DINOEGG.

Karen O

Please be there I only have ten dollars and I love you.

Between Us.

The variables which construct the environment in which anyone who identifies as a woman resides are numerous and at times overwhelming. To claim that in 2012 Australian Women have greater control over what they choose to engage or disengage with in regards to their personal environment is to understand that the quantity of variables to engage with have also increased significantly.

 

As an individual identifying as a woman I am deeply saddened by the efforts of my female peers to take responsibility for the wellbeing of not only their own mind and body, but also that of those they care for. Overwhelming as it may be, the world surrounding us constantly bombards us with information that we can choose to engage with of our own free will. A variable of our environment significantly harder to disengage with is our friends and families. Socially, most of us interact with people in real life, over the phone and via the Internet on a daily basis.

 

As the daughter of a white middle class woman and with most of my friends also being white and middle class, I can regrettably say that, within this cultural group almost every woman I know has, or has had some form of eating disorder, or is severely unhappy about their appearance. What the world, but more importantly women as a target group for social problems that are mainly categorized under the heading ‘eating disorder’ need to understand is that hating your body is contagious. Your hate is contagious and it is infecting women all around you, constantly.

 

In suffering the pain of an ‘eating disorder’ in my own life for a few years I also damaged the lives of others. I watched relationships torn apart by my presence, including my own. I am not trying to blame myself or any other woman for the hatred women carry for their bodies. I am proposing that if you have the strength at some point in your life, be it now or later, to accept your body and love it, it is vital that you do. The reasons for this are numerous and becoming part of a movement to stop women hating their bodies is important for women everywhere. Some of my best friends have unintentionally contributed to my own struggles with appearance, as I’m sure I have too theirs.

 

Many women feel an immense pressure to change themselves in order to fit into a mold presented too them by the world. This mold, that has been presented to women over generations and is deeply imbedded in society’s perspective of what a woman should be and human psyche will provoke a mother, father, friend or carer to change not only themselves but also understand the want to change in a loved one if this invokes the acceptance of said loved one into a society that humans are institutionalized to function within. 

Daisy Hernandez