Keep Calm They're Only Boobs

"Oh my God! What an amazing transformation! You've lost weight!" declared my doctor to me yesterday.  She was referring to the fact that I've lost a lot of weight since I last saw her.  Her expressive reaction made me feel all warm and tingly, and I smiled. I have a long way to go in my weight loss yet, and it will be gradual weight loss because it will give my body a chance to adjust as opposed to taking the weight off quickly.  Since my appointment, I have been thinking about the cosmetics industry and the effect it has on our society.


I have always felt upset by the cosmetics industry, especially when it comes to size.  I feel as though the cosmetics industry really plays on our insecurities in order to make us feel inferior to other people.  The magazines tell us that we're too fat even if we're not. The media also pressures us to mold ourselves to look like a certain type (generally that has been blonde, blue-eyed, and thin - not only is this look unrealistic, but also it is unrepresentative of other races). But, here's the catch, they apply extreme pressure to the models to be thin even when they are thin.  Many clients at Eating Disorders clinics are models or professional dancers (mostly ballet dancers) who developed their eating disorders because of the pressure to be thinner than they already are.  I remember working with a woman who was hospitalized with Anorexia.  She broke down in tears when she saw herself in the mirror because all she saw was that she was fat.   I weighed 300 lbs. at the time. I was standing right beside her, and she thought I was fine but found fault with herself. I felt very sad for her, and yet there was very little I could do to console her deep-seated anguish besides listen to her and encourage her when I could.


I want to distinguish between naturally thin people and the illnesses, Anorexia Nervosa & Bulimia.  I have known many people in my life who are naturally thin because they have high metabolisms.  There is a huge difference in the way naturally thin people behave around food and the way Anorexics and Bulimics do.  Naturally thin people have a normal food intake.  Anorexics refuse to eat or eat very little, and Bulimics purge what they eat through the use of laxatives or vomiting. Knowing this then,it's not fair to label a naturally thin person as an Anorexic.  It's not fair to judge a thin person based solely on their appearance.  Just as it is unfair to judge an overweight person based solely upon their appearance.  However, this is the effect that the media has had upon our society.  The media has bred an attitude of (what I like to call) the "I'm better than you because I have a nicer appearance" syndrome.  


At the beginning of this blog, I shared 2 posters with you.  One that says that all women are real and all women have curves.  I believe it's time we as a society look up from the fashion magazines we read, and take a look at life as it is.  Life is imperfect.  We are all imperfect beings. We all come in different shapes and sizes. The fashion magazines and other media sources portray life as perfect and everybody as perfect beings.  The media is lying to you. The cosmetics industry makes billions from our insecurities because deep down inside we know life is not supposed to be perfect but we always expect ourselves to be.

The other poster I shared with you says Keep Calm they're only Boobs.  A few months ago another blogger stated in their blog that women with large breasts were stupid. As a well-endowed woman, I can assure you that the other blogger 's assumption is false.  Such a statement/assumption reflects very poorly upon the writer herself. My question to her would be why would you assume that breast size is equivalent to my IQ? My breasts are not the sum total of myself as a person.  My breasts cannot give you my opinion, tell you a joke, or express kindness nor do I expect them to because they are just a body part.  And why stop at breast size and IQ? Why not other body parts like arm length? I don't think that anybody has drawn a comparison between a person's arm length and their IQ because that would be ridiculous, right? To me, it is just as ridiculous and irrelevant as comparing breast size and IQ.  


Finally, I want to say that I think that breasts of all sizes are beautiful.  First and foremost breasts are for feeding babies, and all breasts have that capacity. Size does not matter when it comes to the biological function of feeding babies.  The second point is that there is nothing to feel insecure about when it comes to breast size.  Breasts of all size get noticed and are appreciated.  If anybody tells you that you're not good enough for them because your breasts don't measure up to their standards I hope that you will not listen to them.  I hope that you show them the door and slam it in their face! Nobody has the right to reduce you to a body part.  If they just want a body part tell them to buy themselves an inflatable doll.