On Wednesday we had a gender and media lecture in my class. It was an incredible lecture that touched on the media's perceptions of women (and men, but we focused mainly on women) and how damaging they are. Women are constantly bombarded with messages that they're not good enough: too fat, too skinny, too many curves, not enough curves, blonde when you should be brunette, Latina when you should be white, etc. etc. etc. The list is never ending - because the media is never satisfied. It's all a money making scheme - make women think they need something and they'll keep coming back for more. The effects of this thinking, however, are damaging in the long term.
I was so inspired by our lecture that I gave my Relief Society lesson on "To Young Women" from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's October 2005 General Conference address. I touched on a few things we discussed in class, but mainly stuck to the second half of his talk, which was on body image and our responsibility (as women) to lead by example, and be happy with who we are.
This week's lecture gave a new-found appreciation for my body and the incredible blessing it is. Satan attacks our bodies because he doesn't have one. Sucks for you bro, but you did that to yourself.
I was also really impacted by last week's lecture. It helped me realize just how much control the media can have over our lives and perceptions of ourselves. It is so important that we are grateful for the body God has given us instead of wishing we looked more like the digitized models in the magazines.
ReplyDeleteIt can be extremely hard in this society to appreciate our bodies and to love ourselves as we are. IT is very unfortunate, and I hope to help raise my daughters to understand how damaging it is and teach them to appreciate how wonderful they are the way God made them.
ReplyDeleteMy mom and I had a conversation a few months back about her body image and perceptions. She was telling me about her busy day, and how much she still had left to get done. It was 9pm, her time, and one of the big tasks left on her to do list was do make several dozen cookies for an upcoming event. She made an aside that she'd probably eat too many of them and counteract her workout.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm all for healthy eating, but she was beating herself up. I became envious on my mom's body. She has had 6 kids, including a C-section, and she put on some weight.
I, on the other hand am childless and was born very petite. However, I have chronic illness, which had left me lying on the couch at 7pm in Utah, completely worn out for the day.
Our body's are tools. They're our paint brush, not our masterpiece. What we can accomplish with our body's capabilities is amazing, and being sick has helped me realize and appreciate that so much more than when I was well.
Moral: Being healthy enough to eat a cookie is a good thing.