Ridiculous Life Observations

1.       A.) Explaining Why You’re Dressed Up

When I was in full cosplay the other week for Comicon, the amount of people who gave me and my friends that ‘look’. I don’t even have to describe it, you’ll all know what kind of look I mean when I say that I was walking through busy streets in a brightly coloured Sailor Scout Uniform with a tall boy with a giant rainbow hammer. See what I mean? But really, did it NEED explaining that we were doing this for a reason and didn’t just wonder round like this on an everyday basis? I wasn’t so bothered about the people who were lovely and approached us with a smile and asked what event we were going to, at least those people understood that we were going somewhere. But the disapproving looks on people’s faces at us as a group for looking different. Which brings me to…so what? What if I did walk around as an anime super hero every day of the week? I don’t see how anyone should disapprove seen as A)it’s nothing to do with them. B)I’m not hurting anyone. C)it’s just clothing. There’s nothing wrong with looking or being differed than the norm.

1         B.) Being Judged On Clothing

I think a big reason on why we have uniforms in the majority of schools here in England is for this big worry of bullying. If someone doesn’t have the best clothes, or the best shoes, or a new bag then we’ll all instantly turn on each other and beat the crap out of people for the clothes we wear. One thing there is WE DO THAT ANYWAYS. Bullying can happen for all sorts of reasons, and isn’t escalated purely on the way someone looks. People can be targeted for their sexuality, their learning abilities, their family, their beliefs…our society picks things out whether you’re in a uniform or not. My actual point on this one, though, is how material objects such as clothing seems to be so important in the 21^st century. We judge people on how they dress, what labels they’re wearing, where they bought their clothes. Why? How can you make an accurate judge of character by just looking at someone? You can’t. I don’t give a crap what I wear as long as I’m comfortable. Yes, sometimes I want to look nice but that’s for myself and not because I want to ‘fit in’ or be thought more highly of. I care more about what’s in a person’s mind than what covers their skin.

 1         C.) Dresses Are For Girls

Come to think of it, why do we have items of clothing that are only suitable for one gender? In essence, all pieces of clothing are made to do the same job, but just because they look different, they are deemed socially unacceptable. Why can’t a guy wear a skirt or a dress?(other than in Scotland where they’ve adapted them in to a Kilt, but even then they have to be a certain way to be acceptable) I would have thought a dress or skirt would be very practical for a guy in summer so he can get a bit of fresh air to his…areas. I thought we could have got past this type of mind-set as a race by now and had an even higher sense of equality among women and men. Apparently not. 

 2         Boobs
It seems as though everyone has an issue with boobs (okay, maybe not everyone). But they’re everywhere. You can’t go a day without seeing them, and I’m not meaning ‘it doesn’t count if you don’t see nipple’ rule…as in you can tell a woman has boobs even if she’s in a turtle neck sweater. Let’s face it, most women in this world have them. Big, Small, Pert, Droopy…it’s a fact of life, we’re born to be like that. Yet they’re such a taboo. If it’s a hot day, it’s perfectly fine for a guy to whip his shirt off, yet if a woman was to do the same to cool off then that would be deemed as inappropriate. Bit of a double standard guys. These natural features of a woman that are there to serve a purpose in child care have been over sexualised to heck. I have a photo in which I’m  in a summer dress, given I have a little bit of cleavage (well who would want to wear something up to the neck in a heat wave), but I’ve had one mindless arse  say ‘put your boobs away’ in the comments. For one, they are away as I’m wearing a dress, for two…I can’t help that you can see the top of my bosom, I’m a woman, I have boobs, I can’t take them off – this goes for all other women too.
              I just wanted to put my views out there about breast feeding in public as well. I don’t see why not. A baby needs feeding, and as mother, you have his/her meal ready to go where ever you are. To me that’s pretty cool, it’s basically like having a walking ready meal for a child, how fabulous are women for being able to do this! It shouldn’t offend anyone as the human form is the most natural thing in this world, as well as considering the fact that SHE IS FEEDING A BABY! A baby needs to be fed to live, so people who have a problem with a woman breast feeding on a park bench, for example, are basically having a problem with a baby receiving vital nutrients. We have boobs, stop being immature and deal with it.

3         A.)Seeing Animated Films Over The Age Of 12
There’s always a somewhat uncomfortable eye contact between you, the 17 and 19 year old that has just walked into the cinema, and the parent(s) there with their children under the age of 10. This happened to me and a friend last night as we went to watch Despicable Me 2 (awesome film I may add). Even though I will happily sit and watch animated films/cartoons in the comfort of my own home all day long…doing this in public while not accompanied with a child under the age of 12 automatically makes it a little awkward. Is this just me? I mean, if I did the exact same thing but brought along my 7 year old sister then it would have just seemed normal and no one probably would have looked up. But me (especially having forgotten to take off my work ID so couldn’t be mistaken as a child) and my friend from Uni walking into this screening was the strangest experience. I would like to keep hold of my youth as long as possible, thanks. I have a love for cartoons and I don’t think that’s going away any time soon. I like being young, and Disney/Pixar films are something I will cling onto with an iron grip because they remind me of my childhood.

 3.       B.)Going To The Cinema Alone
It’s not illegal to go to the cinema alone, so why does no one do it? even I’m thinking that the idea of sitting in a movie theatre all on my tod would be un-nerving. It just not the done thing. I’ll walk round the park on my own, I’ll go shopping on my own, but I won’t go watch a film on my own. And sometimes I miss seeing a film because no one will come with me. So why did I never just go see it anyway? I’ve not got much more to say on this one. Was just curious. Maybe I should set this as a task for myself to do and experience what it’s like to go to a film alone. Rebel.

If anyone has any opposing views to anything I’ve said, please…challenge me. I would love to understand the way another mid works about the things I’ve picked out. Equally, if you agree, tell me that too.

Short Arse

Lately it’s been quite apparent that I’ve not been feeling too great. I’ve not had the effort / energy to do anything that I wanted to do (including keeping this blog updated) and even started feeling crap about things that have never bothered me before. For example…my height.

                From the bi-line of my blog, ‘the world from a 5ft1 point of view’…you can see how short I am. I had my last growth spurt when I was in primary school, so around 11 or 12. I’ve not grown since. Kind of grew at one point, I was once 5 foot 2. And then I shrunk. Both times I’ve been measured by a doctor and I lost an inch between visits. Even the doctor was confused on this.

                Being so small makes things a little…I wouldn’t say difficult…but more of an inconvenience. At work, most of my colleagues are a good foot taller than me, so this means I can’t reach the coffee cups, or the milk if they put it in the top fridge, or to look in the meeting room books… I’ve gone around the whole office and accommodated it to my height. I’ve moved the printer screen down ; I’ve moved the mugs to somewhere I can reach ; I’ve put the extra tea bags in the bottom cupboard instead of on top of the fridge. I’m probably driving all the tall people insane. I even have my own special chair. True story…I had to have a new chair ordered for me because my legs are too short and it would have affected my posture…with a foot stool…cause I can’t reach the floor. TINY LEGS!

                After having a giggle about how absurd it is that I have a special chair for my tiny legs, I have started to look in the mirror and resent how short my legs are. That I can’t go to the shop and buy a pair of pants of leggings without having to get them altered before I wear them…or in the same way…my arms are short to the point that ‘3/4 length sleeves’ are still too long for my arms. In a fashion way, it really is a pain in the backside. But also with weight and body shape. I know full well that if I was a half a foot taller…I’d be a few dress sizes less. That my body fat would be distributed differently and I would appear slimmer. It really has put a downer on me being happy with my body, and I don’t actually know how or what brought this on.

                So I thought that it’s about time I snapped out of it. so for a start, I thought….why not find short role models. And to my surprise there’s quite a few. Just for those people who are interested too…I’ll put some names out there:

Scarlett Johansson – this is one of the most beautiful women, in my opinion, that there is. And she is just under 5’3.

Christina Aguilera is at a height of 5’2

And some of the beautiful women that are the same height as me include the likes of Hayden Panettiere, Hilary Duff, Eva Longoria, Jessica Simpson and the Olsen Twins.

                I don’t know why, but looking at these women and knowing they’re the same height as I am (or around the same height) started to make me a feel a little bit better about how short I am. Possibly because there is some of the most beautiful, talented bunch of ladies that are named to be the under 5’5. Is this part of the whole ‘media and body image’ issue again? Am I subconsciously wanting to be taller just because that’s what I see on tv? I don’t know. I did get turned down for a modeling job not long ago for being too short – even though it was an ad for short women… (too short for a short ad….how does that work?) they told me I needed to be at least five foot five to be considered. Well then. That might have been the start of this irrational body hate towards myself. All I know is that it’s silly and I need to start embracing my short legs.  

Sexism

So lately I’ve been getting worked up and pissed off over a minority men. Not in any kind of relationship perspective, per say, but on the views towards women/men and the stubbornness of said views and mind sets.

                Believing in true equality in every form – race, age, gender, ability, and so on – means that those few people that have it stuck in their head that one is better than the rest infuriate me beyond belief. One thing in particular that is bothering me right now is sexism. It’s something that I’ve become a lot more aware of since starting working life. When you’re in school, the guys with perverse perspectives like ‘you belong in the kitchen’ are seen more on the joke-ey side or are just jerks that you soon forget about. But when you’re in the working environment…things like that are a big issue. No matter what industry, company or workplace you’re at…it’s still an issue.

                Out of interest, I Googled ‘successful women’. What I expected to come back from that was a list of successful business women from all over the world. Is that what I found? No. I found list upon list with titles such as ‘how to be successful as a woman’, ‘how to make an impact while being a woman’…then there was one article thrown in there that states why (most) successful women are childless. I don’t know if this was just me being in a foul mood beforehand, but I was somewhat appalled.

‘how to be successful AS A WOMAN’

The last part of the title is what got me. I could understand ‘how to be successful IN BUSINESS’ or ‘how to be successful AS A PERSON’…but the fact that women somehow need completely different rules to be successful than any other person…that just doesn’t bode all that well in my mind. So from curiosity, I opened a few just to see what the ‘oh so different than men’s’ tactics were. I was horrified to find that appearance was a common theme in a few of the links. I saw tips on how you should do your make-up – how much or how little; the way you should dress;  how you need to ‘stay in shape and do some exercise’.  I would have thought it was common sense that you dress appropriate for your role, regardless of gender, but having ‘how to do you make-up’ being high on the list of ‘how to be successful’ is ridiculous. And ‘keep in shape’, why the hell should I? I’ll keep in shape to stay healthy and for my own benefit, of course, but that’s because I want to and it’s a life style choice - not because I want to be successful. You’re telling me that every male CEO in the world had to work out at the gym and get ‘in shape’ to reach that level of success? I doubt it. I’m probably reading into this way too much, but it just felt like a low blow that I need to be attractive to get somewhere in life.

I feel like there’s a lack in visibility of successful female role models to look up to. There’s a few reasons for this. One…there is a little less successful females than there is males (according to servays and statistcs online anyway). And second, when there is success for a female, it’s not exactly the biggest story in the news. I don’t think that the media shout about women in business as much as they could. I hear a lot about ‘hey look, *insert celeb name here* has had a boob job’ or ‘oh my god, look at *insert  another celeb here*’s hair!’… but rarely do I hear of the ‘ordinary’ women (when I say ordinary, I mean in business and who aren’t generally classed as A list Celebs who get followed by the media on a daily basis) who have made a huge impact in the world.

So after being so negative through this whole post, I’m going to be a little more upbeat (or attempt to at least). I want to point out some of the women I look up to. First of is the president and CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer.  She’s a 38 year old woman who’s at the top of her game, with a baby (how that for ‘successful women are childless’). She was on America’s annual list of ’50 most powerful women’ five years in a row from 2008 to 2012, which is pretty darn good going.  From her ‘small town childhood’…to her job in a local grocery store…she’s made her way up to be the CEO of one of the most recognisable and iconic businesses going. BOOM!

One of the most inspirational people, in my eyes, to watch and listen to would be Eve Ensler. I LOVE her. Eve Ensler is a prominent activist addressing issues of violence against women and girls and is one of my favorite women to listen to. She’s spoken at many TED events and always manages to make me think. On her website, she’s describes as ‘Tony Award winning playwright, performer, and activist’ so it’s safe to say she’s an incredibly talented lady.

This was really a huge ramble from when I was frustrated about something, so I do apologies that it’s a bit of a rant. As I say, everything that I’ve said is my own opinion – so please don’t be kicking off if you disagree with anything I’ve said. I will happily listen to your opposing views in a polite manor, mind you,  as long as you don’t out right say my opinion is wrong (an opinion is just that, an opinion. It can be neither wrong or right as it isn’t factual). But yea, I’ll go now.