"As young girls, we learn early on that beauty matters more than anything--that it is the first dimension of the the feminine gender role. Ugliness is inherently evil, inherently othered."
The pressure for women to conform to their time's standards of beauty--usually dictated by the male gaze--has been around seemingly forever. But never before has it been as ubiquitous and evil. And something has to be done about it. That's the call to arms Ellen Atlanta sounds in Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Harms Women.
So what's going on? For one thing there's where social referents come from. Whereas earlier generations may have compared themselves to actresses, models in magazines, musicians, and the "cute" girls at their school, today's teens are constantly bombarded with the very altered images of celebrities and influencers, often made ashamed of their bodies and desperate to get rid of their "flaws" by any means necessary.
One trend Atlanta discusses that has alarmed me since my daughters' childhood is something she mentions in the chapter Algorithms of Desire. Being sexually desirable to the male gaze has for ages been the gold standard for women's worth. That's why as we grow older there's all that pressure to dye hair/botox wrinkles/submit to surgery in order to pass for still hot. Now children at increasingly young ages are pressured to look and act seductive and put in situations no children should ever experience.
"It was instilled in us from a young age that we were to be sexual objects, decorative fantasies that exist to please men. To make them happy and horny was our power. We were algorithms of desire--forbidden flesh to be captured and consumed--and that felt totally normal, encouraged and competitive even."
Another has to do with the ways we perceive our bodies. Rather than seeing ourselves as whole individuals we're taught to mentally cut up ourselves and others and assign ratings to bellies, breasts, butts... "The fragmentation then intensifies past self-loathing and into self-correcting."
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Wait till you see what Atlanta has to say about the transition to motherhood. If you want to understand all the ways in which toxic beauty culture is hazardous to women's health and well-being you'll want to put Pixel Flesh on your summer reading list.
On a purrrsonal note, we're actually having a sunny 🌞 weekend in Maine for the first time in ages. I went to some yard sales with Catherine yesterday. Today Amber and Brian are going to have a father's day cookout. BTW I'm finding that trying to post every day is unsustainable. I'm going to shoot for every other day and see how that goes.
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and all the other fathers who are being honored today.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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