|
Friday, May 24, 2002
Semi-spawned from these comments to this post are these two conflicting thoughts:
Something women's lib., research papers, and sometimes the media itself tells us: Men's preference of desirable physical characteristics of women are influenced by the portrayal of women in the visual media.
Something Mel once told me: "I don't think you can really help who you find attractive."
Does this mean that we can't help who we find attractive because the media tells us who is and isn't attractive? Or does it mean that whoever we find attractive is who the media shows us? Either way, why is there so much complaint and controversy surrounding this topic? If we are looking for someone to blame for people feeling bad about the way they look, why don't we blame those people? I'm not saying that ugly people are ugly because they aren't trying hard enough to look like the beautiful people; I'm saying that ugly people look the way they do because God made them that way. So if there's anyone to blame, it's God. I would like to say that a young girl shouldn't have to feel dismayed and distrought because it is impossible for her to look as skinny as all the girls in her latest issue of Seventeen magazine, but if she does feel distrought it is her own fault. I would also like to say that I shouldn't have to work a day in my life and get a million bucks every hour just for being as cool as I am. However, I'm not going to get it just because I say it. The way we feel about ourselves is influenced by many things and many people. Ultimately, the only way you can feel good about your self-image is to realize that the girl in the magazine is not better than you because of the way she looks. Only you can determine your self-worth.
On a similar tangent, I wrote a poem a while ago called Living in a Magazine that touches on this theme.
| Mr. McBastard | 1:59 AM | | |
|
|
|
