Sasha article on body image

Old lady H wrote: 
And sheesh. Is there anyone out there who can easily find clothes that fit? I admit, it caught me totally off guard when the arms in tshirts started getting tight. Holy crap! I got muscles I didn't know I owned!

This is why as my non-climbing hobby, I sew my own clothes.  Granted, it takes longer, but everything fits (after 3 or 4 or 5....tries, no one said this was a faster or cheaper process)

Ryan Swanson wrote: "It's easy to feel a sense of inadequacy"  while being a professional athlete... Give me a break.

I think it's worth the point that EVEN THOUGH Sasha is financially well-off, well-educated, has a passion-as-career job, has a soapbox to talk about issues in her life - lives in a fairly privileged state ultimately, she still has the same problems as anyone else. She looks in the mirror and hates her body (sometimes) because of the completely illogical and insane beauty standards being shoved into our faces by companies who profit over making people feel terrible about themselves. It's not something you can discount from someone, just 'cause.

Would I have liked the article to say something like (correct me if I'm wrong here, I often am), "yeah, but you know what? There's people out there that are like 1,000x worse off than me?" Yeah I would.  But whatchagunnodo. One article can't touch on everything in the world. Climbing and feeling great about what your body can do, rather than the outward appearance of it is empowering, so right on. 

We all lose the thread on what's really important out there.

Ryan Swanson wrote:

And those beauty standards?  They are just words.  I know I'm wrong for saying this, but words don't hurt.  These standards don't matter when you are thick skinned.

I invite you to contribute to, sort of, entertaining post-midlife cry for help right here, on mproj -
Finding the right weight at an older age

Ryan Swanson wrote:

And those beauty standards?  They are just words.  

They aren't. They are often reflected in the behaviors people exhibit towards you and the opportunities made available (or not) to you. There are consequences, not just words.

Ryan Swanson wrote:

And those beauty standards?  They are just words.  I know I'm wrong for saying this, but words don't hurt.  These standards don't matter when you are thick skinned.

Not even going to touch that one.

It sucks that this can be so traumatizing. Emily is quoted saying something like: the scars will never go away. Dang thats gotta be a bad feeling. 

I tend to think emotional scars will dissolve if you let them though. Its just that no one teaches us the mental skill set needed to let that baggage go. Some people are better at it than others, some cultures are better at it than others. My point is that these types of skills (taking care of mental well being) should be taught to us. We are faced everyday with a media a (and other sources) that attack are mental well being in any number of ways. We need a skill set that allows helps protect against that influence. 

Ryan Swanson wrote:And those beauty standards?  They are just words.  I know I'm wrong for saying this, but words don't hurt.  These standards don't matter when you are thick skinned.

Lone Ranger wrote: Not even going to touch that one.

Ryan's right. Not fair, nice or adequately descriptive at all but still generally right about this.  

Ryan Swanson wrote:

And those beauty standards?  They are just words.  I know I'm wrong for saying this, but words don't hurt.  These standards don't matter when you are thick skinned.

"Just words," the cry of my privileged people. Either you're purposefully ignoring the fact that language exists to "just" represent real actions and tangible effects (in which case, I say "classy") or you don't know that (in which case, I weep for your education)

The problem with the word "privilege" is that we've been taught to understand it to mean "getting something extra" when in reality, when used in a societal context, it actually means "not having to deal with extra issues" which is why it's so easy to ignore one's own privilege.  By definition, it's invisible.

bttrrtRock Charles wrote: It sucks that this can be so traumatizing. Emily is quoted saying something like: the scars will never go away. Dang thats gotta be a bad feeling.

I tend to think emotional scars will dissolve if you let them though. Its just that no one teaches us the mental skill set needed to let that baggage go. Some people are better at it than others, some cultures are better at it than others. My point is that these types of skills (taking care of mental well being) should be taught to us. We are faced everyday with a media a (and other sources) that attack are mental well being in any number of ways. We need a skill set that allows helps protect against that influence. 

You should never let anything "dissolve", you should always learn from the past. To forget the past is a huge mistake that just causes problems in the future. You do need to learn how to deal with them though.

kevin deweese wrote: ...
I'll stop my virtue signalling now and see myself out. 

Evidently not, because later:

kevin deweese wrote:

"Just words," the cry of my privileged people. Either you're purposefully ignoring the fact that language exists to "just" represent real actions and tangible effects (in which case, I say "classy") or you don't know that (in which case, I weep for your education)
The problem with the word "privilege" is that we've been taught to understand it to mean "getting something extra" when in reality, when used in a social context, it actually means "not having to deal with extra issues" which is why it's so easy to ignore one's own privilege.  By definition, it's invisible.

Edit to add: ;-)

To quote the great thespian Zach Braff in Scrubs: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt forever  

Bullying isn't real. It's just words. Get a thicker skin. All those people who say it affects them greatly must be liars/s

Viper Scale wrote: You should never let anything "dissolve", you should always learn from the past. To forget the past is a huge mistake that just causes problems in the future. You do need to learn how to deal with them though.

I agree that you should always learn from the past and not forget the lessons learned from traumatic events if its beneficial but I think its totally fine to forget the event itself or to eliminate the negative emotional attachment to those memories.  

bttrrtRock Charles wrote: I agree that you should always learn from the past and not forget the lessons learned from traumatic events if its beneficial but I think its totally fine to forget the event itself or to eliminate the negative emotional attachment to those memories.  

That is dealing with it in a healthy way not forgetting it.

James Schroeder wrote:

Evidently not, because later:

Edit to add: ;-)

Lol, Yeah I thought about referencing that but got distracted by the possibility of a new shiny sparkly virtue signal

Ryan Swanson wrote:

Call me ugly or fat- I dare you.  Then watch how it tears me down and I have to spend my free time validating myself on Instagram because words hurt.

Don't need to, I used a bunch of other "just words" and you couldn't help but respond, despite the fact that, you know, words don't hurt when you're thick skinned. 

Ryan Swanson wrote: "It's easy to feel a sense of inadequacy"  while being a professional athlete... Give me a break.

#freekinder

Its good to have this misogyny around to see how far we haven't come.

Ryan Swanson wrote:

And those beauty standards?  They are just words.  I know I'm wrong for saying this, but words don't hurt.  These standards don't matter when you are thick skinned.

They are almost never words. It's all around us, all of us, guys included, all the time. Women have it marginally worse than most guys because, frankly, we are judged first on our looks. The attitudes around womens bodies have been institutionalized for millennia, and that is only starting to change in my lifetime.

In grade school, in a very cold snowy climate, I nonetheless was required to wear a skirt or dress to school. No parallel requirement for boys.

In high school, only the girls gymnastics team was allowed to workout in the weight room. Not an option for girls PE classes. There were no male cheerleaders then, and those girls were in classic cheerleading outfits.

As a young woman, I was raped. My clothes were collected for evidence, fine, but that clothing could also have been used by the defense, as part of why I was raped.My fault for looking provocative.

As a woman in the work force? Well...I hope you are starting to get the point.

And yes, old, fat, bald, ugly, disabled....fill in anything you wish, our shallow culture is unkind.

But to say it is only words? Ignorance of reality and history.

Anyone notice where I posted this? I'm on the side of discussion. All of you are part of why this is not ​as big a deal as it used to be. And why we climbers, especially as awesomely empowering to individuals as our passion is, no matter the body they are issued, are a part of helping our younger people coming up to have a healthy body image. And, a better world to live in generally.

Ryan, it is very encouraging, in an odd way, when I have the opportunity to chat with people young enough to not have seen this at it's worst. Yay. It's about f#$king time.

Best, OLH

Privilege and money certainly does not subdue insecurity. Mental skillsets do. Folks, there are solutions to this problem. We should be talking about solutions. Not arguing about whether it is a problem. 

This could be amusing if it wasn't so exhausting...
Do none of you see the irony in measuring Sasha against your own personal metric for what is "beautiful enough" for a woman in order to determine whether she is "allowed" to feel the way she feels, or to speak about it?

You're exhibiting the exact fucking problematic attitude you are trying to deny exists, or deny is a problem, or at least deny is a problem Sasha is "allowed" to have.