Our Culture Body Obsession

From What is Beauty:
I really liked this selection of quotes as they strike on a few really bizare issues that I've never really thought about before, such as;

The idea of anorexia when you stop having periods and are unable to produce a child, is this natures way of protecting the body which for an anorexic is so frail that any loss or blood or distress would kill you, or is it that by loosing what makes you a women, your femine curves, you regress back into a child therefore loosing your ability to have children...???

Also the idea of women "always worried about their sexual beauty, meaning they have walked a fine line between celebrating and hiding it" I find this quote extremly true, where women are chastised for being too sexual (a slut) or too covered (women in the Muslim culture)...where is the balance???

I also found the quote that "success is found under the gaze of others" really interesting, because we constantly seem to be seeking approval from others by wearing the right clothes, and fitting into a certain social agenda. It seems ironic that the people who do this the best seem to be able to fit in the best and therefore seem to end up with better prospects in life.

There are also a few quotes from Fran Lebowitz (an American author) which I was really quite angry about especially as its a women saying them, such as; "women need money for beauty and largely they get it from men who place a high value on their looks" and "the pursuit of great beauty by the average person is ridiculous" I think shes got a very cruel and sadistic view of the world and if everyone thought the same wouldnt it be a sad place to live in! if she thinks beauty is only skin deep then shes much shallower than the rest of us.

I also loved the idea of why women love babies so much, "in wanting to touch him, people seem to want to get a little piece of goodness" I thought that this was such a lovely quote and its very true, women just cant resist! I also thought it was ironic how we seem to imitate babies and their innocence with blusher etc... as if all we want is to get our innocence back as those were much happier times... the more you know the more corrupt you become.