also in the news

[dianec42]

'Cloaking device' idea proposed
"The cloaking devices used to render spacecraft invisible in Star Trek might just work in reality, two mathematicians have claimed."

Mathematicians? Reality? In the same sentence? You lost me there Scotty.

Boys 'hit by body image pressure'
"Pressure from peers and the media for boys to fit physical ideals can lead to eating disorders, a study suggests."

Okay, who else besides me is thinking the uncharitable thoughts here? Show of hands please!

Comments

[nosebeepbear.livejournal.com]

Assume a spherical cow.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

I've heard that one as "Assume a spherical Jesus"...

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Show of hands please!

Oooh. Pick me, pick me....

The other thing that really burns me is companies who changed the "take your daughters to work day" to "take your daughters and sons to work day" because excluding boys wasn't fair. Whine, whine, whine.

The whole point of the program was to empower girls by showing them women in the work place.

Yet another good idea emasculated.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Yet another good idea emasculated.

So to speak. :)

[anneb.livejournal.com]

In theory, what works in theory should work in practice. In practice, however...


On the second note: I've been thinking for years, as we watch boys in HS wrestling go through bullemic behaviors to make their weight class, or as boys under 13 go to the gym to "develop their 6-packs," to look just like the ideal touted on "Buffy," (in which all men have no body hair and are amazingly developed for high schoolers, believe you me), that feminists who've seen this going on with women for decades should be the first to recognize what's going on, spot how disastrous it is to the body and the psyche, and be the ones hollering loudest, "We've seen this before, STOP it, dammit!"

[merde.livejournal.com]

the trouble is, we're still fighting our own battles. i use gender-neutral pronouns whenever i discuss issues like this -- i grew up in a house where my mother physically abused my father, so i've always known these things cut both ways -- but i think it's a bit much to ask the feminist establishment to stand up for boys when we're still making less money than men in the same jobs.

(for that matter, when i've seen the 'manorexia' issue brought up, it's generally portrayed as something EXTRA horrible -- OMG! our boys are getting to be just as fucked up as our girls! -- without any apparent thought to the idea that maybe if the problem among girls had been addressed sooner and more effectively, it wouldn't be happening among boys as well.)

the fact is, we live in a society that fetishizes body types achievable by perhaps 5% of the population, if that, and does it to the point that everyone unable to achieve those body types is made to feel inadequate. there's no need to genderize that issue. we just need to stop creating unrealistic ideals for people to live up to, and accept that people are always going to come in different shapes and sizes, no matter how much we diet or work out.

i have no idea whatsoever how to get people to recognize this, however. i think the current trend of celebrities owning up to their eating disorders may be a good step in the right direction.