I’m offended by the insinuation that thin women are not “real” women. That (all?) men “prefer” women with curves. Earth to the rest of the planet! We happen to come in all shapes and sizes, not just the “breasts and hips” model. And men happen to have varying tastes – some of them are actually attracted to brains and personality too.
We need to stop this dissention in our ranks. A woman’s size and shape have nothing to do with her essence. Pushing the message that any body shape is unattractive is confusing and damaging to our impressionable teens. And we really have far more important things to give our attention to than who looks better in a bikini.
What has gone wrong in our society when it becomes acceptable to insult and demean a woman based on what she looks like, as long as she falls into the group not protected by “political correctness”? This quote from a member of a Child-Free forum on a Family website:
For as long as I can remember I have been disturbed by pregnant ladies. It just seems gross to me. I think they should stay home or something… It seems so inappropriate to me when I see a pregnant woman waddling around town…
She has a right to her opinion, of course. But how long before it’s okay to discriminate against a pregnant or nursing woman because customers are offended? How long before our exploding population problem means that pregnant women are the minority? How long before glamorising pregnancy is frowned on because it may encourage young women to have children of their own when our planet can’t support them?
We cannot debase one group for the sake of the self-esteem of another. It doesn’t solve anything, and it causes even more harm. We need to each be responsible for our own self-esteem and that of our loved ones. And then we need to look around us and accept the beautiful men and women we see everyday.
I call an end to the war we’re waging on our own bodies and those of the women (and men) around us. Who’s with me?
Tags: end the war on body image, real women come in all sizes and shapes, thin is beautiful too
Very well said. In our family I will not let anyone discuss dieting in front of my girls and I do not let them judge people by what they look like. I tell them it is what on the inside that counts.
I agree with you, it does have to stop. However, I fear that many of the problems women encounter over body image come from other women. A friend of mine is a fashion editor and seeing her at work editing/discarding photos of women who look perfect to me is terrifying. I think many women are harder on other women than men are. I find that really alarming.
Absolutely – women can be very unkind to each other, and it very often stems from low self-esteem and insecurity in the person being nasty. It’s a vicious circle, and a dangerous path to even start going down. Some people mean well, attempting to build someone up by putting down a girl who looks the opposite, but it doesn’t actually help.