Cross-posted on Texas KOS
Update: In response to some concerns about the title: It wasn't mine. It's the title of the Campaign (or one part of it). I frankly like it but am not trying as a man to tell women what shape they should be in. Just that they should be real. & I think the campaign does that in a catchy way. Ok, now to the show...................
Several years ago no one had broken the 4 minute mile. In fact, scientists claimed it was physically impossible and dangerous to the athlete.
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister proved them wrong by finish a mile in 3 minutes 59 seconds.
As soon as he broke the barrier, other runners who were 1 or 2 seconds off, suddenly broke the 4 minute barrier & soon they were have competitions (such as Bannister vs John Landy in beautiful Vancouver) to see who could run a FASTER 4 minute mile.
Today world-class athletes are expected to break the 4 minute mile.
What's the point of this story?
It's conclusively demonstrates the power of belief.
Ok, kp, where's this going?
We know corporations have to make money but there are companies that cut corners, treat their community irresponsibly and worsen the world. These companies set up slave-like shops in Third World countries where environmental, worker, and child labor protection laws don't exist.
And then there are companies that prove what every SINGLE corporate leader & seminar have stated: Good ethics & responsible community partnerships are good business practices.
Companies like Costco and The Body Shop and now perhaps Dove practice good responsible business. Btw, if you want to see other responsible companies, check out Buy Blue.
I applaud this Dove campaign which aims to attack the Low self-esteem which plagues so many girls in our society. It's called The Campaign for Real Beauty
There ARE differences between the genders BUT science is repeatedly proving over & over that in terms of intelligence, speed, strength, and physical prowess women are competitive to men.
In fact, 300 years ago, women's bodies were thought to be identical internally to men but just less efficient.
So you can understand exactly how much ground women have to make up - & they are making it up. For example, men's marathon times are improving by 66 seconds a year. Women's are improving by 2 minutes & 47 seconds a year.
It's just that early on they are told repeatedly by a world that doesn't believe that they cannot measure. It happens in overt ads and comments like on TV & movies where the man always has to save a helpless screaming woman from a bad guy.
It also happens when girls are encouraged to be cheerleaders but not athletes. Or when society calls a woman who chooses to have multiple sex partners a "slut" but then high-fives a guy who "scored".
In one study of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), it was found that boys & girls suffering from ADD display symptoms differently. The boy will act out & be disruptive so that people either do things for him or get him help.
The girl will be shyer, quiet to the point of disappearing and will generally be expected to "get herself together."
Either way, the boy gets the attention (even an angry one) while the girl gets ignored or misdiagnosed as "just going through puberty" (even by well-intentioned people).
But the biggest way a girl's self-esteem & confidence is attacked is when the world stops believing in her.
Girls will not break their "4 minute mile" till we as a society believe in them. Women will not feel beautiful until they believe it themselves.
As a man, I have seen so many women who I think are just amazing people. Yet they have no confidence or defer to a man (when present) & it has to be from a childhood in which they were either 2nd fiddle or just not expected to succeed.
Look at this picture.
It's part of the Real Beauty campaign which says that Real Women have curves. As any guy will know: DUH!!
These women are hot! But they are also beautiful. They demonstrate alot of strength and confidence. In their bodies and in themselves.
There are men of course who are sexist bastards or just have been brought up to believe that they have to "protect women", that women need to be look after as if they are fragile China dolls.
However, what is more impossible for me to comprehend are the women who support and reinforce by their submission the idea that women are second class citizens.
This idea has always existed but took on added life an early 19th century movement called as the "Cult of Domesticity."
The "Cult of Domesticity, " first named and identified in the early part of the century, was solidly entrenched by late nineteenth century, especially in rural environments. The beliefs embodied in this `Cult' gave women a central, if outwardly passive, role in the family. Women's God-given role, it stated, was as wife and mother, keeper of the household, guardian of the moral purity of all who lived therein. The Victorian home was to be a haven of comfort and quiet, sheltered from the harsh realities of the working world. Housework took on a scientific quality, efficiency being the watchword. Children were to be cherished and nurtured. Morality was protected through the promulgation of Protestant beliefs and social protest against alcohol, poverty and the decay of urban living. link
This "women are inferior to men" meme has existed in cross-culturally.
Chinese culture has its famous past of binding women's feet to the point that they would atrophy and become dysfunctional...
Several cultures have the practice of neck rings, which I do admit is beautiful & culturally accepted, but they do cause muscle atrophy to the point where a woman will suffocate if she removes the rings - which may happen as punishment for adultery for instance.
& let's not be too high & mighty here in the West. In the 19th century, around 7, girls would start wearing a corset which would permanently shape her body to a man pleasing 18". EIGHTEEN INCHES! The corset was reinforced with steel or whalebone and cinched tightly around the waist.
If I was to have a daughter, she will never hear that she can't do anything the boys can do.
She will be strong beautiful woman who will *never* hear her father say once that she can't match up to the boys.
I personally feel that American girls are overtly & in subtle ways told that they are not as good as boy, that they should be cheerleaders "standing behind their man" instead of the athletes deciding the game.
It's time we men started cheering them on. I applaud this Campaign for Real Beauty and hope more corporations do this as well.
Also, this is not a blanket endorsement of Dove & its parent company Unilever. This is just an encouragement & thanks to Dove for supporting a great program - which recognizes that this is good business as well a good thing.
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/
Update: Yeah, dammit! I can't type! Typos (hopefully) have been corrected.