[MENTION=407]Soulful[/MENTION]
At the moment, the direction that westernized media is pointing people in is regressive, not only for women as a group but for communities, nations, and the future of the world. If it is openly, doggedly promoted, the way women are allowed to be treated and portrayed by the media, then what does that say about how humans now are willing to see themselves and each other? I believe that the portrayal now created by corporate powers is oppressive, and unnatural -- so oppressive and consuming that, after a few days of watching this and calming down (and rewatching it), I felt like a lot of what the producers of the documentary were trying to oppose was no big deal, a natural aspect of everyday life that one should just accept and work around, because so much of society now has already wholeheartedly accepted it. In one sense, humans have always been infatuated by beauty, and that is natural. But this desire has been toyed with, to create "dreams" right left and center being shoved into everyones face, dreams that are unattainable and waste the valuable time and energy of men and women, crush their emotional and mental stability, all for capitalistic gain.
Right after I finished watching it for the first time, I experienced a very strong "call to action"; I was very moved by it. It made me realize that how much society seemed to value looks in females had begun to overshadow what
*I* considered valuable and virtuous in other women and myself. It gave me a very strong desire to do something to change the current situation, but after I calmed down I thought to myself that in order to get any further in my aspirations, I would need to push away the destructive stereotypes and expectations that have been imposed on women, to work hard, build up my skill base and mental resources and connections, and therefore become a more effective human being and member of society. In the past, when I was younger, I was quite the leader and well-rounded individual, and really took hold of my own life. But in terms of the past few years of my life, I have very much been a part of many of the statistics shown in the movie... the part where they discussed how girls who self-objectify have depression, anxiety, eating disorders, lower GPAs... and to see that the amount of people just like me was so large and with rates ever-multiplying throughout the past couple years, I was very alarmed and felt very much that I needed to break free from it and be strong to make sure that I would not simply stay stagnant in my life as yet another statistic.
I have never been the sort that was into feminist ideals... I always thought that they tended to be overly vying towards female superiority over males. I have always disregarded this sort of stuff, preferring equality for all. I think that when it comes to this movie, it walked a fine line between simply questioning the amount of justice in our current society and providing unbiased information, and a sort of feminst cockiness.
I would like to know how you reacted to it as well
and sorry it's taken me so long to come up with this response
