Spring Break Body Bullshit

 

January to March may be my least favorite part of the year. Freezing temperatures aside, the first few months of the year are almost always dedicated to getting a ‘Spring Break Bod’. We see it everywhere; commercials for Weight Watchers, YouTube videos, magazines. “Achieve your spring break body!” “Get bikini ready!” “Stick to your New Year’s Resolutions!” It’s almost as if these three months are devoted to making women hate their bodies more than they already do.  Gyms get busier, Weight Watchers meetings become more crowded, and diet pill companies thrive. Liquid diets, juice cleanses, and calorie counting becomes more popular all because of a society that teaches us we need to look a certain way in order to earn a spot at the beach.

I want to cry for men and women who lack self-love and self-appreciation because they grow up hearing nothing but these toxic messages. Individuals don’t flourish off of self-hate, starvation and diet fads, but instead from self-care, patience, and positivity. I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t have what most consider a ‘bikini body’. But why should that stop me from being comfortable and confident at the beach?  I love my body. It does pretty awesome things. Yeah my thighs are huge and my stomach isn’t flat but boo fucking hoo is that really the end of the world? I have way more important shit to do than worry about my jean size or if I’ll look good in a bikini.   

I challenge you all to go to your clothing store of choice and buy a bikini. Or a tankini or swim-trunks idgaf I’m not here to tell you how to live your life. Target is the shit for swimwear in case you didn’t know. Buy a swimsuit that you love; one that you will feel hot as hell in and then rock that shit the next time you go to the beach (which will be no time soon in Michigan bc it’s freezing as FUCK). My point is, do whatever the hell makes you happy and screw everything else.

Three Years

The past three years of my life have been filled with pain, tears, confusion, hatred, hope, love, and happiness. A little over three years ago was when I began heavily restricting; not letting anything past my lips without measuring, counting and tracking. I became obsessed with exercise; going to the gym every morning at 4:30, in addition to three hours of practice every afternoon. I was not able to focus on school, or even hold a conversation. I became socially withdrawn, and slept all of the time, because I didn’t find joy in being awake.

 

In only three months time, I lost a third of my body weight, along with my personality, friendships, and love for life. On February 15th 2013, I was rushed to the emergency room, and I was diagnosed with severe anorexia nervosa and acute depression. My heart rate was dangerously low, and the doctors were afraid that my kidneys might have been failing. After months of trial and error, I was taken out of school, and admitted into the University of Michigan C.S Mott Children’s Hospital, where I received partial inpatient care for three months.

 

After almost three years of hard work, I can finally smile again. Yes, I gained weight, but I also gained back my glowing skin, my strong hair, and the twinkle in my eyes. I can eat dessert and ignore the voice in my head telling me that I don’t deserve it. I can enjoy cake on my birthday, or an unplanned dinner out with friends. I can sit by the fireplace with my family, sipping hot chocolate, laughing and feeling free. I can eat a dinner prepared by my mom without tears, fights, and slammed doors. I can go a few days without the gym because I know my shape does not define me. I wake up in the morning ready to take on the day. I don’t wake up crying, but instead, I wake up looking forward to the bright sky, and endless possibilities.

I am in no way fully recovered, and I still have tough days, requiring a large amount of strength. But I know that I can handle it because I am strong, and I am a survivor.

Girl Love

            There are very few things I hate more than when girls are mean to each other. As women in a patriarchal society, we already have the short end of the stick. Because of this, WE HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER! I used to be one of those girls who prided herself in hating girls. I always used to talk about how annoying girls are and how I prefer to have guy friends because it’s “less drama” (clearly I never read a history book). I cringe just thinking about that time in my life. As Caity Mae so brilliantly stated in her article, 'We Need To Stop All This Girl-On-Girl Hate’, “There are too many rapists and serial killers and creepy ex-boyfriends out there for us to treat each other this way!”.
        

 Women, whether trans or cisgender, are beautiful, wonderful creatures who don’t get enough credit for how beautiful and wonderful they are. From middle school on, women are taught to display internalized misogyny by using phrases like the ones I used to use. I want to cry whenever I hear a girl refer to another girl as a slut, whore, bitch etc. By saying these things about other women, we are letting the misogynists win! They want us to hate each other. When we slut shame each other, men are able to easily justify the derogatory comments they make toward us.

 

It doesn’t matter if a woman wears more makeup than you, fewer clothes than you, or has more sexual partners than you; LET THEM LIVE THEIR LIFE! It’s very easy to bring out the worst in each-other, but it’s much more productive to treat each-other with love and kindness. Build other women up, don’t tear themdown. I challenge you to compliment at least one girl you see today. I don’t care if it is about her outfit or her shining personality, everyone loves a good compliment. Let’s work together to end girl-on-girl hate in 2016.

Song Analysis: 'Ass' by Big Sean

If there is one thing I’m great at, it’s overanalyzing. Despite this being annoying as hell during every day life, it definitely comes in handy while writing essays. I take pride in being able to analyze absolutely anything. Here is proof in the form of an 11^th grade sociology assignment in which I analyzed ‘Ass’ by the lyrical genius, Big Sean.

The song 'Ass' by Big Sean pertains to gender roles in society, and the deficiency of respect given to women. One of the first lines of the song reads, "I got girlies have naked, that shit looks like the grotto." Naturally occurring grotto are rock formations around a water source. Ancient Greeks believed a female Nymph guarded the water source, who was immortally youthful, beautiful and unrestrained sexually. Therefore, Big Sean is equating modern day women to a mythical woman during a time where ladies were solely used for sexual pleasure, and were treated like objects. Another line states, "you gon' get a tip today…fuck that, you gone get some dick today. This line implies that instead of supplying a woman with the payment given by the majority, he will instead have sexual intercourse with her, because that is all he believes women are good for. Sean also raps, "And if she look good she pay me in sex", stating that if a women is ascetically pleasing, he will hook up with her, again, objectifying women into physical pleasures.

  

 The next line I will be analyzing: “Bounce that ass. It's the roundest. You're the best. You deserve a crown, bitch." This is implying that a woman deserves a prize if she is good looking. But otherwise, there is no use of her. Also, scientific evidence establishes symmetry as a highly desirable trait indicating reproductive worthiness. The ‘roundest’ is the most symmetrical and therefore the ‘best.’ Sean implies that her butt is a champion deserving a trophy. Coronation symbolizes victory and power, which according to Big Sean, is only present if you are good looking. Sean then says, "Girl you talk too much, shut up." This is stating that he does not wish to associate with a woman for conversational purposes, but instead for her to sexually gratify him.

Not only does this song have many references to contemporary gender roles, but it also indicates a patriarchy occurring within our culture. Women are relentlessly objectified, and made into nothing but a visually pleasing servant to the male's desires. In 'Ass', Big Sean refers to women as many demeaning titles. Not once in the song does he inquire if she would like to go out to dinner, or get to know him better. Instead, he orders her to, "shut up", and "drop that ass". Overall, Big Sean portrays himself as an arrogant male, who enjoys degrading women, in the hopes of receiving sexual favors.

Still a big fan tho

Privilege For Dummies

Privilege: a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people. 

Some people have it better than other people. Who knew such a simple concept could cause so much controversy and disagreement? The topic of privilege gets a lot of people upset, specifically rich white men (are we even surprised?).  In this blog post, I’m gonna lay down some knowledge in the most simple way I can.

            

 Starting with the basics, privilege has many subgroups. Let’s name off a few:

                       

White privilege:

ex) White people can live without fear of being subjected to

                     police brutality.

YES racism still exists:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQp0UugrpTk

Male privilege:

ex) Men aren’t constantly judged and called sluts for being   

       sexually promiscuous.

YES sexism still exists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py5X_biBOYk

Straight privilege:

ex) Straight people can hold their partner’s hand in public   

       without dirty looks and fear of violence.

YES homophobia still exists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJVKFwrM3mU

There are many other social identities that possess privilege such as cis-gender individuals (when your gender identity matches your biological sex), highly educated individuals, able-bodied people (people who do not have a disability), upper-class citizens, those who fall into the religious majority, and many more.

     

          Privilege has to do with power systems.

Society is affected by different power systems: patriarchy, white supremacy, heterosexism, cissexism etc. Privileged groups have power over oppressed groups

All aspects of our identities interact with one another and affect our experiences.

For example: I was diagnosed with anxiety when I was fifteen. My anxiety attacks are often minimized and people assume it’s “that time of the month”. This is a connection between misogyny and ableism.

However, my white privilege also affects the oppression I recieve because of my gender. I, as a White woman, experience sexism a lot differently than a Black or Latina woman does.

Privilege and oppression intersect, but they don’t refute one another. Yes I am oppressed because I am a woman, but I still possess white privilege.

 

“Just because I am a white male doesn’t mean my life is perfect!”

Of course your life isn’t perfect. Nobody’s is. Having privilege doesn’t mean your life is easy, but it does mean it is easier in some ways when comparing it to black women, for example.

              Having privilege ISN’T A BAD THING!!!

When someone points out your privilege, there is no reason to get defensive or feel guilty. It wasn’t my choice to be born into a white family. There isn’t anything I can do about it. But I CAN use my privilege to give a voice to those who are silenced.

         

          I saw this analogy comparing white privilege and bike commuting in a car-friendly  city (coincidentally Lansing, MI). I encourage you to read the article but here is a small excerpt:

 “I can imagine that for people of color life in a white-majority context feels a bit  like being on a bicycle in midst of traffic. They have the right to be on the road, and laws on the books to make it equitable, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are on a bike in a world made for cars.” (jdowsett)

      “So what can I do about it?”

            Step 1: GET EDUCATED

                        Listen when others are speaking about their oppression

            Step 2: Take action

                        Join activist groups (*cough cough* MSU Women’s Council)

                        Work in solidarity with oppressed groups

I hope this helped you all learn a bit about privilege! Let me know what you want me to talk about next by tweeting me @allieetzin or emailing me at allieetzin@gmail.com

xoxo,

Allie