These "beauty" standards make me (and many other women) sick - Week 6

Now I feel like we’re finally getting into the heart of girls studies! I’m going to respond freely to the readings this week, since I feel there is so much more to comment on than just periods! I think that adolescence is where girls really develop their own sense of what a girl/woman is, what to aspire to, and what they feel society is expecting of them as girls and future women. I was really pleased to read in the article about thin models that many designers are turning away models that are too thin. The pictures were pretty shocking, and it certainly doesn’t look natural to me to see women that thin. The article explained that many models are aged 14-19, which means that many aspects of their bodies are still girls, while they may have developed breasts or hips while coming into womanhood. This is a temporary state that does not last in the overwhelming majority of women, and is therefore not an honest representation of what a woman does or “should” look like. Part of the article quoted a designer saying that “clothes look better on women who are thin, they hang better.” Well, how about designing some clothes that look wonderful on women who are not 5’11’’ and 120 pounds? Adjust your designs to fit real women. I think the article was correct in saying that the industry will not change until its consumers do, which is a 2-fold scary and empowering thought.

The other on-line article really made me uncomfortable, because part of it stated that children as young as 10 had dieted or felt a lot of pressure to look a certain way, or felt much pressure from women’s and fashion magazines. Why is it the women’s magazines that are making young girls and adult women feel so imperfect? These are magazines that are primarily edited and written by women! Shouldn’t those women be highlighting real women, women who are doing something good in the world, instead of celebrities or thin models? Bah. It kills me that thinness is associated with goodness for women. There are many more good women in the world than there are thin women.

The readings in RED were so insightful this week. It was strange to think about what sorts of beauty we obsess over, like taming Jewish hair, and to think about how we should be grateful that our bodies are healthy and that we don’t have to struggle with diseases like Muscular Dystrophy. I was really pained by the girl who felt that she has little to no self-worth because she was overweight, and I want to punch the kid in the face that told her to “kill herself she’s so fat.” The article about the girl who is too thin evoked the same emotion for me. Why should she be excluded from conversations about the insecurities of her body just because her friends perceive her as the “ideal”? She is insecure and wants curves and wants to gain a little weight, but it’s so taboo in American society to gain, or want to gain, weight that she is shunned. The school environment and world are not fair for either one of these girls. “Ode to my breasts” made me chuckle, because I remember the first bra I ever received (as a Christmas present) and it was awkward and exciting and scary. My friends were jealous that I had one before they did.

The readings that really emphasized the danger of the beauty “standards” young women face were “Lucky” and “The ‘Beautiful’ Cause of Death”. These women tried and felt like they failed to fit into what is considered “perfect” or “normal”, by doing serious damage to their bodies. Cutting, anorexia nervosa, bulimia- look what our society and its lies of “reality” are doing to these young women! The painstaking processes they go through to try and fit in, deal with their pain when they don’t think they are, and to finally seek help is overwhelming. We need to change our society’s standards, and we need to change them fast so that we can stop hurting young women and make a safe, welcoming environment for their minds and bodies.