Body image problems have been quite an issue for a while now. It seems it doesn't matter how many times we are told we should be happy with what we've got, many people just can't get past the shame of the extra pounds, the lack of cup size or the inches that are suggested to make one the complete package.
Why is this? What's going on here that even intelligent and well educated people are experiencing this rather ridiculous problem. Putting mental health issues aside (for they are issues that I cannot possibly discuss with any authority), I think we are faced with a rather powerful force that is keeping the problem fresh in our minds. I would refer to it as the "Denigration of Individualism" industry, commercial enterprises that have discovered that it is lucrative to crush peoples belief in themselves, and then sell them a cure. I would go even further and say that this is not only commercial, but cultural.
Who's to blame for this? Is it the media? The capitalists? Society? No, it's us, we are to blame for the predicament we find ourselves in. We listen when we should ignore. We accept when we should reject. We overly concern ourseves with the opinions of people we don't even know and don't care for. In many ways it's understandable as this appears to be an easier way to live. We keep wanting to be part of "community", to be accepted into the groups that make up the human race. But at what cost? We keep undermining one of the gifts of being human, that of independant thought, the ability to identify what is important and what is fucking bullshit. We lack responsibility, by that I mean to ourselves.
I'm certainly not innocent of this crime against myself, that's for sure. It's a war, where each day I'm confronted by another barrage of suggestions telling me I'm not all I should be. I'm not sure the armistace will ever come completely, but I'm getting better at fighting the battles.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends! Over the top we go.
ReplyDeleteSpot on, Dan. It's been a battle from the word go and the pressure is relentless. It's because people don't recognise the media and advertising onslaught as pressure that they blithely accept what would be, in interpersonal terms, bullying.
We must be armed against bullshit at all times. Our blogs are our first line of defense, huzzah!
It is relentless Mitzi, and too many of our comrades are falling.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I feel a rendition of Twisted Sister's "We ain't gonna take it" coming on!
I thought the idea was for us to think as little as possible. When we're caught up in the trivial we don't notice the importat stuff - terribly convenient for our overlords.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck in your battles, Dan. I'm either losing the war or my mind - not sure which.
True. But gosh we get some silly issues thrown at us each day that we are apparently supposed to worry about don't we.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the fight Nails. Your blog posts represent a shaking fist towards all that is nonsense.
As a large part of my brain is presently concerned with trying to understand ugly floral fashion I'm not so sure I'm fighting anything.
ReplyDeleteI think I thank you for you comment about my blog though I suspect I'm less shaking fist and more nonsense than you imagine.
I've got a soundtrack to this dialogue ... this girl band who sound like a posse of Tony Braxton's (could it be the girls who sang Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls) sang "there's gonna be some heart-breaking, soul-shaking" etc, to which I have added ... "fist-shaking"!
ReplyDeleteNails - Maybe your fighting fire with fire. The nonsense of the world being reflected upon itself.
ReplyDeleteMitzi - Backing music for blog dialogue. You may be hitting on the future of blogging.