Ashley Judd's Conversation

Between social media, television, and advertisements, it's easy to forget that everyone, deep down, is human, just like you and I. 

Ashley Judd was recently ripped up from news magazines about having put on weight (or was it plastic surgery?). She wrote a letter and posted it on The Daily Beast about media, and more specifically society's view on body image. We're all guilty of it, myself included (and Ashley Judd too, as she wrote in her letter), but why is it 'normal' for us? We do it to women and men... no sex is safe. 

Ashley Judd writes:

"The insanity has to stop, because as focused on me as it appears to have been, it is about all girls and women. In fact, it’s about boys and men, too, who are equally objectified and ridiculed, according to heteronormative definitions of masculinity that deny the full and dynamic range of their personhood. It affects each and every one of us, in multiple and nefarious ways: our self-image, how we show up in our relationships and at work, our sense of our worth, value, and potential as human beings."

It is so ingrained in us to judge others (and ourselves) based on their looks, race, age, disability, and everything else. We do it to make ourselves feel better. We do it to have something to talk about with each other. On top of everything else, with the internet we feel like we are also allowed to remove any sort of filter because we can be 'anonymous.'

Some of the criticism of Judd's letter was that it was feminist and was not a topic worthy of being read. But she's trying to shed light on an issue that we are plagued with for a huge part of our lives and that we think about, consciously or not, all the time.

I don't think by any means that our society will stop functioning in this way anytime soon. It's ingrained in everything, in society and in ourselves. Stopping every once in a while to think about it is all that I can ask, and for you to read Ashley Judd's letter and share your opinion.

Stay Beautiful,

Lisa