Thursday, February 19, 2009

Media: That Evil Whore

I read an article recently about how to enhance your blog, and the first tip was to 'find a niche'. What if my blog is my journal, and since my journal reflects my thoughts as they come and go, it could not possibly fit neatly into one 'niche'. Besides, I think the best blogs are all over the place- thoughts about life, politics, society, nature, art, photography, etc. 'How to' guides can be terribly biased. If everyone were to follow their recommendations, there would be no creativity left in the world! We would all be creating simply to advertise ourselves, to gain popularity and reputation. What about showing the world your true face, and letting them decide honestly and without bias if they appreciate your style?

The media is draining us of individuality. Everything has become about selling ourselves, and this results in FAKE and UNREALISTIC depictions. Myspace, facebook, livejournal, even blogs; we are aware that others see and read everything we post. To speak generally- we manipulate our thoughts, entries and pictures to give off a certain impression to the world, and no matter how manipulated that vision of us turns out to be, people buy it. They in turn think they should think, look and act a certain way, all to please the invisible eyes of the media. We tend to use our prettiest and most flattering pictures of ourselves as our main photos and icons, even when those photos are doctored and might not even look anything like us (I am a hypocrit on this one). When people see these photo-shopped images, it just perpetuates the beauty myth that we have to look a certain homogeneous, unrealistic way.

I made an entry in 2004 with 'beautiful' photos of myself, and in their superficial ugliness and rebellion against society, they were truly beautiful. I wanted people to see that pictures can actually (and should actually) depict a sense of humor and personality- something far more valuable than physical beauty (which as we all know will only fade). Here's the link:
http://okeanos.livejournal.com/45989.html

Beside our photographs and manipulated depictions of ourselves perpetuating the beauty myth, perhaps the greatest proponent is the media itself. Even when we decide to stop caring and be who we really are, we are inundated by images of skinny bitches in underwear ads, pretty emo girls wearing witty t-shirts and wayyy too much makeup, and the infamous diet ads that are on virtually every webpage I've ever visited. You've seen the ads- ingraining the belief in women that they are only as good as the number on the scale, that appearance is the number one guideline to judge themselves and others by. Do we have to rid ourselves completely of the internet and television in order to shut out the low self-esteem provoking, self-doubt causing negative ads?

We are good enough and even better still JUST THE WAY WE ARE. We must somehow find the strength to make ourselves immune to the skewed expectations of the media and society. It's not just unrealistic, it is sick. If you have to not eat all day just to feel that you look alright in the mirror, something is seriously wrong with this society. If young girls perceive beauty as only skin deep, something is wrong with this society. Here's a quote from one of my favorite blogs, mamaVision, from an 8 year old girl her daughter attends school with:

"She said she wasn't going to eat her dessert because she was going to the doctor in the afternoon and she would be weighed." http://www.mamavision.com/mamavision/2009/01/in-the-zone.html

A third grader. Restricting herself. Already treating food as an evil force. Don't we realize how much this is hurting young girls? Besides making them unhealthy and obsessed with their image, their personalities aren't developing correctly! Kids should be thinking about playing outside and having fun and being interested in hobbies- not about reducing their waistline! Hell- we should all be thinking about having fun and enjoying hobbies!

And since when has food been an evil force? Do we forget that food sustains LIFE? Without it, we DIE? Looking wafer thin and pale, with eyes glazed over by death is not even evolutionarily practical. There is NO purpose for this obsession other than to keep women subjugated. Men are threatened by healthy, beautiful, strong women. The entire structure of society is threatened by strong women. Here's a wonderful quote from The Beauty Myth, a book I highly recommend to anyone:

"There is no legitimate historical or biological justification for the beauty myth; what it is doing to women today is a result of nothing more exalted than the need of today's power structure, economy, and culture to mount a counteroffensive against women. It claims to be about intimacy and sex and life, a celebration of women. It is actually composed of emotional distance, politics, finance, and sexual repression."

The beauty myth evolved out of mens' fears of women entering the workplace. Naomi Wolf (the author of the Beauty Myth) places the very beginnings of the beauty myth during industrialization, when the work unit of the family was destroyed, and women assumed new roles in the workplace. Before, women were allowed to be healthy and happy because their realm was the home. They were not a threat to men. When women entered the work force, they became viewed as distracting and threatening. Perpetuating the cultural ideal of the thin and one-dimensional beauty, women were no longer a personal threat to men. Women's skill and worth was judged by their beauty. Men did not have to compete with them in talent or ability, because women were not graded in those ways.

We must reclaim our strength, our abilities, and our true beauty in order to combat a world that would keep us enslaved. It has gone so far that even when no direct force is keeping us down- WE perpetuate the beauty myth in OURSELVES! We are enslaving ourselves! I challenge you (and myself) to break free from the bonds of cultural expectations. Society wants us silent, distracted by our own internal struggle. We can not allow that. We must recognize how ingrained this myth is in every aspect of life, and realize how offensive and unhealthy it is. We must have the strength to show ourselves and the world our true face. We must hear our own voices once more. We must act as role models for ourselves and others, and in doing so rid the world of the beauty myth, one girl at a time.

No comments: