Day One - Body Image
Four years ago rageprufrock began the first 14 Valentines and she spoke of how women are praised in song, worshiped in poetry, and derided in culture. She spoke beautifully and elegantly of women, comparing our bodies to luminous flowers. She spoke of the state of women, and the need to remember what we go through, what women throughout the world suffer through.
We are daughters, sisters, mothers, and lovers. If we choose, we can bring life into world with our blood and nourish it with our bodies, but the world that we helped create, that women have bled for and fought for and cried for, doesn't recognize us. Our history is one of abuse. We are not safe.
Women suffer from domestic violence and rape. We are devalued. We are taught that we are lesser. There is still so much work to do, so much for us to accomplish.
Women are being killed the world over, suffering from infanticide, dying from lack of medical care, killing themselves in the fight to be what society tells them they must. One in three women will still experience sexual assault in her lifetime. So much has changed and so much has stayed the same.
Forty years ago we declared that Sisterhood is Powerful, and it still is. We must remember that, must continue moving forward.
It's 2010 and we've come so far, but there is still more work to be done. We deserve better, and we can do more. We're strong. The next fourteen days is meant to remind us of that. It's our time to take back our bodies.
V can stand for vagina, like Eve Ensler's groundbreaking monologues. V can stand for violence, under whose auspices all women continue to make a home.
V can also stand for victory.
Body Image
Imagine waking up in the morning, and feeling uncomfortable, awkward, and disconnected from your body. It’s suddenly too large, too small, too tall, not tall enough, nothing is right, and the reflection in the mirror doesn’t feel like it belongs to you; now imagine feeling that way all the time, every day.
Poor body image is epidemic in America, and its impact is enormous. Not only does negative body image lead to an increased likelihood for eating disorders and depression, which often result in long-term health issues, it costs us tens of billions of dollars yearly paid out to the diet industry. Its reach is long, connecting women of all walks of life, different ethnic backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, and different regional backgrounds, and while its impact is most highly felt by women, it is making headway in the male population as well.
We’re constantly exposed to unrealistic bodies on television, in movies, in advertisements, and on magazine covers. Twenty five years ago the average model weighed 8% less than the average American woman - today that average model weighs 23% less than the average American woman. As if the actual physical shrinking weren’t enough, it’s standard procedure to use Photoshop on photos to whittle away at waists, narrow thighs, enhance bust lines, and smooth skin. When singer Faith Hill graced the cover of American magazine Redbook in 2007, the image had been subjected to eleven different alterations ranging from removing a mole to reducing the width of her arm, and increasing the volume of her hair. This isn’t anything new - it’s essentially the industry baseline.
It’s taken time to teach us to be unhappy with our bodies, and it’s going to take time and hard work to learn to love them again. Organizations like Love Your Body support body positive initiatives that reach out to women through books, on campus presentations, and an online presence. The National Organization of Women has been supporting and promoting Love Your Body Day annually in October for over a decade. This event is designed to raise awareness of body image issues, encourage acceptance, and promote healthy and positive body ideals, all of which are vital in this particular fight.