while women keep buying 'women's' magazines (one of the greatest sources of anti-women propaganda), keep looking to the women's 'industries' for 'fashion advice' (wear makeup, buy this, poison yourself with carcinogens in 'skin care', wear utterly ridiculous shoes that predispose you to possibly crippling back, hip and leg problems in later years, etc etc)- keep buying the so-called advice of 'experts' as if they had an actual interest in our *wellbeing* instead of their own profit margins.

These companies only 'get away' with these things because *women make it profitable to do so*. If we stop buying their poorly designed, 'one size fits all badly', mass produced clothing that is based on creating an *image* rather than serving the need for comfort, pleasure and utility, then the falling profit margin with force companies to either rethink their approach or go broke.

This Wetika cultural sickness isn't just about misrepresenting bodies, it's about a long documented hostility that extends much, much deeper to the actual hatred of women themselves (and men who value, advocate or display 'feminine' values): when a society can create body hatred and anorexia in *three year olds*, there is definitely something toxic going on. I personally do not see this distortion of the female body as benign and encourage my own daughters to reject it as well.

I don’t know if it is that I’m more aware of reality or I’ve taught myself to become indifferent but I ignore magazines and pictures more and more everyday. I know that those pictures aren’t reality. Television isn’t reality, either. I am reality. I look around my home, my office and my body and tell myself all the time “it’s okay, because this is who I am and that’s not going to change, ever.” I stopped thinking I was substandard when I met my boyfriend, who loves me so much that I can’t even question it. He loves me with my belly and cellulite. I catch him watching me with a smile on his face and the little gremlin inside of me wonders what he sees. Then I think, as I look at him and grin at how gorgeous he is, that he feels the same way. We are real people. I focus on that instead of whether he’s ogling the actress on the TV show he’s watching.

I am, by no means, condoning this practice of using computer generated bodies. I don’t think, though, there’s some master secret conspiracy these companies are doing to make people feel inadequate. I think they’re being cheap. They’re using computers because they’re cheaper then paying a model and hiding the fact that she has a huge ass-gap herself. I think, though, they only hurt themselves because real women are more appealing. Showing a variety of women of different shapes and sizes wearing the same thing and looking gorgeous is the ideal. They would make more money that way…I think. I would definitely be more inclined to buy something if I saw a woman who looked like me wearing the pretty blouse that caught my eye. Maybe that’s me but I am tired of the dance with me vs. fashion/beauty. Would I like to be sexy and have a killer body, sure but it definitely won’t happen. I only have a few precious years on this planet and I’m going to enjoy it, even if the rest of the world isn’t on the same page.