Why Does Success Lead to Physical Attraction?

http://www.manilena.com/rants/michael-phelps-bong-bong-bong/

During the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps won a record eight gold medals for the United States in swimming. I can remember that summer, where Michael Phelps was all anybody could talk about. He soon appeared in magazines like People and Us Weekly alongside famous actors. He had been shot into the spotlight. And almost instantaneously, a wave of girls gushing over him arrived on the scene. But if we take a step back from all the chaos that occurred and actually look at a picture of Michael Phelps, it is quite clear, in my opinion, that he isn’t extremely attractive. In fact, his body structure is quite disproportionate, which actually helps him swim better. But people still think he is good looking, despite this. This just shows the effects of success on our opinions of things. Because Michael Phelps received so much fame and press for his accomplishments, people took notice, and their visions were somewhat clouded. It happens over and over again, and it has probably happened to me at some point. But what is it about success that makes people that much more attractive?

In my opinion, because these people have so much success, we feel that if we can be apart of it, we can feel the pride and honor that they feel. But it shouldn’t be that way. You have to earn success, on your own merit. Not off of someone else’s. Otherwise how can it feel that you have earned anything? This also reminds me off college applications. I have heard numerous stories over the years of people that are the top of their class with resumes stacked with extra-curricular activities. But they aren’t accepted into the top schools. Instead, the children of wealthy families who have connections to either presidents or people on the board of various schools take their places. In my opinion, getting accepted into a school this way is the worst. You haven’t done it on your own. Through those four years of high school, all of our hard work goes into being accepted into a good school. But what if none of that matters, and it was all down to your family. And I’m not saying that this is the case for everyone, in fact it is probably the case for a very small minority, but it is out there. To me it’s sad, because we can’t do anything about it. But I would not feel worthy of the accomplishment and I wouldn’t be able to get gratitude out of it. So if you cant get any of that, the work that you have done becomes worthless.

In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf addresses certain lies about a woman’s rise in power, the first being: “(1) ‘Beauty’ had to be defined as a legitimate and necessary qualification for a woman’s rise in power” (28). We hear so many stories, not knowing if they are true, about women either sleeping their way to the top, or gaining merit based on looks. I hope that this is not true, and Wolf seems to think that it is not. But appearances play such a huge role in society today, that it makes me think that this could be true. The second lie that Wolf talks about is: “(2) The discriminatory purpose of vital lie number one had to be masked…by fitting it firmly within the American dream: ‘Beauty’ can be earned by any woman through hard work and enterprise” (28). This brings us back to Michael Phelps and how beauty was achieved through his success. But Wolf again states that this is a lie. I clearly disagree with Wolf on this point, because I think that it is the truth in many cases, maybe not as often for women, but it has happened.

Grandmother Interview

Recently for class, we were asked to interview our grandmothers, or someone close to you that was over the age of 65. I was able to contact my grandmother on my mother’s side of the family and ask her various questions about her life and the issues that arose as she grew up. One thing that I loved about this assignment was that I had just finished studying about the lavish 1920s, the Great Depression, and World War II in history class. Therefore, as my grandmother was explaining her life as a child during this time, I had a better picture in my mind and knew the context from what she was speaking about.

My grandmother was born in 1927 and luckily her father had a good job so they didn’t suffer as much as others did during the Depression. But even though she was just a baby, she can remember the rationing that took place and seeing other families around her crumble. I am a bit older than she was during that time, and so I can understand the economic crash that just happened better than she could have understood the depression. But the fact that she noticed the little things that affected her life reminds me of myself. I can remember when the crash happened a couple years ago, and restaurants would be easier to get into, for sale signs on cars would say “For Sale Due To Recession”, and most frightening of all, I know numerous people who lost their jobs. Even though the Great Depression was about 80 years ago, the impact on children’s lives is still the same for the crash of 2007.

The thing that I loved most talking about with my grandmother was her social life, especially as a teenager. She said that the dress code was “very classic, skirts and sweaters with pearls, and penny loafers or high heels with a dress.” I find it so funny that I can walk down the street, 70 years later, and still see the same thing. It may be altered slightly to fit in with our generation, but the basic principles are there. Looking back at fashion, so many different styles have been brought back, then pushed away, and then brought back again. Fashion is just recycling old ideas. But this is probably the thing that attracts me most to fashion, because it connects my generation with others from the past. There are not many other ways in which to experience the lifestyles of the past, but in one way, fashion allows us to feel the confidence and pride of putting on an outfit, that some girl felt 70 years ago.

While discussing how the relationship between men and women has changed or stayed the same over time, my grandmother stated that, “Many women are not as willing to work on marriage stability as they once were.” Nowadays, divorce is a common thing. Marriage has become much less serious, transforming into a spontaneous and funny story you tell people, or a decision over cast with emotion, and no logic. But in the past, things were different. You would work on your marriage and not even dream of splitting up. The man you married was the man you were going to be with for the rest of your life, no exceptions. In some ways, I think this took power away from women. It was always the woman tied to the man, not the other way around. Today, women have the power of choice. If they are not happy in their marriage, they shouldn’t have to live the rest of their life that way. In no way am I saying that divorce is a great thing. I believe that you should be absolutely sure about marrying someone and not make a mistake. But if you unfortunately do, luckily women don’t have to pay the price for it anymore.

I fully enjoyed talking to my grandmother about various issues and loved the connections I was able to make to my life. All women, from babies to grandmothers, have a connection. Not because they are the same sex, but because of the issues we all share. We are not alone in this world, and we shouldn’t pretend that we are.

Images Continued- The Beauty Myth

I recently discussed how our society has developed to make women feel that they need to be skinny in order to be physically attractive. I addressed how advertising and the media plays a huge role in this, and luckily we started to read The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf and we also watched Killing Us Softly 4 by Jean Kilbourne. In a section in The Beauty Myth, Wolf talks about magazines: how they have evolved along with society, their positives and negatives, and their effect on women. Wolf states: "They (magazines) have popularised feminist ideas more widely than any other medium... It was through these glossies that issues from the women's movement swept out... Seen in this light, they are very potent instruments of social change" (71-72). We don't realise what an effect that magazines have on us. We read them monthly, cover to cover, with green eyes full of envy glaring at the stick thin models who are wrapped around almost every other page. Sex is probably the most common thing that is tied to these advertisements as companies are desperately trying to sell their products. And sex usually doesn't even have anything to do with the product. These ads teach us what is sexy, what we should strive to look and act like, and that if you do this (or buy this product), men will find you sexier and therefore you will find someone to be with. But how can buying a certain brand of beer, for example, make you sexier?

Another thing that Wolf addresses is the relationship between the reader and her magazine, a relationship that is completely different from that of a man and his Newsweek, for example. Wolf states: "Though the magazines are trivialized, they represent something very important: women's mass culture. A woman reading Glamour is holding women-oriented mass culture between her two hands" (Pg. 70). I find it strange to even refer to a relationship between a person and a magazine, just because it is a very trivial thing. But a magazine allow for a connection to be made between its reader and the issues that surround our everyday lives. A woman can find solace in the fact that other women share the same problems that they do. They aren’t alone in this world. And magazines are the cause of this realization.

Finally, Wolf is correct in saying that magazines represent and display an evolution of society through numerous decades. Unfortunately, as women have advanced, it seems to be that the things that hold them back became greater factors. As the articles and issues in magazines expanded for women, the advertisements started to gain momentum that catapulted them into a surreal world where it doesn’t matter how skinny their models are, or what message they are giving, as long as they sell products. Wolf addresses this contradiction that we find within magazines: “While the editors take a step forward for themselves and their readers, they must also take a step back into the beauty myth for the sake of their advertisers” (77). I find this contradiction to be extremely interesting in the context of human nature, with the fact that people are willing to sacrifice their own morals for money, essentially.

What is So Intriguing About Speculative Fiction?

The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, and Never Let Me Go are all novels that have grabbed the attention of readers around the world. They all fall under the genre of speculative fiction. But what is it about speculative fiction that readers just love? Our society today is fast paced. The common businessman or woman rushing through an airport or impatiently waiting for a Starbucks coffee is a familiar sight. Planners control our lives; technology has made us more impatient; our society has advanced. But even though we have come to this point in life, we still like to imagine another world, or what would have happened if history had changed its course.

In The Handmaid's Tale, history has changed course and birth rates have dropped, eventually leading to a society based on one thing: making children. Today, having children is a wonderful thing that is commonly celebrated around the world. But we never stop and think what it would be like if something could prevent a large percentage of the population from having children. This bizarre idea is explained in the novel, though. I find that the things we are most interested in are often the things we had never really thought about in depth before. These are the things that excite us in life. Imagination is a powerful thing. Speculative fiction takes advantage of our love to imagine, and uses it to imagine very different and often strange things.

One thing that speculative fiction reminds me of is a 'video game', or so I thought, called second life. In this game, you pretty much live in a cyber world, where you meet other people and can even make real money. We sometimes get so caught up in this alternate world, though, that it can start to become real for us. This so called addiction can be harmful. I have heard numerous stories of people who live in this video game, and think that it is real. Life can be hard, and an alternate reality can be an easy escape for some, but it shouldn't necessarily be the right one.

Speculative fiction might offer us a different view of the world, but it allows the reader to get caught up in the story, without them believing it to be real. Instead of a dangerous addiction being the result, we get to experience a world in some sort of a “safe mode”, a healthy way to exercise our imagination. In one way, I can connect this to the way that Offred finds her sources of freedom and expression. Constantly through the book Offred refers to writing and reading as her freedom: “Pen Is Envy… Just holding it is envy. I envy the Commander his pen” (196). She desperately wants to have the power that is beheld in his pen; a small and simple object that contains the will for her to keep going. Offred uses the pen as an expression of her imagination, like how some people use speculative fiction. Another reason why I believe people are so attracted to speculative fiction is because we are always wondering about the future. This can also be connected to The Handmaid’s Tale, in quite an opposite way where Offred is always looking back and referencing to her past. “I wanted to feel Luke lying beside me. I have them, these attacks of the past, like faintness, a wave sweeping over my head” (62). These constant looks into her past also help her get through life and give her some sort of hope, a hope for an escape one day. So in this way, she is looking into her past for the future.