Miss Universe and Susan Boyle

I'm sorry to be contrary**, but I fear we've missed the point on Susan Boyle and Miss Universe.

Extreme visibly low weights are not the problem: sending women onto stages to scrutinize and critique their bodies (modeling and beauty pageants) - that's a moral issue we all need to examine.

Susan Boyle defied expectations of her entertainment value, yes. The performance does make me cry, but not as much as the shock of the onlookers and their unabashed "everyone was laughing at you." Since when(and for how long will we continue) does being of any appearance become a condition that makes stepping out in public "brave."

Signed,
Proud member of the frumpy 47-year olds with hair issues club***

**Actually, no: I'm not.
***On this, I totally AM.

Comments

  1. Agreed! The objectification and comparisons of women (and men) is not why we were created. I feel sorry for those who are caught up in the madness of caring about how others see them.

    I was blind to thinking people were laughing at Susan Boyle's looks... I never once looked at Susan Boyle and thought, "frumpy, ugly, bushy eyebrows, old" or whatever else people were defining her as. I saw a human being with guts and spirit!
    The world I enjoy now, since overcoming my body image issues, sees everything beautiful about everyone else. I used to say I look like a muppet gone wrong. Now I see beautiful spirit when I look at my face. I didn't get an external make-over...I made over my definition of self-image.

    I don't know who created the words frumpy, skinny, Spanx, fat, sexy, or big-nosed...but I do not see how those words, or ones similar, have any business being used to describe a human being.
    The only adjectives I find fitting enough to describe the 47 year old writer of this blog are: beautiful soul with an amazingly alive body, mind, and spirit.

    Here's the mantra I teach, "It's a given that I am beautiful...because I AM ALIVE."

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  2. Brilliantly put!

    --a 28-year-old with hair issues. :)

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  3. As far as 'Britain's Got Talent' is concerned, it is the 'entertainment value' of the show's format that is truly concerning. A panel of unpleasant, cruel judges encouraging a form of bear-baiting that we should have long-since moved on from. The show is designed to entertain in the early stages by encouraging us to laugh at the contestants who don't 'measure up'; their feelings are unimportant because they have volunteered. I am delighted that Susan Boyle can enjoy her plaudits and rise above the nastiness. The bullies on the show who 'judge' and lead the rest of us by their example shock me in that they are viewed as an acceptable face of entertainment and one that will unite us as families in our living rooms on a Saturday night.

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  4. Lol: Are the F47HICs open to younger enrollment?

    Agreed - the problem is not just the narrowed window of what is acceptable. The problem is a world where people are commodified, then treated as "less than" (or in truth, "more than" too) based on that value stamp.

    And srsly, how is it even POSSIBLE that anyone thinks they know anything about someone's singing ability based on their grooming?

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  5. Yep, what she did shouldn't be "brave", it should be "normal". Unfortunately, in our society appearance is harshly judged and that really makes me angry. A lot.

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  6. My daughter who can be a lot more savvy that I, has pointed out that the Susan Boyle video was as cleverly and highly edited as any Vogue photoshoot. We are having our emotions manipulated by clever advertising people just as surely while we watch this as while we watch "the beautiful people" - mind you, it still makes a much better story and all the better perhaps in that apparently Boyle knew the format of the show well and was encouraged by her late mother to give it a go.

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