Week #2 I CAN RELATE

In reviewing Bardo’s article I find that I am on both sides of the fence with a somewhat modern viewpoint and postmodern ideals it in what I assume to be my postmodern views? As a woman who has been struggling with weight issues for the better part of my life, all I can do is agree with Bardo. The media poisons are children’s minds at a young age. Children are easily manipulated and many young girls as well as boys struggle to maintain what they believe to be a normal looking individual. Barbie and Ken dolls are a very good example. Would you not agree that television first tries to supersize all of us and then condemns us for being overweight? Later the media will go out of its way to help us “get back to being normal and fit looking” by extending the hand of a new healthful diet plan. The media plays an important part in how we view each other and what we perceive to be beautiful, glamorous and physically fit. Bardo also mentions eating disorders and how they are not limited to women anymore. Men are getting thinner and the more chiseled you become the better off you are and the more successful you’ll subsist. As far as my modern stance goes it is detrimental to young people globally that they must look a certain way in order to achieve success in their lives. On the other end of the spectrum I can absolutely relate the detriment of eating disorders. I used to be anorexic because I was always so tall that when I was chubby people would call me names like linebacker(I am a woman, not a football player) and others would tease and say that I looked like Sasquatch or Amazon woman which I absolutely did not appreciate hearing. So, there came a time when I just stopped eating. For a woman that is six-foot tall, weighing 120 pounds was severely skinny. In fact I believe I looked older then than I do now. It did not matter that I was now a super thin tall girl what mattered was no matter what I did there were always new teasing names to be made fun of with like scarecrow, sucked up zombie and things of that nature. I eventually overcame anorexia, as the broad spectrum goes next I became a 340 pound over eating, beer guzzling freak. This time I did not care what anyone thought because I knew I looked like a “linebacker” at this point so my attitude followed suit. Misery loves company so I limited myself to fat beer drinking loudmouths and I would not be the social outcast of the group. We were all social outcasts. We lost all self-esteem, pride and had given up hope. We could not compete with or live up to the sensationalized Barbie type models we had seen in every magazine slot and on every commercial on television. So my postmodern take on this story is that I do relate because I have been on the sides of that fence that keeps a person separated from others, alone with guilt and self pity, and lack of self-worth. Anyhow, to make the longest story short I eventually lost all self-respect and worth. I found myself trying out for the show the Biggest Loser in Las Vegas, so that I could be transformed in look as good as the women do in the magazines. Luck has not always been on my side which would explain why I was not chosen to be a contestant. In fact, the producers had told me that I was too thin. I was a 6 foot woman weighing in at 340 pounds and I was too thin. Well, in all fairness they said that I carried my weight well and was proportioned right. Anyhow, to make a continually long story shorter I lost the weight myself and reclaimed my life, my self-esteem, and all the worth in the entire world. I have managed to lose 91 pounds thus far without the help of the media or money consuming fad diet. In addition, it is okay not to look like the Barbie’s of the world because diversity does not always mean cultures and color. Diverse shapes and sizes are a blessing as well. Be happy with who you are and you can overcome anything.