We all see the examples of "the perfect body". All the models, movie stars and celebrities seem to be these super thin creatures who are almost impossibly good looking. I am so annoyed that I care about how they look and that I compare myself to them. I do not want to be like them, yet I find myself doubting how I look because I will never be like that. I feel that I am not pretty at all. There are so many others like me that feel like they are not beautiful because we do not all look like a stick figure. It hurts. The "perfect body" is forced upon us all the time. On TV, in schools, even in books there is this belief that everyone will have skinny legs and flat stomachs. I believe that a character who has a perfect body is not as relateable to the common girl. Instead of getting ingrossed in the story, they will obsess over how the character looks. Now, I may be wrong, but I find myself doing that. I challange us all to reject the unabtainable "norm" and embrace being different with the way we write. Your thoughts?
~Leslie
So, so true. I do that a lot, too... It's an issue a lot of people have. What makes it worse is that, since society has decided that figure is the norm, you are generally not only judging yourself but are getting judged by others.
ReplyDeleteI do think, however, that we must be healthy and take care of ourselves. Because that IS in your power to control. But different people naturally have different shapes--they were created that way--and those are things we simply can't change and I'm sick of the general public appreciating one figure over another.
Also, I think this goes far beyond just the female gender. I'm not a guy, nor do I pretend to know what on earth they think about, but I imagine it has to be hard for them, too--because, though there isn't as much pressure on them as there is on girls, there are defiantly size preferences being displayed in the media.
Great post!
~Elizabeth
Yes, I agree. People have died trying to obtain "the perfect body" by starvation, drugs, mistreatment of their body, etc. It's really wrong. I like throwing some 'average' people in my story, and even some 'more-than-average' people, if I may say so. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting!
-Abby
One is who they are. Not everyone is beautiful, skinny, rich nor handsome. While there are things one can do to change that, for the most part we are who we are. Really.
ReplyDeleteIt is worse in Korea. Teens your age are already getting plastic surgery on their eyelids and faces. It's crazy!
Be who you are is all I can say and never allow the Madison Avenue types to sway you with their ideal person.
Great post. A lot of youngesters today are so wrapped up in 'the perfect...' they will face the inevitablility of health problems later in life, and for what? An image that is brushed to perfection by the advertisers and not possibly attainable if you want to maintain good and long-lasting health.
ReplyDeleteYou go gal, and be true to yourself :-).