By Sophie Balisky, Silver Linings Volunteer
Perfectionism.
A fancy form of fear.
Red-lipped to keep mine shut.
Drenched in an eau de parfum
of guilt and shame
that my good is never good enough.
And perfect is a pale pink hue
I must paint myself
with self-torment
and torrents of tears.
-shb
The words above were inspired by feelings of deep inadequacy as a body, as a human and as a female. I write this with the full awareness that I am not alone in feeling the aesthetic pressures of being a woman.
“Long legs, small waist, long hair, full lips, smooth skin, tall but not too tall, petite but curvy in the right ways, toned and strong but not too muscular, large breasts, doe-like eyes with long eyelashes, eternally youthful, dainty, small...pretty.”
These are the current requirements for a female to achieve physical perfection: a list so extensive and contradictory that it would take nothing short of obliterating our natural bodies to achieve it. Yet, we do: we diet, we strive, we focus, we starve, we wither. And as our bodies succumb to the empty promise of happiness via perfection, so do we.
March 8th was International Women's Day: a day to highlight women's rights, to be cognizant of the progressive steps that have been made and space there is yet to cover. This year, let’s pay attention to the dangerous lies we are told about our worth in relation to our appearance. Let’s call out the psychological control of the media, the fashion and beauty industries and the dolls that we buy for our daughters.
Studies have revealed that 70% of women believe that they would be treated better if they looked more like the beauty ideal they see in the media. Hating ourselves takes up energy. Having an eating disorder takes up energy. Striving to change our bodies takes up energy. And 70% is a lot of women.
In honour of this year’s International Women's Day, let’s push for a shift in female perspective. Let’s aim to make way for a reality in which women take the energy they put towards changing their bodies and redirect it instead, towards changing the world.
https://psmag.com/news/when-obsession-with-beauty-becomes-a-disease
