Liberals Invent the Weirdest Virtues
I've been hearing about this one since at least 1990. As I recall in those days the official story was that the patriarchal-industrial complex invented an unrealistic standard for women's beauty, one that no women actually lived up to, except fake Barbie bitches. Despite women's being more intelligent and superior in every way, evil misogynist men were easily able to brainwash every single woman in The West into believing that she should adhere to this standard. Since most women didn't measure up to the ideal they had Body Image Issues. Women, sweepingly, as a collective group with no individual variation, felt bad about themselves. This constituted a Crisis! I guess the underlying premise here is that women should never experience the slightest amount of emotional discomfort. So much of what passes for feminism seems to boil down to that.
Then we had the Real Women Have Curves years. At the time I didn't really have curves and found this pretty fucking stupid. Many women actually tried to get me to admit that I was anorexic and rolled their eyes when I wouldn't play along. They seemed to think I was trying to get one over on them.
Well, age is quite the neutralizer, innit? No one sternly and patronizingly orders me to Eat a Sandwich! anymore. I don't look the least bit delicate and waify. But during this time the idea of Positive Body Image has calcified into one of those bizarre, invented psuedo-virtues. Women are no longer allowed to be critical of their own bodies. No, there's only one correct opinion to have of yourself, no matter what you look like, which is that you are a damn supermodel and anyone who disagrees is a sexist bigot!
I'll grant you that it's tedious to listen to a woman who wishes she looked different run herself down. The problem isn't that she's thinking the wrong thoughts about herself, though--the problem is that she can't quit thinking about herself. Changing your thoughts from negative to positive won't solve this problem. No one who takes her thoughts about herself seriously is ever happy or satisfied. The only solution is some of that selflessness that feminists think is The Problem with Women Today. However, those who believe in the false virtue of positive body image will never believe it, and will never change.
This would all be harmless if feminists didn't encourage women to abandon real virtues in order to make room for these useless substitutes. I know from experience that following the tolerant liberal feminist playbook I learned in college does not result in a happy, useful existence for most women.
I've been hearing about this one since at least 1990. As I recall in those days the official story was that the patriarchal-industrial complex invented an unrealistic standard for women's beauty, one that no women actually lived up to, except fake Barbie bitches. Despite women's being more intelligent and superior in every way, evil misogynist men were easily able to brainwash every single woman in The West into believing that she should adhere to this standard. Since most women didn't measure up to the ideal they had Body Image Issues. Women, sweepingly, as a collective group with no individual variation, felt bad about themselves. This constituted a Crisis! I guess the underlying premise here is that women should never experience the slightest amount of emotional discomfort. So much of what passes for feminism seems to boil down to that.
Then we had the Real Women Have Curves years. At the time I didn't really have curves and found this pretty fucking stupid. Many women actually tried to get me to admit that I was anorexic and rolled their eyes when I wouldn't play along. They seemed to think I was trying to get one over on them.
Well, age is quite the neutralizer, innit? No one sternly and patronizingly orders me to Eat a Sandwich! anymore. I don't look the least bit delicate and waify. But during this time the idea of Positive Body Image has calcified into one of those bizarre, invented psuedo-virtues. Women are no longer allowed to be critical of their own bodies. No, there's only one correct opinion to have of yourself, no matter what you look like, which is that you are a damn supermodel and anyone who disagrees is a sexist bigot!
I'll grant you that it's tedious to listen to a woman who wishes she looked different run herself down. The problem isn't that she's thinking the wrong thoughts about herself, though--the problem is that she can't quit thinking about herself. Changing your thoughts from negative to positive won't solve this problem. No one who takes her thoughts about herself seriously is ever happy or satisfied. The only solution is some of that selflessness that feminists think is The Problem with Women Today. However, those who believe in the false virtue of positive body image will never believe it, and will never change.
This would all be harmless if feminists didn't encourage women to abandon real virtues in order to make room for these useless substitutes. I know from experience that following the tolerant liberal feminist playbook I learned in college does not result in a happy, useful existence for most women.
