On Breasts, Botox, and Big Macs

A looooong free-write about feminism, the media, fashion, power, straight & gay sexuality, politics, capitalism, industrial agriculture, and eating disorders.

I think that every nutrition major writes a paper on the relationship between eating disorders and the media. The media puts pressure on girls to be thin, right? Now, if only we could get the media to show a diversity of body types, the problem would be solved, right? I don't think this issue is that simple. We know HOW the media "encourages" eating disorders... let's think about WHY.

If I have learned only one thing from my time working for "The Man," it is this: To hell with love. Money makes the world go 'round. Capitalism is a game in which the players acquire resources. Money is the means for relating unrelated resources, like a Versace dress to, say, a barrel of oil. The goal of capitalism is not to better society (although it can have that unintended or intended effect). The goal of capitalism is to make MONEY.

Western society is blessed and cursed with overabundance. In general, we have enough to eat. We go to school. Everyone has a car, everyone has a cell phone, and everyone has three different types of body lotion. There comes a point when we have it all--at which point, we have no need to buy anything.

This is a business man's worst nightmare. How to sell when no one needs to buy?!? Somehow consumers must be convinced that they need to BUY, and in order to do that, they need to be convinced that they do not have it all, and in fact, that they are missing something very important. But what happens if they actually acquire that very important thing? They must not be allowed to do so--otherwise they stop buying.

The only solution to the dilemma is to convince consumers that they need something that doesn't exist. Let's call it the (se)X factor.The X factor is the silky smooth skin of a model in an ad or the slender figure of the celebrity posing for a photo. It's the idea that people with fame, money, and beauty are better than you, even though you can't say exactly why. They've just got that "special something."

What if you could have that "special something?" How much would you be willing to pay to be famous? How far would you go to become beautiful? Would you buy something that could give you the X factor?

Statistically speaking, yes, you would buy it.

What you don't know is that celebrities and models don't have the X factor, either. They have $300/ hour personal trainers to give them hot legs, $500/ haircut hairdressers to give them the perfect "Rachel" cut, and $1,000/ day agents to get them the starring roles. They also have pimples, cellulite, broken marriages, and drug habits... all of which are easily airbrushed away.

In short, consumers continue throwing money into the black hole of Unilever's pocketbook, in the hopes that some day, the black hole will fill up with money so the consumer can stand on top of the money heap to show off her perfectly waxed legs.

The diet industry is an interesting example of this. Our government pours huuuge subsidies into various agricultural products, for example, corn and soybeans. Americans can eat only so much corn and soybeans, so some of the extra gets exported some gets turned into other products, like high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. Sadly, only one tenth of one percent of the money spent by the Dept. of Agriculture for subsidizing and promoting food goes to fruit and vegetable subsidization and promotion.

Cheap high-fructose corn syrup and cheap hydrogenated oils make cheap cookies and chips. It also helps McDonald's to keep their food prices down. In order to avoid the toxic American diet, it sure helps to be wealthy (to afford healthy, unsubsidized food) and educated (to know why you should avoid it in the first place). For those who can't afford to purchase health, there are always diet pills (and in general, the less wealthy and less well educated are the most likely to fall for ridiculous diet claims, like lose twenty pounds in a week with 'Fat Burner Pro!').

In short, our diets have the deck stacked against us. It's tough to maintain a BMI of 20 when you're eating Burger King three times a week... but why wouldn't you eat the food that is plentiful, cheap, and very tasty? In this case, we can't (permanently) acquire the X factor (a slim body) until we remove ourselves from the chase-the-X-factor-with-the-latest-product game. There is no short cut. More calories expended than consumed = weight loss.

What does this have to do with feminism? Men, in addition to women, are influenced by the X factor. Our culture tells men that the women in their lives are inferior to a "quality product." Often, women fear that they are not pretty enough, lively enough, or thin enough to compete for a man's attention. The conflict is between a woman and "that bitch."

Feminism is the idea that men must respect women, women must respect men, and women must respect women. Conflict between women takes away our power in the world. Instead of advocating for the poor in our very own cities, we worry about lipstick. Instead of thinking about the fact that men get paid 33% more for the same job as women, we think about what shampoo to purchase. Instead of worrying about the state of education in our nation, we think about a nose job. What if we threw our make-up bags in a collective bonfire and joined together to exercise our power as women?

Feminism also respects a women's body, including the idea of breasts, buttocks, lower stomachs, and hips, all of the parts that are used for making new life. The "hottest young celebrities," and the ones most likely to inspire hero worship among girls and young women (think Lindsay Lohan, Mary-Kate Olsen, Hillary Duff, etc), are uniformly thin. When we strive for that ideal, we are denying our female nature, and we are ashamed of our gender and the hallmarks of it.

Sometimes even I am shocked by the ages of runway models. Fifteen. Fourteen. Seventeen. Fifteen. Thirteen. There's a weird pedophilic aspect to it, a socially-accepted sexualization of girls (a la Lolita). I guess it's to be expected from a society that idealises youth, and another way that we set up ourselves for disappointment. We're going to get older, and no amount of Botox will change that. The longer we believe that we must be young to be perfect, the longer we will be unhappy.

[begin tangent] Let's talk about politics, specifically the politics of same gender relationships. I understand why this is the rallying point for conservative politicians to energize their base ("fags and flags," "guns, god, and gays," damn it it's so predictable). I mean, what do they have to show for the environment? The growing gap between the rich and the poor? Our failing schools? Out of control health care costs? Our dependence on foreign energy sources, and fossil fuels in general? N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Combine this with the fact that most conservative men are homophobes, and it's easy to see why homosexuals are the punching bag of the moment.

Now, a friend of mine has a theory: all homophobes are misogynists, and perhaps some men are homophobes because they're misogynist. In a same-sex relationship, who "plays" the man's role? The women's role? How many gay couples do you know? Out of all the gay couples I know, no one plays a traditional gender role (this includes gay and lesbian couples with children). They have an equal balance of power in their relationships. This is a terrifying thought for a misogynist, who believes that his woman is an object.

I also think there's the supposedly feminizing element of homosexuality. In anal sex, someone has to "take it," or assume the role traditionally assigned to the female. For insecure men, this threat to their masculinity can result in the "get away from me, fag" attitude, as the insecure man is worried that being around gay men will damage his masculinity. [/end tangent]

What does this have to do with eating disorders? I hear so many woman say that they want to be small so that someone (their parents? their boyfriends?) will take care of them and will protect them. Eating disorders are a way to stay small, figuratively and literally. They are a way of saying, "I don't matter, and I'm not worthy to make decisions about this that affect me. You take care of it." It's a way of abdicating power.

Let's wrap this up. Do I think that there is a relationship between media and eating disorders? Yes, but I think the issue is more our culture in general, which convinces us that we need something we will never be able to have--perfection. As long as we're willing to buy into that ideal, we'll keep buying.

So if I think I've got it all figured out, why do I still have an eating disorder? That will need to be a separate post!

If you've made it to the end of this discourse, you're a brave soul. My writing us usually much more coherent. This was a free-write/ free-association piece. Write me some hate mail, or leave a comment.