Busy two weeks. Like a “I need to sit down for two minutes and stop stressing please” sort of time. Filled with many good things though, so I’m not complaining in the slightest! First and foremost I got to the final round at Guildford School of acting, hip hip hurrah. Secondly I did another set of Meisner acting classes and it blew my mind yet again. Thirdly I went to see two shows at respective theatres and they were brill. How to occupy an oil rig at Northern Stage was so persuasive in it’s style and naturally funny that I almost wondered if I should in fact attempt to occupy an oil rig and why wasn’t I occupying one right now? Then I was reminded that not everyone makes a difference by hanging off of a large steel structure in the middle of the ocean, some people tell stories with morals in places called theatres (and other venues too of course). Yeah, I think that’s more me. Victoria and Abdul was a completely different kettle of fish! A live screenplay written by Lee Hall (he wrote Billy Elliott if that helps to ring your bells) about the relationship between Queen Victoria and her Indian Munshi (teacher) Abdul. Heart warming, terribly funny and wonderful to see its first ever outing with the public. So yes, I’ve been a tad busy.
If ‘sunshine warms the soul’ then ‘busy-ness distracts the mind’ – from getting depressed that it’s not very sunny. Despite the lack of vitamin D in my life, I’m coping fairly well, I think.
[cut to me flicking through my newsfeed (Facebook, obviously), nothing, nothing, happy birthday to you, I like your post, reply to message from three days ago, return to newsfeed and BAM]
My immediate reaction:
1. It is NOT healthy to think you can “get skinny in 3 weeks”, nor will it get you long term results
2. The be all and end all of the summer is not to become “bikini body ready”
3. Maybe if companies like Facebook stopped shoving “suggested post” like these in our faces, there wouldn’t be so many body conscious, self conscious, self hating and low self esteeming people in society.
I go to the gym so I feel fit and healthy every day.
But it’s a shame that I’ll always secretly be doing it to feel better in my bikini every summer.
Get what I mean? As much as I was enjoying writing a nice happy, reflective, positive blog, I just can’t find that place in my brain again right now. So hello damaging advertising, wrong messages, eating disorders, public image and a susceptible society, myself very much included.
I like Elle magazine. If you haven’t ever read it, it’s actually quite good. ‘Specially the frequent articles about women’s rights around the world. But there’s a but. Seeing every image of every woman on every page being so thin it hurts, quite unsettles my brain. I think about the gym more, about my weight and then I get to the interview with the curvy actress who loves her figure and I’m supposed to feel empowered and confident in myself! The real outcome? Annoyance. Her figure is a novelty: on one page and one page only. Unless they have another piece on plus size models. See the recurring theme? It’s not natural for them to be there. They’re in ‘special’ or ‘dedicated’ or ‘influential’ articles, when the trend fits. But in Elle’s defence, the skinny beautiful-lady adverts in their magazines are supplied by independent brands, plus their advice on keeping fit and eating healthily is fantastic and always always always focuses on staying fit for the long run, not until you’ve come back off holiday – and there are no “get skinny in 2 week” cons in there either. Leading on from that then, is it really Elle I should be chastising here, or the brands, fashion houses and advertising companies that fill the majority of their pages? Oddly enough, I’m swaying more towards the last three, because if you took away all of the fashion show photos, glossy perfume adverts and the like you would be left with some pretty influential stuff.
So. so. so. so. so. The Advertisers – who are supported by the brands and the fashion houses. Is it them who are knocking our confidence? With image after image of these ‘perfect’ women and idealistic situations? They suck us in, tell us a darn good story (with plenty of pretty pictures) make us fall in love with exactly what they want us to and then reap the profits. All’s fair in love and war but when your dealing with the health of the world surely there should be some better guidelines? Am I using too many question marks again? For a start how about no airbrushing in adverts and putting a stop to sexual objectification – I avert you to one example:
That’s a BMW advert for crying out loud. B M W. Maybe I’m just a prude but I found that god damn offensive and downright degrading. Men are obviously subject to this sort of objectification as well but on a much, much lower level – because of course, as this advert shows, it is them who are the ‘buyers’ of these cars and therefore the ‘users’ of these women (the majority anyhow). Men in society won’t all have this mental attitude, but if we keep seeing adverts like this everyday I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re still walking round in circles in 10 years time.
Which all brings me on to Facebook. That wonderful, dreadful thing that I wanted for years and couldn’t have until I was 16 and out of high school. Good thinking batman (a.k.a. my papa Snowdon). I’m glad I didn’t have social media in high school, honestly. Yes, I missed out on some social things but I had close friends, got good grades and loved it. Not once did I fall out with someone over a Facebook comment or a sly tweet, thank the lord. But now that I have it, I don’t know if I could give it up. Then I realize how obsessed I had gotten with my own profile, making sure I didn’t have unflattering pictures of myself on there or that I would be careful of putting up an opinionated status so people wouldn’t think I was weird or pretentious. When you get into a bit of a feminist phase though, that kind of gets thrown out the window. Why should I care so much about looking good, so long as I feel good. Why should I stay quiet about things I want to say. Why should I be bombarded BY FACEBOOK suggesting posts on how I can get skinny in an unhealthy way just for the summer.
Why should anyone?
It will take me a very long time to stop worrying about my figure and realize there is so much more to life than weight and beauty. I might be in a good mindset this week, but my hormones might go crazy tomorrow, I’ll see another ‘get a bikini body quick’ advert and I’ll be right back where I started.
I leave you with this:
” What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness. ”
Leo Tolstoy
