Bodies and Beauty.
In the texts Fun Home and In Magazines (I Found Specimens of the Beautiful), a lot of focus is placed on accepting yourself. Though our forefathers say “all men are created equal”, it should be noted that not all bodies are created equal. Society has a different view of what is considered beautiful which may not be achievable for everyone. Beauty is ever-present in our lives. Makeup advertisements are constantly reminding women that they need lipstick or mascara. The ads may as well say “No one will love you without Ruby Woo on your lips or blonde eyelashes.” Hair color ads are meant to make you feel insecure with the ‘mousy brown’ shade you were given. Women are given so many ideas of what they should be by society, they become completely self-conscious to be themselves.
In the poem In Magazines (I Found Specimens of the Beautiful), the author Ekua Omosupe writes “Once I looked for myself between the covers of Seventeen, Vogue, Cosmopolitan among blue eyes, blonde hair, white skin, thin bodies, this is beauty.” The poem ends by saying “I turned to leave but this body of curvaceous hips, strong thighs, broad ass, long legs called me back to look again at likenesses of African Queens, Dahomey Warriors, statuesque Goddesses. I stand outside those covers meet Face to Face Myself. I am the Beautiful.” The narrator is comparing herself to the beauty seen in magazines, and eventually accepts herself.
In Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, the main character, Alison, experiences something similar. On a road trip to Philadelphia, she is eating dinner with her father in a diner. A woman dressed in men’s clothing with a men’s haircut walks in. Alison refers to it as a “most unsettling sight.” Her father berated Alison and asked “Is that what you want to look like?” Alison and her father both were uncomfortable to an extent in the bodies they were given. She was somewhat embarrassed of her developing body, hiding her breasts and period from the world. Her father experiences comparable discrimination from himself. He desires to dress in women’s clothing and has relations with young men. When Alison shares with her family that she is a lesbian, her father urges her to experiment, as everyone should.
We live in a world where women are constantly being told to be something more or less. Be less abrasive. Be more . The standards we set for ourselves and other women are impossible. Not only do we compare our bodies to others, but we can sometimes be guilty of judgmental actions. If someone doesn’t have the body or beauty we desire, it’s frequently a target. An example of this is skinny shaming. The body positivity movement focuses heavily on the “non-ideal” body size. While this is wonderful for plus size women, very frequently phrases like “Real men love meat, not bones” or even “Real women have curves.” Women who don’t wear makeup think women who do appear “slutty” and women who do think women who don’t are “slobs”.
To relate to the texts, it is easy to hate yourself in a world that hates us. The women in both stories own who they are. They get sick of comparing themselves to everyone else or being told that comparisons are normal. The first step in becoming truly happy with your body and your image is to stop listening to everyone else and erasing the picture in your head and be unapologetically yourself.
