The F Word - By Briar-Rose

THE F WORD

By Briar-Rose Schaus.

Recently I have been inspired to write about an ongoing issue within the woman community. I’ve been noticing, more and more and hearing these “issues” quite commonly about woman “needing” to lose weight. This is all around me, and this is not regularly because of health concerns, but because of what they think to be as them “lacking in luster”. This is a sick depiction that society has set upon us for a very long time; in turn forcing people to think unnaturally thin is what’s beautiful.

I have been researching quite a bit about these issues lately, and am sickened by the amount of deaths caused by these disorders, due to them wanting to lose weight.

Bulimia, Anorexia, Starving themselves – TO DEATH!

All of this, just to feel beautiful?

*I want to clarify here* Skinny woman can have curves as well. When I say Curves it doesn't mean you have to be plump in any sense, this is simply how a natural woman's body is shaped. I seem to have offended a few people thinking I mean only plus size woman have curves. This is not at all what I meant.

I don’t understand the “new fangled” fashion industry portraying these skeletal beings as beautiful, when they are to be better exampled as the weight and stature of a young boy. "Size-Zero" measures a 56-centimetre waist, which is the average measurements of an eight-year-old girl.

Starving yourself and going on multiple diets in attempt of losing your body structure, just doesn’t seem worth the battle to me. How can you neglect what your body needs just to fit into an unreasonable standard? If you are hungry, all you can think about is food, am I wrong?

(Mind you, if you are naturally thin, without all these exhausting procedures, then that is the way you were made and I am not ragging on you! ;)

Remember, our society didn’t always view unnaturally skinny as “in”… Let’s venture back…

Marilyn Monroe, for example.

Would any one of you look at her and think, “man she’s chunky”? No – because she was a woman, with natural curves. One of the most famous women, known for her beauty! All while being between the sizes 12 and 16.

Her dressmaker recorded her measurements as 36-24-37.

That is over the limits of what is to be considered as a “plus size model” today. Anything over 35” is now considered to be plus size.

Betty Page is another, her size ranging between 12 and 14.

Gorgeous, am I not correct?

Even she was forced to think she wasn’t thin enough and would suck in what she had of a stomach, for photos.

These women are the epitome of sexy and beautiful! - What every woman secretly strives to be.

In the 1800’s through to the 1960’s it was popularized with ads to gain weight. That’s right, GAIN it, not lose it!

Even further back, to the Renaissance, it's apparent that "plump" was considered to be beautiful. Classical paintings and depictions of the Roman Goddess, Venus, show her as a voluptuous woman.

Shakespeare gives these lines to Venus, in his poem, “Venus and Adonis” which was published in 1593. “My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow; my flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning;”

In poor countries, being fat is labelled as beautiful because it signifies being rich and abundant.

What about the Victorian era? All very voluptuous women.

Even the Christian bible speaks of being curvaceous: In ‘The Song of Songs’, or ‘Song of Solomon’, which was written around 3,000 years ago in the Old Testament, quotes from Chapter 7, verse 2:

    “Your navel is like a round goblet which never lacks mixed wine; your belly is like a heap of wheat Fenced about with lilies.”

All of these statements proving natural weight used to equal sexy.

We are teaching the new generations to believe that ‘deathly ill’ is sexy, resulting in illnesses, diseases, deaths and suicides. So many people think they don’t fit into the standards of beauty, teens and children are being made fun of and bullied because of what the other kids are lead to believe.

Of course we all want to be beautiful, but I do not agree with the 'overly skinny' ideals that so many have been brainwashed with. That, to me, is not beauty, and is it really worth all the pain & suffering?

What some people don’t understand is that women have children, children create stretching, and marking, and sagging and the list goes on and on. They don’t understand that the magazine girls are airbrushed and tucked to appear perfect, and would be quite shocked if they were to face what that person really looked like. (which is also ridiculous, but that's just the way it is.) I think it's quite fine to be glammed up in photographs, BUT that isn't how we look all the time. 

So many of us are lead to believe that our natural beauty can't stand on it's own.