Comments on: Strong is the New Skinny

By: Jessica Heard

Jessica Heard — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 06:07:40 +0000

Your blog always moves me, especially now as I convalesce while raising a nine year old girl. We talk about often about strong, fun, kind and healthy rather than fast, winning or pretty. Its so hard to combat the message they get from all over their world. Thank you for writing.
Also I stumbled across the movie Closure about transracial adoption. I have downloaded it but not seen it yet. I thought you might be interested.
Love – Jessica

By: Julie Gerdes

Julie Gerdes — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 20:33:49 +0000

You're right Nancy – we, as animals, definitely gravitate towards "beauty". I remember a documentary I watched where they showed very young children pictures of adult faces and asked them which one they liked better and all the children selected faces with a range of what was considered "pretty". The analysis showed the common trait to the preferred faces was symmetry. I just get so angry at how women are portrayed in media and the message it sends to young girls. I look forward to carrying on with this conversation in Sedona :-). We are going to have so much fun! Love ya girl!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:11:49 +0000

Mama definitely had the gift–I just like to ramble on and hear myself write 🙂 It's truly therapy sometimes to jot all these thoughts down that keep my insomnia alive and well! It's absolutely okay to share this with someone. Can't wait to see you guys on Sunday!!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:09:54 +0000

Totally agreed–societal influences are far from off the hook with all this. It perpetuates the lie more than any of it. I do believe, however, that we are born with a sense of what we perceive as beautiful to some degree. Before society even gets its dirty paws on any of us, I personally think there is some degree of evolutionary influence. You can look at the rest of the animal kingdom and see it happening every day. But our culture takes it and runs with it, and it's sickening to see the influence it has on us. I think that's why I like CrossFit so much–in theory, it truly tries to put blinders on you with all that and to just focus on being strong and fit. Not everyone in the room subscribes to that notion completely, but it's a refreshing place to be after having experienced the flip side in so many other places. Thanks for sharing your thoughts–like anything important, ongoing dialogue is the key to change. Emily sure is lucky to have you as her strong and secure Mama–that I know for sure 🙂

By: Noel

Noel — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 11:35:49 +0000

Wow, truly excellent writing, Nancy. You really have your mother's gift with words. (I always thought that, among her prodigious talents, she could have just chosen "writer" and excelled in that field as much as nursing, the gym she worked at, being a reverend, ministering at the prison, and mothering - among others.)

I hope it is OK if I share this with a couple of friends with whom it will really resonate. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you this Sunday for Ethiopian food, Nancy!

By: Julie Gerdes

Julie Gerdes — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:50:21 +0000

Great post Nancy. As you know, this topic is very close to my heart too. Since becoming responsible for the well being of a girl, I've become more aware of the gender issues that plague our society with self image being a huge problem with girls. I don't think it's in our DNA to not be satisfied but being competitive and accepted is and when we are bomb barded with images of women/girls that are so airbrushed they look abnormal, we are bound to find ourselves trying to be something that's impossible and feeling bad about ourselves or made to feel bad by others because we don't meet this ideal. We aren't born with an ingrained idea of what is beautiful, that is taught. Looks and the idea of beauty have way too much emphasis in our society for both men/boys and women/girls. So, don't let society off the hook. Awareness is key to bringing about change and slowly but surely the tide will turn and hopefully our daughters won't even have to worry about this for their children.