This article was originally published on sethadamsmith.com. Seth is a popular LDS blogger and author of the book Your Life Isn’t for You: A Selfish Person’s Guide to Being Selfless.
We live in a culture that hates the body. Don’t believe me? Look around. We set unsustainable standards of physical beauty and enlist models to represent them. We then slather these models in oils and make-up, place them under “flattering” lights, and photoshop them into oblivion.
We take these deceptive images and publish them to the world, insinuating that these lies are not only desirable, but also “the norm.” Why don’t you look like this? Why aren’t you this beautiful?
Unable to attain this fictional and unrealistic level of beauty and perfection, we despise and destroy our own bodies. We do it in a number of ways. We either focus on our physical imperfections and try to starve them out, or beat them out through excessive exercise.
If that doesn’t work, then we try to numb our feelings of inadequacy through addictions that include sex, drugs, alcohol, perfectionism, gambling, gaming, overeating, working, cleaning, shopping, and sleeping.
Anyway you look at it, we are a culture that is very uncomfortable in its own skin. We value the judgement and scrutiny of others more than we value the marvelous creation that is our own body.
Read the rest of the story at sethadamsmith.com.
