I grew up as a young girl whose aspirations where never put on what I had in brains, but what I had in body.? I was raised by my mother who once told me that I could never be too rich or too thin. While most of my friends in high school were taking the SAT or the ACT my mom was making sure I got my certification in Aerobics and was priming me to pursue a career in modeling. Academics a long with most foods were something that was never put on my plate, while health and fitness, dieting, and making myself attractive were all front runners.
My fathers side of the family placed a very high standard on Education. This is probably why they all attended Tulane and LSU. My uncle had a degree in History and a Masters in French. Both my cousins went to Medical school and are now success doctors.
I often wonder if I would have been raised in that environment that put more of an emphasis on my head rather than my hips if I could have avoided a lot of shallow and wasted time focused on looks.
For instance, it was brought to my attention the other day that most of the women I look up to, ?past and present, are either thin, beautiful, or struggle with body image and eating issues themselves. Not one of them was a woman that by text book definition would be considered homely, or unattractive. They weren?t sickly thin or unhealthy, but they were not exactly morbidly obese either. Although I admire many women in this world, and hold some of them in the highest esteem, it seems I subliminally am drawn to the Audrey Hepburns, and Princess Dianas of this world. I am not pouring over Time magazine with Hilary Clinton on the front, but rather the latest issue of People with Jennifer Aniston.
Wow?.I really do think that I have these deep-seeded messages still in my brain that attractive is what is going to get you places, and this is the kind of thinking that probably has a lot to do with my own eating disorder as well as other women?s as well.
I remember that the people at Bravo behind all the Real Housewives shows like Bev Hills and Orange County did a season on 4 woman in Washington D.C. They were not your typical Housewives who were going under the knife, wearing ridiculous sizes, and lounging around their mansions all day.
These woman were actually more interested in passing legal bills not dollar bills, and were more excited to go to dinner at the White House than Spagos. It was sad, because the cancelled it after just one season coining them ?boring? and ?uninteresting?.
It just goes to show that we are a society that has been trained to be somewhat obsessed with the rich and famous, the thin and beautiful.
I will be the first person to admit that I don?t think of Ruth Ginsberg, or Condoleezza Rice when I think of strong women who have influenced my life, and perhaps that is to my disadvantage as I have been letting a lot of the wrong ones influence it in ways that could still feed my body image distortion.
I guess I have never really considered myself smart and if any of those women I mentioned above were to walk in a room and start talking to me, I would definitely feel intimidated.
The thing is so many of us don?t recognize a lot of strong woman in society, not because they are not doing or have done great things, but because we are too busy paying attention to a lot of other woman who really aren?t. I?m sorry it doesn?t take any brains to have your own reality show, buy 4 brand new Burkin Bags, marry and NFL player, and run around after 6 designer chihuahuas.
It does take a lot of brains to go to a University, make it to congress,? and hold a position in office. It takes a lot of brains to play for the WNBA, or to travel to space, to perform brain surgery, hold rank in the Army, or to write a best selling novel. Perhaps we should be giving these woman more props and realize that they are sending a great message to the young girls of tomorrow that you can make something of yourself without weighing less than a hundred pounds on the Red Carpet.
I think it?s those women out there like Michelle Obama who show our generation and the ones to follow that you can be a strong, beautiful, smart, and very successful female who can also make a difference in this world.? So my mom was right, you can definitely be too rich and too thin which will get you nowhere in life. I think it should be changed to you can never be too cool or too kind, especially if your a girl!
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