Problem areas

I have stretch marks, periodic acne, jiggly upper arms, and a little belly lingering from my pregnancies. Social media and the fashion industries would tell you these are my “problem areas”. My social media feeds are filled with ads for anti-aging creams, gym memberships, shapewear, electrolysis, fake eyelashes, fad diets... the list goes on. Collective society and steadfast marketing firms target women with “solutions” to their “problem areas”. Just this cream or that undergarment will make any woman a little more perfect and a little more palatable to society. More desirable for marriage, for jobs, for opportunities, for the collective fawning over progress toward the unattainable image of the perfect woman. 

These are not our problem areas.

We have bigger problem areas that need to be addressed and talked about. 

Women’s bodies as objects. 

A rising teen suicide rate. 

Women being underpaid in the workforce. 

The under-acknowledged miracle of what a woman’s body does to bring life into the world.

Food insecurity. 

Blatant and systemic racism. 

Inadequate and inequitable access to health care. 

Our carbon footprint. 

International conflict and war. 

Climate change. 

Greed. 

Political divide. 

Poverty. 

Rising number of prescriptions for children to cope with anxiety and depression. 

These (and so much more) are our real problem areas. Women should not be the target of what’s not perfect in our world. Women deserve to believe they are good enough as they are. Bodies are strong and wonderfully different. If we put the same energy into solving our real problem areas as we do making women believe they aren’t good enough, the world would be a better place. 

And women could go about their business without believing their imperfect existence needs fixing.