Dear women,
You are not pretty enough. You are not thin enough, or blonde enough; you are too old if you are over 30, and too young if you are under 20. Your boobs are too small and your ass is too big. Your skin is not smooth enough, your hair should be a more vibrant colour, and your eyes need more definition. You can lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks, you should be ashamed of your ethnicity (no matter what it is), and you are too young to have crow's feet. You shouldn't be so clingy, but you should be more devoted. You need a low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb diet. You need a personal trainer. You need better make-up, better creams, better cleansers. Being pretty doesn't matter if you're smart. Being smart doesn't matter if you're pretty. Have sex and you're a slut, don't and you're a prude. It's every woman's goal to find a sugar-daddy. No woman should rely on a man.
Dear men,
Your dick is not big enough. Your back is not broad enough, your arms are not strong enough, your legs do not carry enough weight. Your abs should be more defined. Your ass should look better in jeans. You're not committed enough to your woman. You're too committed, and therefore, a pussy or a creep. You should skip the eggs and have a protein shake. You don't make enough money, you focus too much on your career. You should stay young, but stop acting like little boys. Grey is distinguished. Old is pathetic. You should be more sensitive. Real men don't cry. Trying to fuck a woman makes you a potential rapist, not trying to means you are gay or lame. You should be tough, but violence is wrong.
These are the messages we have been raised with, these are the images we have been fed. No matter what we are or how we look or what we do, it is not the right thing. We can never hope to be the right weight, the right height, the right disposition or the right age. A single pound, a single year, a single opinion can make or break us as human beings. And we buy into it. We ignore the fact that Cosmo is placed right next to the chocolate covered impulse isle, and that Men's Health appears parallel to extra-large condoms and liquor. There is no more well-researched psychology than targeted advertising, no greater science than consumer relations. Capitalism is built upon our insecurities, and the worst part is, we know that, and we buy (literally) into it anyway. We accept every criticism, we appeal to a perfection that is quite intentionally impossible to attain, and we cannot even blame our ignorance or conditioning at this point. We are well aware, very much awake, and wholly privy to the situation, and we still march proudly into it. Male or female, gay or straight, left or right wing, thin or fat, pretty or smart, black or white - whatever we are, it is the wrong thing to be. It is, at the very least, not quite good enough, and at worst, a perversion of humanity. We are told via magazine, religion, education, and T.V. show how very unworthy we are, how much we need to change to be even close to acceptable, and we pay to be told this. We pay in both cash and self-respect to be informed of our short-comings by others that have the very same. And we know this is what we are doing, and we do it anyway.
I spent an hour staring at this rant, trying to come up with a clever ending to it, until the irony of that struck me. I have no way to end this in exactly the same way I have no clever suggestion on how to end the horrendous and perverse cycle described above. I, like you, should just...
Stop it.
You are not pretty enough. You are not thin enough, or blonde enough; you are too old if you are over 30, and too young if you are under 20. Your boobs are too small and your ass is too big. Your skin is not smooth enough, your hair should be a more vibrant colour, and your eyes need more definition. You can lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks, you should be ashamed of your ethnicity (no matter what it is), and you are too young to have crow's feet. You shouldn't be so clingy, but you should be more devoted. You need a low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb diet. You need a personal trainer. You need better make-up, better creams, better cleansers. Being pretty doesn't matter if you're smart. Being smart doesn't matter if you're pretty. Have sex and you're a slut, don't and you're a prude. It's every woman's goal to find a sugar-daddy. No woman should rely on a man.
Dear men,
Your dick is not big enough. Your back is not broad enough, your arms are not strong enough, your legs do not carry enough weight. Your abs should be more defined. Your ass should look better in jeans. You're not committed enough to your woman. You're too committed, and therefore, a pussy or a creep. You should skip the eggs and have a protein shake. You don't make enough money, you focus too much on your career. You should stay young, but stop acting like little boys. Grey is distinguished. Old is pathetic. You should be more sensitive. Real men don't cry. Trying to fuck a woman makes you a potential rapist, not trying to means you are gay or lame. You should be tough, but violence is wrong.
These are the messages we have been raised with, these are the images we have been fed. No matter what we are or how we look or what we do, it is not the right thing. We can never hope to be the right weight, the right height, the right disposition or the right age. A single pound, a single year, a single opinion can make or break us as human beings. And we buy into it. We ignore the fact that Cosmo is placed right next to the chocolate covered impulse isle, and that Men's Health appears parallel to extra-large condoms and liquor. There is no more well-researched psychology than targeted advertising, no greater science than consumer relations. Capitalism is built upon our insecurities, and the worst part is, we know that, and we buy (literally) into it anyway. We accept every criticism, we appeal to a perfection that is quite intentionally impossible to attain, and we cannot even blame our ignorance or conditioning at this point. We are well aware, very much awake, and wholly privy to the situation, and we still march proudly into it. Male or female, gay or straight, left or right wing, thin or fat, pretty or smart, black or white - whatever we are, it is the wrong thing to be. It is, at the very least, not quite good enough, and at worst, a perversion of humanity. We are told via magazine, religion, education, and T.V. show how very unworthy we are, how much we need to change to be even close to acceptable, and we pay to be told this. We pay in both cash and self-respect to be informed of our short-comings by others that have the very same. And we know this is what we are doing, and we do it anyway.
I spent an hour staring at this rant, trying to come up with a clever ending to it, until the irony of that struck me. I have no way to end this in exactly the same way I have no clever suggestion on how to end the horrendous and perverse cycle described above. I, like you, should just...
Stop it.