Today I would like to talk about women's rights in regard to our diet culture.
Every single one of us has had this experience: you walk into a room and the eyes of every other woman is on you, picking you apart and tearing you down piece by piece until they reach their final judgment. I want to emphasis the word "judge" here: women do not simply "take in" other women, we judge them.
It will never stop breaking my heart to see girls berate their fellow women for their weight, shape, size, hair, clothing, etc. just to give themselves a boost. This is not to say that I don't participate in this behavior myself. Far from it, we are all guilty of such participation; this is namely because we have been taught from an early age that women should be judged by their beauty first and foremost. But the fact that everyone does it doesn't make it right and it doesn't make it true. Conversely, men are far from held to this standard.
Imagine a man walking into a bar. He is clearly unattractive, but he pulls up in the newest Porsche model, checks the time on his Rolex, and tips the bartender with $100 bills. Obviously this is a man of high regard and he deserves our respect, regardless of his appearance, yes? Now imagine the circumstances are tweaked: the man is not a man but an unattractive woman. That woman, regardless of how wealthy or influential she is, will automatically be judged on her appearance first and foremost. Further, if her appearance doesn't measure up, no amount of expensive dress or prestige will erase the fact that she is not attractive.
And therein lies the problem. Wonder why women only make 77 cents to every man's dollar? Here's your answer. As long as women hold each other to the standard of being beautiful enough, thin enough, having full enough lips, tan enough skin, big enough breasts, long enough legs, flat enough abs, toned enough arms, or a round enough butt, they will continue to keep themselves down.
The last major feminist movement occurred when we stopped judging our fellow women by how perky their breasts were, burned our bras and let our hair grow long. For the first time in a long time, we made progress in women's rights because instead of standing apart, eying each other from afar, we stood together for the collective female.
I think Naomi Wolf summarizes best what I'm getting at: think about the few women you know who are happy about the way they look, the number on the scale, and the tag on their jean, regardless of what those numbers are. Those women are clearly the most dangerous, per say, because they are not restricted by what society thinks of them.
Think about what those few women have been able to accomplish, and then imagine if we all gave up our preconceptions about how much we should weigh, as well as how much all the other women in the room should weigh. Imagine what we could do together, as an empowered female population.
Until we women can give up our conceptions of what female beauty should look like, we give up the most significant thing we have in the mounting battle over women's rights - our unity. Divided we are powerless; united we can move mountains.
So do yourself a favor: the next time you start giving another woman the once-over, remind yourself that she is struggling with the exact same things you are, regardless of how put-together she looks. You are united as sisters in female suffering as well as in the fight to advance women's rights everywhere.
Instead of looking at her as an enemy, look at her as a partner. We are all partners in this struggle, and if we could put aside our superficial preoccupations and see the truly amazing women that surround us, fat, skinny, short, tall, we could do some truly amazing things.
