Show and Tell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta-rwTxAfuk

A simple straightforward question: How do you feel about your body? For some it could be difficult to answer and others may not have a problem. In this video people were asked this question at random on the streets by a stranger. Some people talked about a love-hate relationship while others talked about just loving their bodies. People of all different body types were interviewed and people of all different body types gave different answers. There were people that to me looked like they had no reason not to love their body, but talked of their love-hate relationship. It’s good to be aware that you are flawed because we all are, but you need to be comfortable with those flaws once you become aware of them.

I wish that there wasn’t so much pressure on people to have a certain body type or certain facial features. In the world we live in, what matters most to people at first sight are looks. We are constantly comparing, comparing ourselves to other people or comparing everyone else around us. This sparks an issue of wanting to look like something you can’t achieve, because you aren’t them, you are uniquely you and that is something you should be proud of. But not everyone has figured this out so they have turned to crazy diets and plastic surgery to transform themselves “for the better”.  Half the time these crazy crash diets are in no way for the better because they are harmful and unhealthy. If you are harming yourself to become skinny then I don’t see the beauty in it. As for plastic surgery I’m not against it at all, but once you start taking it to an extreme and doing things that are completely unnecessary or doing it at a young age cosmetically, I think you might want to realize a few nips and tucks shouldn’t be the reason you gain confidence. Confidence should come from within and I wish people would try to build some without the help of plastic surgery or crash diets. People should be able to be confident about their body type whatever it is, because everyone is different and we all know that.

Not Pro Ana

What really stood out to me is the Pro Ana websites that were talked about in class. I never knew that there was basically a whole society, based on starving themselves and being skinny, out there supporting each other on the Internet through blogs and other websites. I always thought that if someone was anorexic they were going to try to hide it. I never thought they would post it on the Internet for everyone to see, but on these websites people are talking to each other about their different anorexic lifestyles like it’s normal and healthy. I know we were advised not to look at these websites, but naturally I was curious because I had never heard of anything like this. I found different blogs where people talked about their day or their diet plan, mostly consisting of liquids or laxatives, or showed pictures of scarily thin women. Seeing all of this just made me want to feed them or eat for myself I wasn’t sure which one, maybe both. There was also a list I found entitled “70 reasons NOT to eat” as I was reading it I just couldn’t grasp who would actually believe what they were saying. I felt like someone was trying to brainwash me, but all of the things they were saying were so ridiculous and skewed I couldn’t help but shake my head and get angry that some people have read this and become anorexic because of it. These Pro Ana websites beautify anorexia when in reality 60% of anorexics die prematurely.

Stop comparing

The question I would pose is “Why do women and young girls compare themselves to models”? Even I am guilty of this and it really irritates me. We all know that models and actresses don’t really look like what they do on magazine covers and billboards, and yet we all compare ourselves to them. We feel the need to live up to that status and look just like them. If we don’t look like them then we are below average or imperfect when in reality they look nothing like what the advertisements make them look like. Photoshop plays a big part in making these women look “perfect” and “beautiful” and even though we know this we all buy into it and beat ourselves up over not looking like them. The main reason I want to know why we do this is so I can stop doing it to myself. I want to stop comparing myself to these photo-shopped pictures and be happy with the body that I have. I think the reason most everyone else does it to themselves as well is because they see these bodies as society’s only view of perfect and beautiful. Everyone knows that these photos are fake, but everyone still compares themselves to them because they feel that is what they need to look like in order to be accepted. Young girls and women’s self-esteem takes a toll because they are comparing themselves to an image that society says is perfect when it is actually fake. Society’s perception of beauty is greatly skewed by the photo-shopped pictures plastered everywhere.

My first gay encounter

The first time I encountered someone that was gay was my oldest brother’s best friend. They were friends all throughout high school and were roommates in college. Mark, my brother’s friend, was never openly gay until he got to college and he didn’t tell my family, who is like his second family, until his sophomore year, when I was in 8^th grade. I can remember my mom sitting me down to tell me like it was big news and I was going to have some big reaction, but I wasn’t really surprised and didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It’s not that he’s this very flamboyant guy; he was just never interested in girls and whenever he came over we always gossiped about the hot celebrity guys. At the time I may not have grasped the concept that he was gay, but when it was said to me out loud it all started to make sense.

I know that it was hard for Mark to tell my family because he was afraid we wouldn’t be accepting of him. He actually didn’t even tell us on purpose, my dad and my middle brother found out by a refrigerator magnet in their apartment that said “Help me my roommate is gay”. Naturally they were curious and started asking questions. Mark ended up telling them and of course everyone in my family had different reactions. My oldest brother, who already knew and had known for a long time, didn’t care, but my dad and middle brother had different reactions. My dad was a little uncomfortable but found a way to make an inappropriate joke out of it. My middle brother, the masculine baseball player, was completely uncomfortable with the situation and sometimes to this day is still uncomfortable around Mark. My mom, like everyone was shocked to hear the news, but she was very accepting. None of my family’s reactions influenced my own though, I was never shocked by the news and I was happy for Mark. I was and still am proud of him for coming out and being himself, because some people don’t have the courage to do that.

Not an Activist

I wish it wasn’t so hard for me to write this blog prompt, but I’m finding it incredibly difficult. I’ve always had this crippling fear of getting in trouble or embarrassing myself, and by speaking my mind I felt I would always end up doing one or the other. I could talk about one of the times that I went to the animal shelter and played with all the animals or other volunteer work I’ve done, but that’s something I enjoy doing because I like to help; it’s not too out of my comfort zone. I think the hardest thing I’ve ever had to struggle with was last spring when I didn’t speak up and I wasn’t an activist.

In the spring of my freshman year here at LSU one of my good friends committed suicide. I may never know exactly why he did what he did, but I do know he came to talk to me about a certain issue he always came to me about and I kind of blew him off. I tried to just side step all his issues and make jokes out of everything. Instead of speaking my mind and helping him like I usually did I just skirted around it because I wasn’t in the mood for it. I know that what he did wasn’t my fault, I’ve come to terms with that, but I always wish I could have done more. I know there were so many other factors in play that made him feel the need to do what he did, but if I would have been more of an activist and spoken up and helped him through what he was talking to me about maybe things would be different.