Female Issues: Weight and Living Up to Societies Need for Perfection. Part One.

After sharing an article from the Guardian someone a friend commented on the post wondering if the world could change or is it filled with people who are at best narrow minded?

My response was that no, people would have thought that when slavery was being abolished and women were campaigning for their right to vote. This got me thinking about the struggle that women have had to get to the point we are today and what struggles we have left.

During the 19th century women had very little rights, almost none. They were expected to marry as well as society would allow and rear children tending to the house. Queen Victoria did nothing to aid the female cause despite being a member of only a few female rulers of England. This thought process would be echoed by Margaret Thatcher many years later. Not a champion of her own gender she believed that a woman should be an aid to her man. 

In the early part of the 20th century women succeeded in getting the right to vote but still large inequality existed. Women were still not entitled to full health care. If a woman worked she would be expected to give up her job if she got married as it was seen she would not be able to continue with her career and look after her husband at the same time. The first wave and second wave feminist groups really pushed female agendas until we see the world we live into today.

The problem is that inequality still exists now but in different forms. One of those forms (and there are many but today I am only discussing one) is the ever present societal need for women to look perfect.

Today I rid my wardrobe of clothes that no longer fit me. Since my wedding I have gained around half a stone. Not a huge amount but to be gained in three months it has made my confidence dip quite considerably. My earlier blog post about not comparing myself to others and New Year resolutions. Yeh, not working. My colleagues are still gorgeous and I feel like an elephant. It is wonderful. Trying not to hate myself as I filled a plastic bag full of clothes to be taken to the charity shop was impossible.

I have not weighed myself in a while but I estimate I am probably a few pounds over nine stone. I am five foot two. I am probably only a fraction over what is considered a healthy BMI. But this is the fattest I have ever been. Ever. Period. I look at the gorgeous faces on TV and think urgh! But what I hate most is that I hate myself hating myself.

This isn't me. This is something which exists in a society which puts female beauty ahead of her academic ability. I am reading Lena Dunham's autobiography at the moment and she writes about her being considered brave because she exposes herself and she rightly writes how Blake Lively would not be told that she is brave because she is a "Hollywood" appropriate weight. Somehow because Lena Dunham is curvy and not stick thin she is a martyr. 

I am guilty of it myself. When describing a woman we talk about her characteristics. Not her character. I often find that women are cruel about one another. How do we get past this constant chatter in the back of our heads that we are failing? If I find out I'll let you know.