I’ve been um’ing and ahh’ing about writing this for some while but a recent blog post for my work has rekindled the latent annoyance I have. I’m pretty sure that my other half wouldn’t have me down as a feminist but when you actually look around the world in which we live the background casual sexism that pervades is unacceptable.
The advert that tipped me over the edge was this one from M&S.
Hang up your hang ups???
‘Buy our super tight swimwear and spoon your custard filled disgusting selves into our ‘shape wear’ to make you more attractive to other people’. It’s an disgrace that it’s pedalled as happiness inducing. If you hide your folds then ‘Steve’ from Ealing might not choke on his back hair when you emerge from the waves like a normal middle aged woman.
People love you for who you are, not how many cream cakes you can hide in your elastic happiness choking pants. Let’s reverse this, I’m packing average ‘heat’. I’m too skinny by my own barometer. I’ve lost tone and muscle but I don’t put on speedo’s with butt implants and I don’t wear t-shirts that lift and sculpt so why would I expect my other half to?
If you scan the women’s magazines they’re all pretty gossipy, which, if you like that kind of thing is fine (and yes, I do, but don’t tell my work colleagues). The issue is in the messaging. Without being overly selective some of the headlines from the last 12 editions of a random woman’s magazine;
- Beat the bloat, flat tum in 7 days
- Kirsty loses 3 stone, ‘How I did it’
- New diet craze, Lose 7lb fast
- Body Shape Diet, lose 7lb in 7 days
- Too fat for holidays so I lost 11 stone
There are so many things wrong with that. Firstly I would hope that the vast majority of women aren’t taking this on face value and don’t believe this shite but secondly and so much more importantly it’s indicative of a bigger problem. I have a teenage daughter who is influenced by our online and super tragically available world. I don’t want her to believe that his stuff is important.
Look around you, you don’t need to be skinny/tall/defined. You need to be healthy and conscious that you own a multi billion pound machine that evolution has given you. Look after it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, Reebok, I salute you for ‘This Girl Can’. It’s inspired, but more than that, it’s inspiring for every single person, male or female, that isn’t a professional athlete or exceptionally blessed genetic Adonis.
Seriously, would love your opinions on this, am I miles off?
Fubar@Forty 