When women obtained the right to vote was the time when the aesthetical shift happened, which some think may be linked to men wanting to assert some sort of dominance over women; if not their rights, perhaps their bodies. That concept is seriously skewed in itself, but after the first "skinny" model named "Twiggy" started prancing her fragile, emaciated legs on the runway, somehow people got to thinking that being able to count ribs was attractive. What in the hell happened to the women of Victorian/Etc art? I don't want to spoon with a body that feels like mine. That's why women are so rad! Because they have rad things like hips and breasts and fun curves that are both very pretty and are inherant, naturally, to the feminine form. So why let a magazine that's so drowning in pop culture that it can't even breathe start to tell you that if you're not a size 2, you're fat? Ugh.
The main part above was mainly aesthetical appriciation, heh, but outside of ME, there's also the women themselves who have to deal with the 60+ publications screaming at them from the newstand that they're too big. Sorry, Cosmo, but I think that women who know enough to smirk at the notion of starving themselves and instead know that they're beautiful is one of the most lovely things I can imagine. It's not a simple case of "having confidence", because it's one thing to have confidence while going into a test. It's another to have the will to ignore 40+ years of a patriarchy saying that you're wrong and ugly. That's a hell of a lot more than confidence, to me. It's awareness and intelligence and assertiveness - enough faith in the self to not have to fall back on people's shoulders who don't even care about you. That's part of what feminism means to me. That's why I think it's great whenever women decide to persue a Women's Studies major, or at least educate themselves on the issues that subversly or not-so affect them every day.
Men are getting to be part of this exciting club, too. The recently-coined "Adonis Complex" is a catchphrase for MEN starting to feel fat, or at least out of shape. The men that smile back from magazines have six-pack abs and giant arms. Gym memberships have gone up drastically since 1992, and yet, almost all women I talk to say they don't like huge guys. My friend Melati says she likes fellows with "swimmer muscles" at most, which is a more lean muscle type. Hm. Even though men are only getting maybe 10% of the body-image assualt that women have been getting for years, there's still some grim satisfaction in that.
Freshman year in college I essentially starved myself because I thought I was fat, and dropped to around 110 pounds. Seeing pictures of myself, it's rather scary. I know I'm small, heh, but I don't want to be waif-like. I spoke on a body image panel a while ago, and as one of two men (the rest women) on the panel, it was so facinating to see some of the people on the panel tell their stories. They were very personal and I'm glad that there's a month devoted to this sort of thing at this college, especially at a time where (I'd like to know the statistic) some percent of girls have eating disorders. There may not be the bizzare social experiment known as High School going on with cemented cliques and such, but image is still an issue in college, o' course.
All this, plus we're going to war while people duct-tape their homes together in case nerve gas comes rolling in. I feel tense a lot lately, actually (I promise it's not the coffee), and I wonder what will happen to us all. I plan to not live in the USA in the next few years, but there's still the thought of leaving people behind.
I saw a puppy today, a Beagal, and I swear he was as tiny as my hand. He was wearing a tiny dog-coat and his legs were just this little skittering blur underneath his body as he kept up with his owner. Across the world, thousands of people sighed and smiled. Dogs, not war.
What an awesome motto.
Now Playing: GLASSJAW. I have to capitolize the whole name because they're SO HARDCORE.
In other news, I have a physics test tomorrow, as well as an 8-page paper. Maybe that's where the slight anxiousness is coming from. This weekend, I'm going home to kick it with my brother. I think I'll take him to Barnes and Noble and we can get some fine liturature. Adam reads more than anyone else I know - that's why his vocabulary probably surpasses most others. heh. I love that kid. Did I mention that he has AUCTION FEVER? It's true. And insane. He wants to know everything about the whole process. Why, Adam? WHY? heh. No one ever knows why Adam latches onto the things he does, but he's a jack-of-all-trades at this point. Two christmases ago, he asked for a Juicemaster so he could make his own juice. He loves the How-To programs for home improvement. Adam probably would know how to install a new deck behind our house. In the meantime, I was hammering in a screw into the wall yesterday until Dean stopped me. heh. Twins, indeed.
And of course, on the dry-erase board the next day was a picture of a nail and screw, with "NAIL THIS IN" and "SCREW THIS IN" underneath them. I love my roommates. They probably think I'm going to walk off a cliff if not watched properly. heh. Well, if I did that, I wouldn't have to take a test or turn in a paper! Except I cannot think of a nearby cliff. Damn you, plains of Colorado. Curses. Whores!
heh, I hate to end on a negative note, but I'm going to go to aesthetics. Best, people.
content,
Jared