This documentary is hard to watch, but full of the truth for a lot of people. I found this on the Clutch Magazine website. This first part is on the body.
I generally have no problem with breast reductions because usually they're done for medical reasons like back pain, but this woman actually said that she doesn't like hers because they look like "African tribal breasts", and that's the only place she's seen them. Well, that's because the only ginormous breasts that are allowed to be shown in the media are fake, and so they stand out like watermelons. If she watched the Discovery Health Channel more she'd know that most women with breasts her size have to deal with saggage. Also, Victoria Beckham bought herself some freakish cantaloupe tits. They are surely not perfect. I know feminists are supposed to avoid criticizing other womens' bodies, but if they paid for it I should be able to make fun of it, the way I make fun of men who buy shiny sports cars to make up for their little penises.
You know, when I was in middle school I got made fun of for having a flat chest, and the only girls who had "boyfriends" were the ones who had boobs (but having boobs at a young age can do way more harm than good). Eventually puberty hit me like a freight train when I was 14 and I went from an A cup training bra to a C cup in what seemed like a day. I have always wondered, in all honesty, whether I would want implants if I had stayed an A cup. I don't think it's right, and I think people should love their bodies for what they are, but I've learned in the past few weeks that a lot of people are consumed and driven by their insecurities, and my former lack of boobs was definitely one of my insecurities. I do think she probably went too large. C cups aren't that big, but she's got very small bone structure.
I like that they've contrasted this woman's story with the Black woman who wants to get a reduction. It's one extreme or another. Black women who have large breasts and large hips and butts are still treated like "Hottentot". The media is fascinated, but disgusted at us. We are to be fucked, but not loved. Also, I didn't know reductions were so dangerous. Or expensive.
Now, I'm not going to pretend that I know a whole lot about penises or the insecurities that are attached to them, but if size is the main one, which I assume is related to sex with women, why get a surgery that only enlarges the penis it's flaccid state? I don't give a damn how small it is when I'm not doing anything with it! This does not compute.
I'll be perfectly honest: I have an aversion to body hair. I don't like it on my legs, arms, and armpits, I keep my naughty bits trimmed (but not bald, because sorry boys, there's nothing attractive about looking like a pre-pubescent child naked), and I'm not a fan of it on men either. I don't expect you to shave your legs or your armpits, but one of the things I liked about the jackass I used to date was that he could barely grown hair on his face, so I never had to worry about grabbing a hand full of back or ass hair. I'm actually considering getting laser hair removal done in the future because I really hate the process of shaving. I am surprised that there are men who are concerned with this, though. Men are usually only encouraged to shave their faces every few days, and many of them don't bother to do that.
I actually have a nose very similar to Jet's, although mine is smaller (actually, more like the new size at the end of this doc). I used to hate it, but then I finally grew into it and I can't imagine changing it. I want to be in films, so I imagine that I'll hear the suggestion several times that I should at least get a nose job, since I already have my darkness working against me. But there's no way I'd change that either, and it makes me sad that there are people out there who will go through immense pain and risk the side effects of dangerous chemicals just to fit the beauty ideal of the people who've oppressed them, harassed them, talked bad about them, and treated them like shit their entire lives. Imagine what seeing this will do to their kids? That woman's 12 year-old daughter was making more sense than she was.
Also, that doctor said that this phenomenon was globalization, not westernization. Really? It says a lot about who controls world-wide media images, because white people (or, Europeans and their descendants) are the minority in the world. The globe is full of black and brown and Asian people. So why is the world-wide standard of beauty so "Western"?
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