A quick note before I get fully into this post, I will be away this weekend and far away from internet access or cell phone service, so no new posts till Tuesday morning. Please check back then. Moving on, I have talked about women and how they are supposed to look before, but since it is almost "bikini season" and there are commercials everywhere telling women how to lose weight so they can look good in a bikini, I felt it was worth it to touch on it again. Ads everywhere are pretty much telling women that if they want to look good this summer and fit into a bikini without folds of fat flowing over, they need to lose weight, trim their shape up, work out, and look like a model. For most women, this is not going to happen. But never fear, for those with money, they can always resort to liposuction, tummy tucks, and other procedures to whisk away the fat so that they don't have to put in an ounce of effort. This image can be extremely damaging to women's ego's and self esteem if they are unable to lose the weight or pay for a procedure (which I don't agree with at all). They are made to feel like outcasts if they can't look good in a bikini. Will everyone succumb to this mentality, no, but it seems to be getting more and more invasive as time goes on, creeping into every magazine and TV show. What makes it worse is when women see celebrities being chastised for being a "little" over weight and sporting a bikini, or actually showing evidence of a "procedure" that was done so they can look good in a bikini. When they see other's being chastised for their image, it makes them fearful of what might be said about them if they don't look the part. If stores actually want to sell bikini's, wouldn't it make more sense to market to a wider range of women than just the ultra thin?
It used to be, just 40 years ago, that a little extra weight around the middle was not a bad thing, and that having it show while wearing a bikini would not subject the wearer to comments or side long glances that indicated they were less than perfect. The image has been ingrained into the mentality of not just women but men as well. Men have come to expect women who wear bikini's to look the part. Men expect a flat, hairless stomach, and while they are at it, they should get pre-tanned in a booth somewhere before stepping outdoors with their pale skin. So in part, men play into this and are part of the problem causing women to constantly look for new and more efficient ways of losing weight in preparation for the bikini season. While weight-loss is mostly marketed towards women at this time of year, there is a certain percentage that is devoted to getting men to trim up in order to look good for the ultra thin women on the beach. It is not as big of an issue, but the image of men is getting just about as bad as the image of women. If either men or women want to lose weight, it should not be just to look good at the beach for someone else. While that may be a good goal to set (if that is what people want), it should not be expected to happen overnight. Losing weight should for the most part be done to improve the overall health of an individual. And the ideal weight is not that portrayed by models on the cover of magazines or by celebrities. A person's ideal weight varies depending on a number of factors and is not the same across the board.
When losing weight, people should set goals on what they want to achieve, not based on the media, but based on their own sense of self and beauty. Obviously, for some, that sense of self and beauty will be influenced by the media to an extent, but it shouldn't be. If you feel comfortable in your body, then stay where you are, don't feel pressured to lose weight just to impress others or to fit the mold being pushed by society these days. If you are a over weight and still want to wear that bikini, then by all means, do so. Don't pay attention to others, wear whatever the hell you want and be proud of it. The most important part about all of this is to develop a sense of self that is distinctly your own, not someone else's. There needs to be a cultural revolution to change the way that people perceive themselves, mostly women, but it goes for men as well. If we could all just be happy with who we are, then there would be no need to stress out about weight loss and bikini season. Part of the problem with losing weight to begin with is stress and the effect that it has on your body. If people get stressed out about losing weight in time for summer, then it will make it that much harder to lose that weight. Take time today to develop a sense of who you are and what is important to you. Don't let the media tell you how you should look, develop your own let it be your own.
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