Are all women masochists?
Perhaps the reason it’s so easy for women and girls to access the desire to violently attack themselves, is the fact that we are brought up to believe that pain and womanhood go hand in hand…
Male social status and the female body
The societal assumption is that body ideals are born out of what’s hot, what’s popular, attractive and appealing. Whilst this is somewhat true, a shifting ideal body type doesn’t originate with a woman’s looks. In fact, it’s all about social status. Particularly male social status.
I hate being cat-called. So why do I miss it when it’s gone?
We are conditioned to feel that all kinds of sexual attention is simply a welcome confidence boost, an antidote to how shit we are made to feel about our appearance.
Is body positivity making us more body conscious?
I know, it’s hard to imagine a world for women where what our bodies look like doesn’t take up so much real estate in our heads - but I think that would be the ideal solution. Not thinking about them quite so much, and therefore not basing our worth on how they look quite so much.
How to approach this New Year.
I’ve spoken about the tired old New Year-New Me fuckery before, (which you are very welcome to check out), but sadly this year, diet, exercise and self-improvement culture continue to be more rampant and pressurising than ever, so I thought that a little reminder of a few things wouldn’t go amiss.
The best Christmas present you can give yourself
Sending love to all of you this Chrimbo, it’s a weird and pressured time. Please don’t worry if you’re feeling a bit flat and shitty, but remember; denying yourself the simple pleasures of food won’t make you feel any better.
DUAL: disgust, disconnection and destruction of our bodies.
Director Scarlett Pivaro Monaghan will interrogate this battle between our minds and our bodies in her upcoming film DUAL (2023). An abstract analysis of how body dissatisfaction disconnects us from our bodies, and the resulting mistreatment of them.
Does diet culture strip away our femininity?
I can’t tell whether it’s ironic or fitting that diet culture, an empire historically aimed at targeting and belittling women, is extremely masculine in its energy…
Why do we hate ourselves?
As a society, we can’t compute the concept of being happy in oneself without some sort of martyrdom along the way. It’s rather curious: hating oneself is widely seen as the sure-fire way to eventually loving oneself.
How to be a natural Kim Kardashian
In Year 6, I was told my hips will get wider, my boobs will get rounder, and at some point along the way, blood will start pouring out of my fanny. This, understandably, left my knowledge of pubescent physiological changes as far reaching as a gradual transition into a natural Kim Kardashian, and a rendition of Saw IV in my pants.
What is self objectification?
Self objectification is looking at oneself with a view to answering the question: “Would I fuck me?”. We don’t necessarily clock ourselves doing this, but sadly, the vast majority of us exist as if a pair of critical eyes float beside us, constantly judging our fuckability on the way to the corner shop, to work, to school and even in our own homes.
What do our mothers pass onto us?
My mum taught me how to hate my body.
Not intentionally, of course, she is none other than the best, most loving mum in the universe, but, nevertheless, through her own body dissatisfaction, I learnt what I should hate about mine.
The damage of diet culture.
The fact that I recognise the messages that gym bunnies, “nutritionists”, influencers, fitness gurus and diet companies pump out, as similar to the messages I receive inside my head from an eating disorder, a severe psychiatric illness that has a 20% death rate…is rather fucking scary.
FATPHOBIA
I would never claim that fatness was the key to health, happiness and success, because you would think that was a stupid lie, and you would be right. But the world around us claims that thinness is the key to health, happiness and success, which is similarly: a stupid lie, but we all believe it.
The ideal body
We are so completely and utterly surrounded by the ideal, that we are living in a virtual reality where these fictional bodies are deemed normal. Well, for anyone who needs to hear it (including me) - THEY ARE NOT NORMAL