Gaslighting and Fat Asses

Recently the internet was blowing up over the picture/article/phenomena of "plus size" model Lizzie Miller and her un-airbrushed belly roll;  I'm a few days late here but I wanted to weigh in anyway (pun intended).

This girl had her photo in Glamour magazine and everyone flipped because she's so natural looking.  I mean that people are flipping in a good way.  This photo is, as the article states, the type of candid photo your boyfriend might capture.  I love it, she looks vibrant and beautiful and like someone you'd meet in your everyday life.  Apparently women everywhere have been flooding Glamour with positive feedback because they like seeing attainable standards of beauty in the media.

So what's the deal with airbrushing?  Why does it happen to even the most beautiful celebrities?  Why are slim-hipped boyish 14 year olds still setting the standard for designers?  I mean, I don't pay a ton of attention to the media or what is considered in right now, so sometimes I allow myself to think that the cliches are no longer in power, but that's clearly not true.  What shadow force is it that's airbrushing our photos behind our backs, even when that's not what we want to look at?

Oh, maybe it's men.  Okay, we're going full on weird here.  But it occurred to me as I was dishing up a giant bowl of (brown rice) pasta and cheese (Thanksgiving week is evidently an excuse to eat massive amounts of cheese) that another article caught my eye recently.  It's about gaslighting, which is a tactic used (often unconsciously) by men to make women feel crazy, thereby negating what they're saying or feeling.  Come on, we've all felt it, right girls?  So see if you can follow this.  As men get older their beards go silver, their hair salt and pepper, and their pates bald.  And women eat it up, because men get better looking as they age.  Women, on the other hand, are told that their post baby bodies are unattractive, that their gray hair dulls their eyes or complexions, and that they aren't as pretty as they used to be.  

And let's be honest, who controls the media?  I don't know, and I haven't done any research, but I'm sure it's men.  So airbrush all the models: the Kate Winslets and the Keira Knightleys.  Keep women straining after unrealistic standards of beauty and they won't wake up and realize that they have options.

Okay, so this is a totally convoluted theory here; I'm really flying by the seat of my pants.  But tell me I'm crazy and hear me cry, "Gaslighting!"  And I know that I don't have much to complain about in this category.  I have my beautiful parents to thank for a fast metabolism and a lucky physique.  But when I get older I'll be aging naturally.  And I celebrate my right to enjoy a glass of wine and not worry as I move into my 30's (as one of my managers pointed out this is the start of my 30th year.  Thank you so much) that it'll land more firmly on my ass.  Get fat, ass! That's it.  Now excuse me, but I've got a giant bowl of pasta to finish up.