Obsession

 

Many Marilyn Monroe fans were up in arms about a month ago when Lady Gaga tweeted this fake quote in an effort to inspire body confidence in young women (and to detract from the naysayers remarking on her recent weight gain).

I go back and forth about this quote. When it pops up on social media sites, I can’t help sighing as I roll my eyes at the screen. Yet, it’s the erroneous attribution that aggravates me, not the content of the quote. And we have to ask ourselves if it’s really worth it to dismantle an illusion that might inspire a heightened sense of self-esteem in others.

I don’t have an answer. Of course I hate to see young girls measuring their worth by their waistlines. But how helpful can a fake quote really be? It’s a sad state when the entire foundation of a person’s confidence is built on the faulty notion that a woman who lived half a century ago wore a size 14(and she did…by 1950s standards).

BBC News published an article in 2010 titled “Is Our Obsession with Size Zero Damaging Health?” In short, yes it is (no surprise there). However, I would venture to suggest that size obsession isn’t as dangerous as body obsession in general. Indeed, in discussing female role models, the writer says, “Young women seeking a sense of self-esteem, self-identity and confident femininity are more vulnerable to society's seductive messages suggesting that in order to be worthy, sexy, successful, powerful and happy they must pursue the perfect body at all costs.”

What is “the perfect body?” Though the article as a whole implies that the ideal body is thin, the writer doesn’t explicitly define the parameters. Couldn’t it be just as damaging for a “size zero” wearer to wish she wore a 14 to look like Monroe?

The point is that, size notwithstanding, all women (and perhaps men, for that matter) are apt to feel worthless in a society that values them for their bodies rather than for their intelligence, ideas and compassion—their humanity. More than 50 years after her death, people are still under the entirely misguided (and infuriating) impression that Marilyn Monroe was a “dumb blonde who couldn’t act,” but everyone has a comment to make about her dress size.

The above quote is a testament to this, and the most maddening part of it all is that it gets passed off as empowering.

Patriarchy at its finest…

Let me know how you feel about it!