This post purposely has no pictures. Why? Because recently, I saw an interview with a young woman who'd posted an image of herself on her blog with a caption "This is my body, deal with it!"
When I think about my childhood, and how difficult I thought it was...I can't believe how easy it was compared to today.
As a child, I was incredibly thin, and I wore glasses. A definite set-up to be teased and taunted by anyone who knew the word nerd, geek, or whatever.
But, I don't remember people telling me I should hate myself, or hurt myself, or kill myself because I was thin. Why do kids today think it's okay to be so cruel to each other? Who are they listening to? Who is teaching them to be so mean?
Then, I remember...
They're learning from us.
We--adults--are the ones rating women and men on clothes, physiques, hair, anything we can. And we wonder why teenage girls take to the internet to ask people if they're pretty or to state that they don't need anyone to reaffirm that they are pretty. Two sides of the same thing isn't it?
I look at my little niece who is as thin as I was when I was her age with the same large eyes and full lips. Will she have to face the same things I did or worse?
To every girl or boy that's ever had a mean or nasty word said to them or about them, I hope that you all know that yesterday was then, today is today, and that tomorrow has too many possibilities for you to ever think nothing will or can change.
Stop Bullying!
As an author, this affects me because I've been thinking about the characters in my books. My heroes and heroines. Are they representative enough of everyone. I've written characters that are tall, short, larger in statue, athletic, and of various races.
But, is it enough? What do we owe our children?
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Absolutely fascinating - timely and a wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbour - when her daughter was in gr 2 - came home and asked if she was fat. In grade 2.
A lot of pressure on these kids
Wonderfully insightful post, Angela. I worked as a substance abuse, mental health, school, and career counselor for more than 25 years, and the common thread is self-image. How we feel about ourselves is crucial to our well-being. This country has become more and more superficial over the years, focusing on all the wrong things. Everything is about appearances and youth, giving our children nothing to look forward to. It's disgusting. We have very little control over how we look. It's called DNA. We are only young for a minute portion of our lives, yet we are obsessed with it. So much to say. So little time. Thanks for this post :-)
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