Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls by Jes Baker Read Free Book Online

advertisers needed to find a new gimmick, a new, evergreen, “briefcase-sized neurosis”—as Naomi Wolf puts it in The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women —that women could take with them to work. 5
    And thus, two new brilliant industries were emphasized like never before: Beauty and Youth.
    The beauty and youth “religion” replaced the religion of domesticity, and, while the products changed, the invasion tactic was the same: Instead of being a heroine by raising children, you could now reach the same idol status by becoming beautiful (or, as we’ve established, “pretty”). Advertising agencies created a perfect version of a women that didn’t exist, doesn’t exist, and will never exist, and preached the gospel that in order to be okay, you must reach that (unattainable) ideal.
    AND WOMEN BOUGHT IT. And we continue to buy it today.After all, our bodies will always be with us, and we will always grow older. I mean, it’s sickeningly brilliant and it’s making billions upon billions of dollars as we speak. So, with that, I high-five the men on Madison Avenue for inventing a genius, exclusionary, and lucrative scheme, while simultaneously punching them in the crotch as hard as I can for ruining so many lives in the pursuit of money. Because of them, most of us are still imprisoned in our bodies.
    The most frightening part of all? As females (and people in general) gradually find new ways to fight oppression and gain freedom from old rules, the myth of the “beauty ideal” keeps evolving to keep them distracted and entrenched in self-loathing. It’s important to note that, while the focal points of the beauty ideal often change to maintain maximum control, several prerequisites have always been mandatory since the politicization of this ploy: thinness, whiteness, youthfulness, and the “flawlessness” that comes from visual alteration of photographs. ALL of these are still relevant today. Right here. Right now. But in addition to this, we also see a “social reflex,” or a new way to suppress women and their self-esteem whenever liberation is found. This has been a historical constant.
    For example: when women decided to liberate themselves from the overly feminine look, magazines endorsed the “nude look” so women could look “natural” while still subscribing to the standard of pretty that they were trying to avoid. When women started to reclaim their reproductive rights, it is no coincidence that the average model weight dropped to 23 percent below the average woman’s weight. But, as we silly women are wont to do, we’ve continued to liberate ourselves in new ways, year after year. And, so. In response, there’s an always-evolving “beauty myth” (or definition of “pretty” and “desirable”) that introduces a new domination technique to compensate for each of our newfound powers.
    What about today? Well, my generation (and the ones immediately surrounding it, to a certain extent) has become somewhat obsessed with visual diversity and inclusion. Because of this we arestarting to see more “alternative” bodies in the mainstream. Most notably, we’re now seeing plus-size women in some fashion spreads. Because we’re seeing some larger bodies in magazines and online, the standard of beauty is definitely shifting, but our new alteration of the beauty ideal is so insidious that most of us don’t even realize that it’s still keeping us preoccupied, insecure, and in a constant state of self-hatred. It’s exactly as Naomi Wolf said: The beauty myth uses appearance to direct behavior. It’s not about a woman’s appearance at all, but rather the tractability of the person who tries to attain perfection. 6
    Our current obsession is with a figure that BuzzFeed calls the “postmodern beauty.” What does our perfect body look like today?