Originally Posted Saturday, January 15, 2014
"Barbie and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition have both been accused of promoting idealized beauty in their own ways. For many, the campaign was problematic because they say the swimsuit edition objectifies women and promoting a homogenous view of beauty" (CNN).
Duh!
The "other side" points out that Barbie has been a tremendous role model over the years.
Role model!
Perhaps we need to take a better look at parenting instead of Barbie.
Then there are those "Practical Pauls" who say, c'mon, folks, it's just a doll. What can you do with such people? Nothing is ever "just" anything.
Except sex, of course.
I am fascinated by those who strive to rid the world of Idealized Beauty. They are like Capt. Ahab chasing after Moby Dick (is that appropriate?). We all know about beauty and the power it has and the trouble it causes. We were made to read ancient mythology. Jesus, man, even the gods were susceptible to it. The Victorians knew. They tried to hide it. The Moslems know. They hide that shit away and destroy it. Nothing good comes from unbridled beauty. Truly, it is nothing but trouble. Rid the world of that and things will go much smoother. I photograph a lot of girls who do not have it. Welcome to the fucking club. Everywhere I look on the internet now is a picture of a boy with a gigantic dick (ok, I guess that might be too revealing). And it seems that dick size is all that girls talk about now. How do you think that makes me feel? But you don't se me getting tattoos and a fucked up haircut and wearing awful clothing in protest do you? No in thunder. I continue on down that lonely path to enlightenment, my friends.
But I wander. I am a big fan of book reviews. They are most often better than the book. Today I read a review that has me scrambling for Amazon (they pretty much have closed all the bookstores in town). Turns out, though, that the review of the book I want to buy conflates two books, "Flappers," and "Careless People" (link). The review is about some of the most intriguing women of the 1920s. They may have all been beauties (though perhaps not Idealized), but they had something much more intriguing than that. There are plenty of beauties, but how many know what to do with it? What does one do once one garners attention? Well. . . these women had an idea. I've already read much about all of them except for Tallulah Bankhead (what a killer name, no?), but I can't wait to read more. They all lead "invented lives."
I truly pity those who don't.
But once it is over and everything dissipates (as both beauty and intelligence do) there is only the residue of the life lived, only the myth. After everything, even crazy, Zelda Fitzgerald had the presence of mind to write:
“I wish I had been what I thought I was. . . .”
None of us ever are. But she sure as hell was more interesting than Barbie.
Why is it that nobody attacks Idealized Intelligence? They hold up doctors and scientist to us all the time as golden role models we are supposed to worship and emulate. What the hell is that? I.Q. is the same kind of luck that Beauty is. I'm going to have to think about this one. I may start a movement. Fuck Nobel Prize Winners. They are putting too much pressure on the rest of us. They shouldn't be putting them on the covers of magazines. It makes many of us feel inadequate.
Hell, I'm ready to take it all on. Idealized Health. I've been sick for three days with a cold. Today it has moved into my chest. Do you know how Healthy People make me feel? I'm not kidding. Why are they flaunting their good health. Illness is a metaphor, motherfucker.
And there it is. I hope you will join me in my struggle. We must remove the "Idealized" from this value-laden world if we are ever to be happy.
Selah.
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