"Corporeal colonialism": Stop the War on Women's Bodies

[ellenrr]

Botox, Bingeing, Bullying and Breast-Ironing: We Must Stop the War on Women's Bodies
In a globalized world, we must fight toxic body culture by "becoming what we have never seen"--rewriting the paradigm of health and self-acceptance.

As an international body-focused movement takes form, we must re-imagine who it is that we’re fighting for. It’s not just rich, white girls with eating disorders—though we’re fighting for them, too—it’s women worldwide who are suffering from what Susie Orbach calls “corporeal colonialism.” In our increasingly globalized world, where corporate conglomerates produce the majority of both the products we buy and the media we read, we are all stuck together in this sticky, toxic web of disembodiment.

Those who care about real change must move forward with a common vision of who we are fighting for and, most importantly, with. We are fighting for ourselves, of course, but we are also fighting for and with the next generation. We are fighting for and with the 8-year-old girl in the UK who recently reportedly got Botox injections. We are fighting for and with the children of parents who have thrown away hard-earned money on bogus and dangerous diets to the tune of $40 billion each year; many of these kids want to break the cycle. We are fighting for and with the little girl in Cameroon whose breasts are ironed.

As Dr. Sayantani DasGupta recently wrote for Feministing.com: “Toxic body culture isn’t a white woman’s issue. It’s not even a woman’s issue—it’s all our concern. But only if a discussion of advertising happens within an understanding of consumerism, if beauty standards are discussed alongside able-ism or the oppressions of gender and sexuality binaries, if local embodiment politics is contextualized within broader global forces.” In other words, unless the movement is broad and intersectional, inclusive and genuinely diverse, we will be replicating many of the invisibilities that we are fighting so hard against.

http://www.alternet.org/health/150453/botox%2C_bingeing%2C_bullying_and_breast-ironing%3A_we_must_stop_the_war_on_women%27s_bodies/

[RKP5637]

1. What a sick pathetic world we live in ... n/t

[defendandprotect]

2. Brilliant way to deal with your enemies -- get them to attack themselves ... !!!

There is no labor -- there are no profits -- without women.

Frightening thought for those who fear them and their power --

What could be a more effective way of depowering women?