Soap Box

Every woman’s been called a bitch, and at least once rightfully so. Every woman’s been touched inappropriately. Every woman’s gotten a break somewhere along the line because of her boobs or ass. And every woman judges every other woman immediately. And fears being judged immediately because of her hair, dress size, nose, teeth, fingers, jewelry, purse, shoes, toes, or body shape.

Why do us women do this to ourselves? [Guys may do it too; I can’t really speak for the male persuasion.] Part of it is definitely the media culture. Dove started a campaign awhile back to help promote “Real Women”. However, as most corporate good deeds do, it turned into something that missed the point. Their most recent ad posted on Craigslist was to recruit “real women” for their next marketing campaign, however here are the stipulations:

YOU WILL BE PHOTOGRAPHED FOR THE CAMPAIGN IN A TOWEL!
BEAUTIFUL ARMS AND LEGS AND FACE WILL BE SHOWN!
MUST HAVE FLAWLESS SKIN, NO TATTOOS OR SCARS!
Well groomed and clean...Nice Bodies..NATURALLY, FIT Not too Curvy Not too Athletic.

Being the idealist that I am, I fully support a grassroots movement centered on women that will fill the void that Dove’s campaign did not. I don’t really want to gather up the estrogen in a room, eat ice cream and chocolate, watch sappy movies and talk about tampons, but I do want to feel more comfortable hanging out with other young ladies. I want the confidence that comes from having non-judging females friends. And I want others to have that too.

I strongly believe that we all have something to offer and all have something to learn. Maybe The Bitches Coalition can help us all learn and live together. I’m not sure where this is going, or what we are going to do, but it WILL be great.

So tell your friends. Together we really can make a difference.

Dove Seeks Women With ‘Flawless Skin’ and ‘No Scars’ for Its Next Real Beauty Campaign
www.nymag.com
How very real indeed.

-Andrea