Sunday 25 August 2013

Why so negative about MMBodyPositive?


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http://muchmorethanimage.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/why-so-negative-about-mmbodypositive/
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So Mamamia has recently launched a body positive challenge, detailed here: http://www.mamamia.com.au/bodypositive/fernwood-body-image-survey/

It involves six steps over six weeks to change women's negative perceptions of their bodies. Where women post:
1: My face without make up.
2: The body part I used to cover up.
3: What I’m proud my body can do. 
4: My post baby body.
5: My face after exercise.
6: The body shaming comment I won’t let bother me any more.

I immediately thought ‘FINALLY. FINALLY SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS SHIT-STREAM OF NEVER ENDING GLOSSY GLAMOUR PLASTIC ‘HEALTHY’ SEXY POST-BABY BIKINI BEST BODIES THAT INVADE EVERY INCH OF OUR COMPUTER SCREENS!’

And as you could expect, EVERYONE burst out in applause too!! No. Joking. The cynics (Helen Razer & others) are calling hypocritical face-cream feminism bullshit on the whole deal. Because reasons.

Apparently the MMBodyPositive campaign is a reinforcement of women as commodities, posting make-up free pictures is self-commoditisation and SILLY. And the real work of feminism lies in revolutionary action for improving women's socio-economic status. Further, a lot of women call ‘bullshit’ on the idea that going makeup free is challenging, or that any of this should even be an issue at all. We should all just SHUT UP about bodies, stop obsessing over bodies, then the problems will go away!

OK. Lets work through these issues, quickly, because we got shit to do, like, REVOLUTION:

1. MMBodyPositive may not be an economic revolution; I don’t think it claimed to be one. BUT. Since when does being middle-class disentitle women to having meaningful issues? Does the fact that women are financially struggling mean that we cannot also care for women struggling to cope with body-image pressures - to the point of self-starvation, invasive surgeries, depression, or suicide? Do we really need to compete over which issue trumps the other? OR can we get on with doing as much as we can, and supporting others to do the same?

2. MMBodyPositive is NOT JUST selfies. I agree selfies fuel body-consciousness, but this campaign is not a selfies competition. This campaign is asking women to take back the right to look however-the-heck they want. By posting images of reality online, perhaps we can make a dent in the overwhelming sea of 'glamour' BS that we swim through every time we log onto social media! A recent stat showed women on average are 'body monitoring' (thinking about their looks) every 15 minutes. You might say this campaign just worsens the self-consciousness, but please, how do we address the issue without drawing attention to it? We know that many women feel shit, disordered eating is becoming normal, body dysmorphia is flourishing, we CANNOT attack these problems by talking about rainbows and sunshine. We do need to first look at ourselves in acceptance and change thought patterns, we have to encourage the work of self-acceptance. Sure, some people might misuse the campaign to score points. But please, point out any social change campaign that wasn’t affected by misunderstanding or misuse... And, besides the selfies, the other activities of MMBodyPositive ask women to reject shame they’ve experienced, to focus on their bodies as functional and to normalise their bodies’ roles in mothering. The abhorrent pressures on new mothers cannot be denied, anyone who shines a light on this issue and helps new mums has done a-hellava-lot more than the nay-sayers, I say.

3. MMBodyPositive has started discourse on issues that are REAL and that NEED our attention. Yes, we can agree this is not a campaign for economic revolution. Interestingly, I haven’t come across Helen Razer’s revolutionary social change campaigns myself. But point being, issues related to body image are SERIOUS, they are hurting girls and women, read the recent APA report for an overview. These issues are finally being considered by policy makers thanks to the work of tireless campaigners. Girls as young as 6 years are dieting and worrying about glamour, there is a spike in young women being hospitalized with mental illness, consider the surging rates of eating disorders even in the aged population, reflect on the booming cosmetic surgery rates – and the links between surgery with mental illness including suicide. You need to only take a quick glance at stats to realize the seriousness of this pain and suffering. It also doesn’t take a sociological genius to notice the surge in ‘glamourised’ and sexualised media and intuit that this will impact the populace. When larger portions of young girls suddenly claim their aspiration is glamour modeling than anything else, you can be sure that this media has gone too far. Girls didn’t get these ‘sexy’ ideas from playing outside and climbing trees too much.

4. Showing diversity of women IS a worthy goal:
I’ve only ever come across a few women’s post-baby pics posted online, but I’ve noticed there is a HUGE response. Particularly from women who comment that they ‘have never thought they would see a body like theirs’. Truly, women are constantly being told that there is only ONE type of body allowed, and if you don’t have it, you don’t exist, you are invisible (notice how famous people suddenly hide post-partum until SURPRISE I’M SKINNY AGAIN! DID IT IN TWO WEEKS!!). Sure you could confuse this campaign with commodifying more body-types, or perhaps you could consider the value of normalising a wide-range of body-types such that commoditisation is fruitless, whom are you going to sell the ‘beauty’ products to if women feel comfortable in their skin?



In my discussion with Helen Razer on being anti-MMBodyPositive she queried sociological theories that prove ‘body image’ issues actually exist and are impacting people…

It wasn’t enough to cite renowned author and psychoanalyst Susie Orbach who recently presented in Sydney on the notion of ‘body anxiety’ and the disturbing trends in women’s health as of recent. This is all ‘made-up’ bullshit according to Razer. According to Susie Orbach, however, we do not have the necessary theories to explain the sudden and rampant attack on women’s body image. We currently rely on authors who theorised in earlier decades, and whose theories were developed before ‘glamour modeling’ was even acceptable, let alone in our faces 24/7. We do not have the necessary understanding to explain exactly how the media body-image onslaught is affecting women, but alarming statistics CANNOT be denied.

I realize MMBodyPositive may not appeal to all women; certainly I am not onboard with selfies. BUT, perhaps the fact MMBodyPositive has sparked conversations and shone light on some of these issues means the campaign has already achieved something.

I am quite sure that women who are suffering with body-image shame (and I know many personally) do need media that supports them, women who are suffering in silence and shame cannot participate in revolution, let alone live to their full potential.

Image above: Body Image Movement Blog


http://www.mamamia.com.au/bodypositive/fernwood-body-image-survey/

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Rant: pretty? sexy? no F OFF!


It was probably somewhere between seeing the six-thousandth bikini shoot posted online, the 10 thousand ads for ‘weightloss’ that look strangely like porn ads, and the millionth ad for ‘best’ plastic surgeons… And I suddenly thought – fuck this shit. Fuck it all. Fuck off the makeup, fuck off with the stupid hair styles that are impossible and a waste of time, fuck off with the ridiculous painful shoes, fuck off with waxing every follicle of fucking hair off my body, fuck off with the false notion that looking like a Barbie is going to achieve anything except unwanted attention. Fuck off with selling this image to little girls, which will one day be my little girl who will be told over and over again how she would be happy, how she would be loved, how she would be worthy, if only she would LOOK a certain way. And if she does look that way, she will be treated like a piece of meat anyway. Fuck off with the girls’ constantly condescending each other- only ever complimenting their image and nothing else. Fuck off with pretty, perfect, bikini bodies and glamour. Does anyone truly believe that if you push your tits up three inches higher and pack on three inches thicker makeup that suddenly your self-esteem and value will skyrocket? No.  Surely. This sadistic bullshit ties a woman down to obsessing over mirrors, weight scales and plastic surgeons offices, ensuring she can never use her mental capacity fully nor be taken seriously. Whether she is a professional in business, sports, politics or media – all of these places have been secured for men’s voices with women as stand-in props who smile, look pretty and keep quiet. Either you’re a woman who cannot be taken seriously because you look too pretty, or you’re a woman who has no place because you look too ugly. Pre-second-wave feminism women’s roles were restricted to housework and raising children, post-feminism women’s roles have been relegated even more so. We are now merely eye-candy, bodies as public property for ogling and critiquing, bodies plastered on every magazine, shop window, bus shelter and billboard, breasts NOT suitable for breastfeeding, vaginas that need to be reshaped post-partum, stomachs that need to be flatter. Bodies no longer our own, but the property of a variety of industries selling us our own commoditisation. Essentially women are told over and over that they ought to look pre-pubescent with tits the size of their own heads. And if you do have this image, then chances you're probably expected to put your body on show, selling your sexuality to titillate narrow-minded men. Relegating the power of your own sexuality into the hands of the sex industry. Women might have gained legal rights post-second-wave feminism but in the last few decades we’ve lost the right to own our body and mind for our own purposes.