I'm sure Girls is a good show

I love to talk about body image, about women and our relationship to ourselves, but sometimes I get frustrated by what we find worthy of our feminist perspective. Welcome to a discussion that needs to be had, but one that I, at the same time, find embarrassing for our society.

http://www.xojane.com/issues/lena-dunham-naked-nude

Here are some highlights from the article:

“When a conventionally attractive woman is paid to model lingerie, or to be virtually any other variety of naked in a bit of popular media or advertising, she is a woman doing a job, albeit a job that involves reinforcing the dominant beauty standards we’re all subject to. That, to us, is normal. 

But when a regular, non-remarkable person with a body they have not carefully sculpted to meet cultural beauty standards does it, it’s narcissism -- or, as the New York Post would call it, “pathological exhibitionism.” She is inflicting her body on us, as one might a weapon or a terrible disease.”

(earlier in article)

“We expect, weirdly, to be protected from Lena Dunham’s thighs - as if Dunham herself must be made to understand how uncomfortable they make us, how DANGEROUS they are, to a media consuming public that doesn’t want to appreciate the variety intrinsic to reality, but who are happy to only see people and bodies that we instantly recognize and which do not challenge us. This goes for thighs, sure, but also for a wide array of other things as well, from race to age to disability. Don’t make us look. We don’t know how to process it. It’s HARD.”

…

“…how do we compete with Lena Dunham, who refuses to play? There are no RULES to this game. And so we get angry.”

…

“The aghast controversy evoked by Dunham’s nudity shows us just how much of this “real women” talk is lip service, and how very far we have to go before we can socially deal with the fact that different bodies exist.”

How much self-indulgence is our culture willing to throw around before we realize that we are so wealthy and pampered that - in our spare time - we’re watching superficial, fictional characters deal with superficial, fictional problems, and then we’re creating, within our exposure to these fictions, new ways to hate ourselves, our bodies, and other people’s bodies and senses of themselves?

It bothers me that we layer these worries upon ourselves without ever addressing real concerns first – equitable health care, education and work for women, palatable water and adequate nutrition for children, and human rights. We’re burying ourselves in false interests and false ideals.

There’s nothing wrong with fiction, and there is something wrong with the way that people discriminate against others based on body image. But first things first. I don’t want a TV character’s thighs to distract us  from the fact that Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act or extend protections to immigrants and the LGBTQ community.

Real life is full of real drama, controversy and reasons for offense. Let’s use our womanly wiles to make a difference where it counts.