Body Talk

A conversation with a couple in Chile reminds me of a similar conversation I had with a couple in India, about women´s bodies. It seems that the world over men and women are brainwashed with the ideal of a ´perfect´, desirable, sexy and healthy body is that of a barbie doll. Her skin being tanned in the West and white in the Rest. And yet, talking to people from around the world it seems that this ideal is just that, as it is not naturally achievable for many, it is rather a mechanism which keeps women insecure and vulnerable to eating disorders. To be happy, to be healthy, to reproduce and live a long life is to be at peace with your own body in its natural form. To feed yourself for nutrition as well as social pleasure. And men seem to actually truly desire a ´real´woman´s body (una mujer) and not a barbie doll or una chica. If he says otherwise, he is lyng or a product of this brainwashing. A result of our western media, hollywood-glamour magazines and the like. Do we seek approval from the stars? Are they happy? Would they not much rather live without such inhuman pressure to conform to something they are not? It used to be desirable-popular-mainstream to be a round, voluptuous, well-fed woman, in almost all parts of the world. It was seen as a sign of wealth, prestige, power and presence. When did it become fashionable to look like a weak, meek, insecure and vulnerable shadow of a girl? A poor excuse of a woman, I´d say. It is sad enough that professional athletes, dancers, models and actresses must adhere to this pressure as a part of their professional choice. But it is atrocious that the normal, day-to-day, wives, mothers, sisters, friends (ie. the majority of the population) of this world feel pressured to do so. An absolute outrage, a scandal of unhealthy proportions, in fact! Figuratively and literally speaking. Times are changing, though, for the better I hope, as awareness is growing. We, the real people of the world, have the power to change the expectations of what a woman should be. Let us reverse the tides, my friends. Swallow your food, enjoy, drink and be merry if you can, if you are priveleged to do so. Don´t forget it!