The New Corset Options

[Retrogressive]

The New Corset

When I was younger I would sit in class drawing my own imagined fashions and binding them with the teacher’s stapler; that is if she didn’t catch me. My classmates watched jealously and whispered requests for my “magazine”. Now I’m actually trying to publish my own ‘zine with a staff, advertisers, and everything! So I guess it’s a good sign that since childhood I have been positively enthralled by those glossy spreads, in-depth interviews, and the haute couture. And thanks to the marvel of the modern postal service, I have those things plus the most recent news about Ashton Kutcher, Lindsay Lohan, and Hilary Duff every month in my mailbox. What more could a girl ask for? Oh yeah— substance.

A week ago I fished one of my favourite magazines out of my mailbox with glee. There was a certain up-and-coming young thing with smoldering eyes that were clearly mirror practiced to dazzle his admirers. Still, I couldn’t wait to get home and devour it. But, I was extremely disappointed. I discovered the editor to have written the same editorial she always writes, the quizzes to tell me exactly what I already knew, and the celebrities to be just as humdrumingly scandalous as usual. But my most important concerns were: Is this how I am supposed to be? Are these the things I’m supposed to be interested in? Honestly, there is only so much discussion of The Best Ways to Get Him to Notice You and Which Show is Better: The O.C. or One Tree Hill that you can take without wanting to begin projectile vomiting across your bedroom. The entire “elite group” of young actresses look like breakable dolls and then they slap double issue on the cover just to fit more full paged advertisements of perfect girls in bikinis with great tans… ad nauseum.

One of the subjects of this article has been a media goldmine in recent years; it’s always the same perspective with a different face. We’ve all been desensitized, but still dance around it: enter anorexia. (Please don’t get bored when you read that word, I tried to say it as late into the article as I could. And note that I’m not stating that all svelte beauties are anorexic.) Some view it as a disease or an addiction but we all have began to overlook the fact that still over an estimated 7 million women (and 1 million men) have eating disorders in America. In a country where we have the best of everything more than 8 million people are purposely starving themselves. And where do young minds get this idea? From the people they look up too like parents, actors, or peers; or maybe it’s the consuming human fear of being rejected for who you are which is constantly being prayed upon. And here is the ugly truth: eating disorders are the new corset.

When I say corset, I mean the newest oppression of the fairer sex. You’ve hear before that this new American and European vogue is not just something forced down our throats by certain men, but also certain women. You know its bad when you turn on Oprah and she is telling a beautiful woman who gained a few extra pounds after she was married, due to multiple pregnancies, that she should loose weight to save her marriage because her husband has an idea of what she should look like forever. And it’s not just with sex appeal. Even though the Equal Pay Act was put into action decades ago in 2000, working women earned, on average, 80 cents for every dollar men earned—a 20 percent gender wage gap, even after adjusting for such factors as occupation, industry, job tenure, hours worked, experience and education. None of this is including that in the same year British women were making a rough average of 65 cents for every dollar men earned even though they too have a similar Equal Wage law.

A distorted version of this “world beauty” idea is catching on, now the fashion pages show a choice for each kind of girl: “petite”, “boyish”, “tall”, “sporty”, and “curvy”. Of course the stereotypes of models in each picture is in the following order: “preppy white girl”, “Asian”, “African-American”, “clean cut white girl with a soccer ball”, and “Latina”. I guess we have forgotten that not everyone falls into just five body, personality, or cultural types. I hate to sound like a mother— but think about the starving people in third-world countries and then think of the starving people in America. Other cultures are measured to ours, especially when agreeing that women are equal to men but still, this ever so silent outrage continues. It’s ridiculous that women and men have let this inane standard continue.

It isn’t wrong to be athletic, but it’s not the only thing that can make someone attractive. Human beings are beautiful, emotions are gorgeous, and imperfection is sexy. If everyone looked like the celebrity power list everybody would be so boring. Maybe the big guys in the beauty industry will get it right soon and realize that girls are beautiful, complicated creatures and should be treated so. Don’t talk down to us using petty articles; give us insight and wisdom so that when we do crack our adolescent eggshells we become intelligent, beautiful women. If this oppression can ever change you must remember above all else: to never follow when you can lead.