I don't get it
Sorry to start 2007's first blog with kind of a sad topic, but I've been thinking about this since yesterday. I wanted to cook a big, fun dinner for New Years Day so I went to the grocery store to get all the goods. Everything was great until I got to the checkout line. Inevitably, there are entertainment magazines with glossy covers and stars on the front to grab our eye. My eye was drawn to one on top that said "American Idol contestants talk about how they lost their weight!" The cover had pictures of Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson (who is in "Dreamgirls" right now), Carrie Underwood, and other A.I. contestants. They showed "Before" pictures where they looked fine and healthy. And I was like, "Why did they feel they needed to lose weight?"
And then I was so sad, because seriously, directly underneath that magazine was another one...with Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Ritchie on the cover looking sickly skinny and some dumb title like "Have they lost too much?" I got angry and sad at the same time. Dude, why is our world so messed up sometimes? There is this constant pressure on women to be skinny like what they see in the media and then people wonder why there are so many girls with eating disorders. Maybe I'm just really sensitive about this issue lately, because I recently found out one of my students has been struggling with eating issues since she was 12 and I have no doubt she's not the only one in the group.
This topic is nothing new, I'm sure it's talked about all the time. But I don't know that I see anything changing. I wonder if in fact things are getting worse. I mean, it's great for women to eat healthy, exercise, take care of their bodies, etc. But these celebrities go to the extreme to get thin and it bums me out because that's what girls all over the world see and think of as "perfection".
What can I do? I can't change the world or the way the world does things. But I can be there for the women in my life that struggle with this. It might be something small, but at least it's something. Hard stuff.
2 comments:
... and of course... folks unfortunately must realize that all magazine covers, billboards and the like are impossible to get... really:
Here's a link to a Youtube Video that shows why it's impossible.
Here's to hoping and praying that people realize that we've all been made in God's image... that we are beautiful the way we are.
I remember seeing that video awhile and going, "That's so true!" Thanks for sharing it.
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