Voices
(see here and here) mine depicted
my own unaltered state — an unshaven bikini line. Up until this
moment, I had obviously seen and
felt the pressure to regulate my
body, but never thought I would
literally experience it.
I’m used to seeing female bodies
perfected and aspects concealed in
the media (i.e., in hair removal ads
for women, hair is NEVER shown).
I wasn’t surprised when TMZ requested to interview me about my
t-shirt, but then cancelled because
the image was “too explicit for
television” — whereas during Rihanna’s abuse scandal, her beaten
face was broadcasted hundreds of
times. I’m used to seeing women
being degraded, slut shamed, harassed for what they look like. Even
the most powerful women in the
world are measured by their appearance and constantly ridiculed
for it. I’m used to one of the biggest media outlets calling a 9-year
old girl a “cunt” (with the intention of being “satirical”). I’m used
to hearing the top played songs
on the radio tell me “I know you
want it — just let me liberate you,”
“You don’t know you’re beautiful,
that’s what makes you beautiful,”
“Put molly all in her champagne/
She ain’t even know it / I took her
PETRA
COLLINS
HUFFINGTON
11.03.13
Unlike the 5,883,628
bathing suit images on
Instagram mine depicted my
own unaltered state — an
unshaven bikini line.”
home and I enjoyed that/ She ain’t
even know it.” I’m used to seeing
blockbuster movies get a rating of
NC-17 because a woman is shown
receiving pleasure — while movies
that feature men receiving pleasure
get ratings as low as PG.
I’m used to seeing cover after
cover featuring stories about a
popular celebrity being fat-shamed
during pregnancy. I’m used to seeing reviews of an award show performance that critiques a female
singer for being “slutty,” but then
fails to even mention the older
male behind her. I’m used to reading articles about whole towns
harassing a rape victim until she’s
forced to leave. I don’t want to be
used to this. I don’t want to have
to see the same thing constantly.
I don’t want to be desensitized to
what’s happening around me all.
the.time. I consider myself endlessly lucky to have access to the
Internet and technology. Through
it I’ve found myself and have been
able to join a new discourse of females young and old who strive to
change the way we look and treat
ourselves. I know having a social