PostSecret
There are things I read sometimes, or see sometimes, that just bring me to my knees emotionally. I know everyone has their things, and maybe others would not react the way I do. And that is fine. We all have our things, our neuroses, our issues. But I have to think there are a lot of women out there that would react the same way I did, to what I saw the other day.
There are a series of books called “PostSecret.” I first saw them about 7 or so years ago, at a bookstore. A big group of friends (me included) used to meet every other week in the cafe of a Barnes and Noble. We’d talk about anything and everything, and there would be books we’d find in the store and discuss, and many times buy. One particular Wednesday, someone found the first two volumes of PostSecret, and we read them, mostly in silence, with giggles, and often with tears. We all left that night feeling a profound sense of connection to the rest of the world.
PostSecrets contain photos of mailed-in or graffiti secret feelings people have submitted. Sometimes, the statements are poignant – about losing a loved one or remember a time when. But most of the time, these are deep secrets, sometimes dark secrets. Things you would not say out loud, or to another person. The statements are anonymous, and therefore, the ability to say them is “safe.” Some of the most difficult things to speak about are those we cannot share. So I will warn you, if you decide to pick up one of the books, or check out the website, prepare yourself. It will be emotional, sometimes painful, sometimes funny, but definitely yanking at your emotions. I have read my own truths in their pages, more than once.
What brought on this post today was the following PostSecret from last week.
I read this, and felt like I’d been punched in the gut. There are so many feelings associated with this statement that I can’t even begin to articulate them all. But I think what stood out the most was that the thing men fear the most is that a woman might be fat?
Like all these men that fear this are some sort of physical perfection themselves? They are all built like Fabio and have the face of Brad Pitt? They have no flaws – no crooked noses, no zits, no misshapen feet, no fat anywhere on their bodies? This makes me so angry. While men are looking for that woman in the very narrow 5% band of available women that are absolutely perfect (according to the media), while they themselves are probably not even close to the same standard themselves? What a crock.
Fat? That’s the WORST thing they could come up with?
So disappointing. So deflating. What chance does any woman have, when that is the attitude? I swear, if women could figure out how to procreate without men, we’d probably do it, to heck with men’s misogynistic crap.
