User talk:Rdiablo123

BEAUTY & THE BODY
There seems to be a misconception within society pertaining to what beauty actually is. When we watch television we see beauty as Miss America or Sports Illustrated swim suit edition. We even go to the extent to try to live a life such as the life portrayed on Bachelor or Bachelorette and even extreme makeover where people get plastic surgery to look different. When we watch these shows people of all ages start to think of what beauty actually means. Does beauty mean to have breast implants or reconstructive surgery on different parts of the face? Does beauty mean that our children should dress like the Kardashians? Does beauty mean that if we are overweight we are foreign creatures in society? These types of questions plague us when we start to think of what beauty actually is.

Authors Jacquetta Newman and Linda A. White in their book Women, Politics, and Public Policy give a solid perspective of what beauty can be interpreted as through “the painful pursuit of what beauty can be” (Newman, White, 242). Everyday millions of people around the world look at themselves in the mirror and wish they looked a certain way. This is inevitable because of television and media. For instance: “everyday, everywhere, millions of women are engaged in chaotic, controlled, ritualized, and routine acts of self harm. Ultimately, both women and men quietly deprive themselves through acts of starvation, bingeing, purging, and excessive exercising equating their emotional well-being with an often unattainable goal” (Newman, White, 240). Somewhere along the lines society has left out good nature, the heart and the idea of beauty from within rather than from the outside. A person can look like Barbie ad beautiful as ever and be cold as ice on the inside. So does that mean that because I am a man who has a trophy wife I end the races as the winner? Personally, I do not think so but then again I do not have millions of dollars to swim with either.

One of the best examples to illustrate the degradation of women’s bodies as objects to implement the ideal of beauty falls within the notion of sex drugs and rock n roll. In this arena, women are objectified as just being there for a good time. Meaning that the rock n rollers are putting on sell-out concerts and the women being the groupies are just there to amuse the rock stars through drug abuse and sex. Then again, Newman and White state that “feminism is, in large part, a movement to give women the right to control their own bodies, not just in terms of reproduction but also in terms of what to do with those bodies and what to put on those bodies” (Newman, White, 240). So this begs the question: are sex, drugs, and rock n roll just part of the feminist ideology of a woman doing what she wants to do? Or does this notion that being a groupie and abusing drugs and rocking out, put women down?

Furthermore, the idea of what is considered to be fit and healthy in society is putting a downward spiral on the younger generation. Many kids want to look 19 when their 12. The scary part of this is that will they act 19 at 12 as well? There are a lot of question marks in society of what beauty actually is and what it is not. Dressing like the Kardashians and flaunting millions of dollars around seems to be a standard that many people want or wish to live by. Obviously, that is why places like winners, and wal-mart were created so we can look somewhat appealing without spending a fortune. However, maybe it is the mindset we have instead of the way we dress. “We have been raised in a culture where body size is of paramount importance, where thinness is equated with health, attractiveness, morality, sexuality and where a woman’s essential value is based on her ability to attain a thin body size. As a result, the vast majority of women express dislike for their body while continually dieting, which has been found to lead to weight gain” (Newman, White, 242). So at the end of the day why starve yourself, lower your self-esteem or have plastic surgery when ultimately everyone’s beauty is found from within? It just does not make much sense to me personally. But hey, I cannot speak on behalf of the millions of beautiful women in the world that are not featured in top 40 magazines because they do not look like Barbie. To close this entry, I just want to make sure everyone understands what I am trying to say here. I think that beauty itself is created from you yourself. Do not get discouraged because you do not have the best looking body or the best looking features. Do not get discouraged if digest magazine says that you should be 100 pounds and you are 120 pounds. At the end of the day, God made you who you are and the good lord also gave you a brain to use. In my view, use what God gave you and flaunt what you got. If the guy next to you or women next to me does not see the beauty that we have, then it’s their loss not ours. Feel good about yourself, promote honesty, and live free of societies web of control. The “itsie bitsie spider” was just a folk tale. We write our own path in life.

SOURCE Newman, Jaquetta., White, Linda A. Women, Politics, and Public Policy: The Political Struggles of Canadian Women. Oxford University Press, Second Edition 2012.