all who wander: Beauty Treatments

I did a really great Beth Moore Bible study last summer called "Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman" and one of the lessons was themed around the phrase, “It’s tough being a woman in a world where beauty is a treatment” (or something like that, my study book is at home). The lesson touched on the preparations and ‘beauty treatments’ that Esther (who was supposedly already a total babe) went through before she could be presented to the King of Persia and possibly chosen as queen. The point the Beth was getting at (and she did a much better job than I will, I assure you) was that when we are constantly assaulted with all these images of how we should look (usually conveniently placed alongside a product that will supposedly accomplish it for us), it becomes so difficult to appreciate and recognize the natural beauty that we were given. I will be the first one to chime in with rhetoric about the loveliness of being unique and the possibility of beauty despite (or as result of) imperfection, and I believe in all that stuff, I really do, but I think it sure is a heck of a lot easier to see in other people. Most days I think of myself as a fairly confident and joyful person, but whenever I see these specimens who are just blatantly flawless in every single way, people that I would call ‘beautiful,’ a really nasty, envious side of me sneers, “Okay, if that is beauty, what is am I?” I feel pretty vulnerable saying this, especially in monologue form, but I think it’s important and maybe something that most people deal with or have dealt with at some point in their life (isn’t it a requirement to pass 7^th grade?).

I guess I consciously thought about this less in the US because it was something so normal, something I had been doing to myself for a really long time. Now in Singapore though, the images of 'attractiveness' being displayed by advertisements and television are making me realize how deeply I, and a lot of people I know, have been affected by commercialism’s tendency to set unattainable standards of beauty. For example, I went to the mall yesterday and of the dozens and dozens of fashion advertisements I saw plastered on windows and stalls, even on the floors, I only saw three that featured Chinese people and none with Indians, Malays, or Filipinos, the other major Singaporean ethnic groups. Basically all of them were white. Once I got ready to leave, I headed down to the MRT station and saw a large series of advertisements spanning most of my side of the station featuring waists and midriffs of about three or four people, all whom were popping out of their clothes. The ad asked, “Isn’t it time to lose some weight?” Unfortunately, the people in the ad did not need to lose weight as indicated by their protruding hip bones and toned bodies, they simply needed to wear larger clothes. As if this wasn’t enough, I got off at my stop and needed to catch a bus to get back to my flat. The 200 bus pulls up and low-and-behold, it is covered with advertisements for a skin-lightening cream, a product that our Singaporean history teacher told us was in practically all Singaporean women’s beauty routine as moisturizer, make-up, or face wash.

These ads seemed so obviously stupid to me (and maybe Singaporeans think they are ridiculous too), but that doesn’t stop them from being everywhere and the truth is they are probably highly influential to the people who pass them every day whether they realize it or not. But who am I to talk? It’s pretty obvious from my previous confession that I’m no more resistant to indoctrination than anyone else. Still, I feel like as I am growing up I am able to realize more and more the haywire programming that has been installed in my mind over the years and am therefore able to go about untangling and reevaluating things. Basically, I feel like I’m to the point of being ‘old enough to know better’ (or should be, anyway). But the thing is that commercialism’s sick version of social engineering isn’t limited to those who are ‘old enough to know better.’ Jeanna was telling me about her Singaporean homestay the other day with an ethnic Chinese family. The little five-year-old living in the home practically adopted her and left Mao, the other homestay student whose ancestors belonged to the Hmong people (a hill tribe taken over by the Chinese), to her own devices. Jeanna said that the girl stuck to her like glue and constantly wanted to play with Jeanna’s long, chestnut hair. Just before bed, the little girl told her that she had “the best hair, because it is long and light, and such pretty white skin. What color are your eyes? Oh, green? Oh…okay. That is much better than brown but not as good as blue!” This disturbing implantation of such an ugly concept as cookie-cutter beauty on a child is unnatural, but unfortunately this idea of homogenized beauty seems to be deeply rooted in many of us.

I guess I just have to approach this as yet another thing to appreciate about this trip, a wake-up call to recognize that whenever I waste time stressing over not meeting popular ideas of perfection, I’m merely consenting to what the world is saying about me as it exploits me, that my value is somehow attached to how attractive I am to some random person. Having a body that is strongly and solidly built may not be aesthetically preferable when up against the lean and unscarred contours of models, but it allows me help my family keep our house warm and to throw a giggling Lanie Chase around for hours and to just get away from all the stresses in my life with good, hard run, hopefully with a friend. I don’t know about you all, but I think I got the good end of that stick.

“Okay Lacy, get off your soap box and speak sensibly for a moment.” Alright, Alright. This week has probably been the least exciting thus far and much of my ‘fun’ has revolved around whether or not I can study by the pool or if I have to sit inside because it’s raining (and of course this has been the rainiest week we have had so far). Hopefully it will pay off though, and I have managed to have some pretty cool experiences in spite of work. For example, tonight I went on my run and found THE COOLEST PLAYGROUND EVER. It was actually called “The Playground of Adventure” I think, but it was straight out of a military obstacle course designed by unicorns. I stopped of course to climb up the largest jungle gym I had ever seen (probably about 2-3 stories up) and was rewarded with an awesome view of the port and the city over the park’s trees. A few of us also attended a basketball game last night after we met a former UNC journalist student at the children's home who was working for the NBA on a community outreach program. It was basically a game of high school kids from the Eastern hemisphere who had attended the NBA camp. We met a few former UNC players who played for the NBA which was pretty cool. I didn’t really know who they were but I figured they didn’t know who I was either, so it was okay. We got on Singapore television too for being so spirited! We also went out to an Indian dinner with one of the really nice flight attendants, Mala, that we met on the flight over. We did end up paying more than our normal $3 for dinner but the food was outstanding. Oh, and our professor threw us a little pool party at her apartment a few days ago which was a really kind gesture I thought. Her birthday was Thursday so we made some cakes and threw a little birthday party. I really think it made her day, which was great, but unfortunately did not result in her lightening our work load any. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to it. Wish me luck.