Twiggy, with her androgynous look, heralded the new fashion of anorexia for women in the sixties. Now "skinny" as a goal for women has been replaced with "strong". Which means women should spend countless hours in the gym or yoga mat instead of counting calories and measuring their food portions. "Strong" is the new "skinny". Strong sounds healthy but isn't if it is driven by a fixation on unachievable standards of muscular and body shapes and sizes. Muscles are not endemic to women, as many artists portrayed in past paintings, namely Rubens and Renoir. Women were valued for their softness and fleshiness. Men had the bulging muscles. Now flesh is seen as abhorrent and women try to rid themselves of it everywhere, except their breasts where they are now enhancing it with bags of saline solutions to mimic natural flesh.
The point is that women are dissatisfied with their looks and body image. The trends may change but the goal is the same, to keep women focussed on what is irrelevant, their looks, instead of their intellect and skills and what they can contribute to society. Many, most women after a long day at work, feel obliged to head for the gym instead of spending time with their loved ones or pursuing something creative and satisfying. Working out can become just as much of a prison as staring into the mindless internet or even more mindless tv.
My mother at even 87 years of age would not allow herself to enjoy her favourite chocolates. Why? Because she might get fat.
Under the guise of healthy, we push women to buy products and work out to extreme lengths, all to stop the natural progression of aging, which would involve spiritual growth and wisdom.
There is even talk that 60 is the new 40. If you are that age you know damn well that is not true, as there are natural evolutionary processes going on that are diminishing your physical capacities, like it or not. The end result is that no one helps a 60 year old anymore with anything, because they are seen as 40 and capable. So even if your back is killing you, standing in a tram, no 20 year old will give up their seat for you.
Capitalism, based on selling and consuming, can not tolerate wisdom or spirituality, because those attributes might lead you to realize that all that selling and accumulating of "stuff' is senseless. And then where would the corporations be? Minus a few billion...
So as long as this society keeps women focused on the inessential, creating massive muscles and counting carbs, women will never realize their true potential of wisdom and spirituality, true contributions to future generations.
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