReplyDeleteI love the first cat picture
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the award my friend ;o) You deserve it! Your post is well written and well said! My mom has always said to me, be proud of who you are and never put your head down for anyone ;o)
ReplyDeleteThe effects of Nutella on my arse LOL, I think we don't judge others by looks (well I friggin' hope not) yet we can be a little harsh with ourselves ;)
ReplyDeletegooder deb...
ReplyDeletethe one thing that turns my stomach, EVERY time... BO... whether on women or men... trying to hide it with perfume or aftershave makes it worse!