Time Is Up

At the bottom of this post is a link to an old video I commonly use when working with girls and women on body image issues. At some point we have to grasp how being of a slender build, perceived as attractive, having a lighter skin pigment, born into wealthy families or with US citizenship, etc. are a genetic lottery win in our society that has been built to influence standards of beauty and success. The human brain is built to categorize information for ease of navigating our lives, but we are also blessed with higher order critical thinking skills to challenge the stereotypes, messaging, and systemic oppression that exists in this world.

We are naive to think that our creator is not observing how these human influences are impacting our character and whether or not we are using our privileges to speak out to fight the oppression and injustice of others.

In ancient times, people did not grasp why Jesus healed the gentiles and others outside of his Jewish race. They would've been appalled by his interaction with the woman at the well, and they could not understand when he engaged in long dialogues of teaching with Mary and Martha and several other women who remained close to him throughout his life. Jesus taught us a lot about feminism, whereas culture and people in power have used religion to reinforce patriarchy. If they can keep us focused on our inadequacies, insecurities, and the importance of remaining silent and subservient- who gets to remain in power? The global beauty advertising industry spending in 2022 alone was 7.7 billion dollars. Imagine the influence and change this money, time, and energy would make if not focused on the depreciating assets of our looks. Our physical appearance will erode within this lifetime (that's a promise)…so what legacy do we leave our daughters? A system to reinforce their silence and insecurity or encouragement to pursue a purpose greater than themselves.

I believe in fighting oppression and stereotypes of all kinds. This is not a political fad of the moment. I’ve been doing this work since 2005 long before the political dumpster fire of our country electing a man that said “grab them by the pussy.” One of the most stigmatizing prejudices in our society is toward people of a larger size. Even our medical community wages war on the bodies of heavy individuals when it is the shaming and dieting of our society that has contributed to lack of attunement with hunger/satiety cues, metabolic havoc, and emotional eating. I used to teach the doctors and medical staff at Gwinnett Medical about the harm caused by the medical community toward the patients we were expected to be helping.

We have many societal issues to face and TIME IS UP on distracting us women with our own insecurities. There are children starving in Gaza, suicidal adolescents because they cannot reconcile their sexuality and religion, people fighting depression daily because they feel they are living in a body others hate, children being separated from their parents who are deported, and the list goes on.

Instead of using that religion of yours to categorize who is going to heaven and hell. How about you be like Jesus in helping others navigate this hell on earth.

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