Monday, May 14, 2012

Let's Start A Conversation About Body Image





It’s time I did a blog on body image.  I wrote a piece about it in my very first blog entry which you can view here.  It’s a nice piece.  But maybe it’s too sugar coated and not direct enough.   Maybe I needed to ask more questions?

Yeah, I know, sex sells and scantily clad images of women are everywhere.  Women have been used this way for ages.  It’s not that I was unaware of it or ignored it, but I guess I thought that it being so obvious and ubiquitous these days it had almost become boring or trite.  I was wrong.  I talk to and meet more and more women and girls succumbing to the pressure and influence of these distorted images.  Their self esteem, their confidence is suffering and they aren’t quite feeling the beauty of who they really are.   My goodness, the fact that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn't wear make up to a press conference in Bangladesh last week got more press than what she actually said there. 

So, when is it going to stop?  Each year in their schools our children are taught what a healthy body image is.  And the same media that exploits these images reports on the importance of having a healthy one.  The conversation and information are out there.  Yet, we aren’t there yet ourselves, are we?

Even if they are not spoken, the messages are clear that if we just look a certain way, or attain a certain size or act a certain way then - what?  Then will we be lovable?  Then will we be worthy? Then will we be happy?  Have the partner? The job? The life?  But chasing someone else’s unattainable ideal is a vicious circle that only sets us up for disappointment. The media’s portrayal of beauty and sex would have us believe our worth is dependent on the way we look…..It’s a lie. Let’s wake up out of this voodoo trance and remember who we really are.  It doesn’t feel good to feel shame about our bodies and it doesn't do anybody any good.  

I mean when you really think about it, the human body is inherently pretty beautiful…….The range of things we can do with our bodies is infinite.  The fact that we can taste a summer peach, lay lazily in the warm sun, dance, run, and listen to amazing music is all pretty beautiful ……Some may argue that this is not beauty……..but I would argue that, perhaps, we need to broaden our view of what beauty is.  Because you know what? It’s really much bigger and broader and deeper than what the media portrays.  It is my belief that what so many of us see as our flaws are actually the very attributes that contribute to our beauty.  

There is so much information out there on this subject.  I haven’t done it justice, this I am sure.  This is more like the beginning of a conversation.  Please keep it going. Talk about it with the women in your life.  Talk about it with the men in your life.  But please, especially, talk with the teenagers that you know.  Let’s challenge what beauty is. Let's challenge the notion that how we look is somehow equal to our inherent worth.  Let’s not let it be what society tells us, but what we feel is right for us…….