More Than a Body
Yesterday the Rolling Stones came on the radio singing, “Brown Sugar”. And I thought of Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones who are still touring and making music and they’re in their sixties. Name a woman rocker who is doing the same.
“I think it’s because we don’t accept women growing old, getting fat, or getting lines on our faces,” I told David.
“What are you talking about? ” David asked. “It’s because the Rolling Stones were more famous than any other woman singer or band. There up there with Beatles and The Who. And there are more men in rock ‘n roll than women.”
Okay, maybe. But then what about a band like Heart who rocked in the seventies and eighties. Ann Wilson, who struggled with weight all her life, starved herself in the seventies because of the pressure to be thin. When she started to gain weight, this became the focus instead of her powerful voice. Nancy Wilson, Ann’s sister, became the cute one. Are we making these comparisons between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards? I mean both of them look like caricatures of their former selves with their deep, grooved lines in their faces, but they’re still selling out stadiums and people talk to them about their music and not the way they look.
In the “Huffington Post” last week there was an article about the controversy regarding the writer Jonathan Franzen, who has been receiving star treatment from the literary community for his latest family saga, Freedom. Franzen was on the cover of “Time” and the “NY Times” did a book review praising him for his work. Why aren’t best selling authors like Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner, who both write about families, get the same kind of accolades? As women writers we are categorized into “chick lit,” “mommy lit”, “hen lit”, etc. Where are these categories when it comes to male authors? Weiner points out the only time the playing field is leveled is when women authors are writing in genres, like mystery and horror, that men will read. Why is that?
Am I outraged about all this? Yes. But I’m sad, too. I’m sad that Heidi Montag from “The Hills” had ten plastic surgeries, including G cup breasts and a nose job at the age of twenty-two, a mere year older than my oldest daughter. I’m sad pop music is full of examples of young women who are looked at for the weight on the scale (Remember the flack Jessica Simpson got from gaining weight?) or how seductive and sexy they can be (Think Lady Gaga’s, “Alejandro.”).
We are more than this.
We are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies like PepsiCo, WellPoint, and Xerox.
We are world leaders of such countries as India, Germany and Australia.
We are Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, physiology and literature.
We are more than bodies.
What do you think?
Yes, we need to SHOW our children how to love themselves no matter how thin, fat, the color of their skin, gender, etc., etc. It does start with us.
Good point. Down with photoshop. My friend went to Australia and she said that in general Australians have a much more real, deeper way of relating to people than here in the States. Did you hear about the plus size (all of size 6 of her) was livid that the magazine had photoshopped her thinner? We need more of these stories.
I hear you. And amen. It’s ironic that in certain other countries where women appear to lead more “traditional” lives and have fewer options, appearance is less of a factor. Not no factor, but less. And it wouldn’t surprise me if our American ways are making that less the case, as worldwide media spreads our photoshopped views of what beauty is supposed to be to other cultures.
Why is the ego-driven world out to destroy everything? Why ask why? Get on with it!
Sad to say but I think this type of message is because the majority of American society allow this type of behavior to continue. We need to teach our children well…