What If We Actually Threw It All Out? (or, Health, Body Image, and Marketing)

 "A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience." 

~Naomi Wolfe

Today I accidentally clicked on a link on Facebook, and it led me to some decluttering-inspiration page, where I saw the above photo.

[Transcription: "I tried the Japanese method of decluttering where you hold every object that you own and if it does not bring you joy, you throw it away. So far I have thrown out all of the vegetables, my bra, the electric bill, the scale, a mirror, and my treadmill."]

It was clearly posted as a joke. After all, most of us want to ditch those things (right?) but no one would actually get rid of them— all of those very important, very healthy, very culturally acceptable things— would they?

But what if it wasn't a joke?

What if we really could throw out all that stuff? 

(Well, not the electric bill, at least if you want light in your house. But everything else.)

What if eating vegetables brought you no joy and you ate them only out of guilt? You could throw them out!

What if your bra made you feel uncomfortable? You could throw it out!

What if your scale represented shame and guilt? You could throw it out!

What if your mirror reflected only inadequacy, insecurity, and obsession? You could throw it out!

What if your treadmill was just a glaring reminder of what you think you should do, but you actually hated? You could… you guessed it… throw it out!

Sure, maybe there would be compromises. Maybe your body would feel terrible if you stopped eating vegetables, for instance, and this would make you realize that the vegetables did spark a kind of joy, after all. But those compromises start with the base assumption that you're free to make your own decisions about how you exist in the world.

The idea of not pouring your life into the mold of societal expectations around health and body image is made into a joke in pictures like this, because being actually serious about it would require shattering some very deeply held social norms. 

But we are not here on earth to serve a cultural ideal that is largely manufactured by marketers in order to get our money.

You are the only person who can decide what's best for you. We do not owe the world health (however that's defined), or beauty (whatever that means), or a certain image of ourselves. We do not need to punish, shame, or guilt-trip our bodies in order to fit what we have been told is healthy or beautiful. We do not need to measure our alignment to society by numbers on a scale or blemishes in a mirror.

So, for real. Honestly. Please throw out the things that make you miserable. Even if they're something you're "supposed to" have. 

Life is too short to cram yourself into a mold that was never meant for you.

~~~