Since my grandma's passing I have thought a lot about my own future passing. Yes, super morbid, I know, but that is what I have been thinking a lot of lately; If I have any control on how I would "go" (hopefully in the distant future), how would I like to go? I mentioned this to a friend not realizing how odd most people consider talks about death, and she nervously joked, saying, "wouldn't it be nice if we could control how we go?" But I don't think I am trying to necessarily control the date, or the way, but surely there are some aspects of aging I and everyone for the matter, have control over.
Little over a year ago, I went with my 8 year-old daughter to the Arlington Cinema Draft House in Arlington, VA to see a movie called, Run Free, the hero of the documentary film, Caballo Blanco, was an ultra-runner legend, goes off on a routine run one day and dies on the trails. He is found by his friends days later and brought back to town to be buried. As sad as this was, after seeing my grandma live through several years of blindness, deafness, and being almost completely immobile for the last year or more, I feel Caballo's passing was actually quite forgiving and much more welcoming than my grandma's passing. So it's not really about controlling when, or how really, yet, I would like to think that if I continued to run into old age, as he did, perhaps, I too could meet such a simple, breezy end.
This whole topic brings me to another topic, romance. (be patient)....There's something about running that paints all things, even morbid ones, like death, with a romantic stroke. Perhaps it's all the time spent alone with one's thoughts. Or better yet, perhaps it's all the time spent alone with one's imagination that has allowed my imagination to run rampant. Whatever it is, every aspect of my life is colored with this tint of romantic gravity, all loosely connected to running. I just came to the realization today, as I drove to work, listening to my running mix on top volume, and pretty much aching to be running more than the 2 measly miles I was able to squeeze in, that I pretty much live in my imagination, and, more importantly, that my imagination is very powerful. How else does any runner get through grueling daily training runs without reliving the finish in one's head?
Showing posts with label images of runners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label images of runners. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2017
Friday, July 12, 2013
Redefining the strong woman (minus the sexuality or the masculine)
When society is made to think about images of women, strength is rarely first on the list of descriptors used to describe us. Early on, most women are taught by general society that strength does not really belong to them, beauty perhaps, frailty and daintiness maybe, but definitely not strength! As I grow into a better runner and slowly begin to think of myself as an athlete, I find that there is a lack of images out there of strong women for me to look up to. Okay, let me rephrase that. There ARE images of strong women out there, but they are either heavily sexualized waif versions of some barbie fantasy or paralleled to men by having them have an increase of male characteristics, nothing in between.
My question therefore is, 'Are there images of women out there where strength stands alone, without her being sexualized or masculianized?' I have found, yet not surprised, that rarely do we see strong women not sexualized. If they are not sexualized, they are then often very masculine looking. I believe this is because a strong woman alone may be threatening to society, a free-wheeling soul that lacks eye candy appeal....? too dangerous...But I will have to think further on this before I can speak to it further.
One interesting phenomenon I recently noticed that illustrates this need to sexualize women is found in the upsurge of plus-sized models. We all celebrate plus-sized models as if we have finally advanced as women. Yet, if we look closer at the images of these plus-sized models that are being pumped out there is hardly any room to budge in the identity prescribed. Plus-size models are most often depicted heavily sexualized. You will not find a non-sexualized plus-size model out there anywhere, I dare you to try to find one....why is that? It's like her strength alone is not allowed to stand solo. Putting her in a lingeries, stilettos and heavy makeup to me takes away whatever power we women could have drawn from these women in the pages of our magazines.
Surely there are women who fit in between these two far distant extremes of sexuality the masculine. Notice how the images of these supposedly 'strong' women in magazines and on TV are always either sexualized or either made to look totally masculine; the TV commercial could be about mayonnaise for all we know and still, you'd see women swoon and breathe with their lips parted as if they were in some heated love exchange.
As I get older and struggle to define the newly-found strength in my muscular, healthy and curvy body I do not see anyone on TV or magazines that carry the pride I do without the apologetic additions of lipstick and/or macho qualities. I decided to go on a quest and search on Pinterest and try to find these images of women that I would off-the-bat consider 'strong' but without the over-peppering of either sexuality or testosterone. I quickly found that it was very hard to find such images. Below are some of the very few images I did manage to find.
The difficulty of this quest to find these images made me wonder if there even IS such an identity of a stand-alone strong woman in our collective visual library. In the coming weeks I will try to meditate to try to define what a strong woman looks like to me. I believe as an artist and a visual person I need this identity redefined to fit a more genuine truth about strength in women....obviously, this will have to be a new chapter.....inspiration drawn only from me, seeing as there is practically nothing out there defining strong women that isn't cheaply contaminated.
My question therefore is, 'Are there images of women out there where strength stands alone, without her being sexualized or masculianized?' I have found, yet not surprised, that rarely do we see strong women not sexualized. If they are not sexualized, they are then often very masculine looking. I believe this is because a strong woman alone may be threatening to society, a free-wheeling soul that lacks eye candy appeal....? too dangerous...But I will have to think further on this before I can speak to it further.
One interesting phenomenon I recently noticed that illustrates this need to sexualize women is found in the upsurge of plus-sized models. We all celebrate plus-sized models as if we have finally advanced as women. Yet, if we look closer at the images of these plus-sized models that are being pumped out there is hardly any room to budge in the identity prescribed. Plus-size models are most often depicted heavily sexualized. You will not find a non-sexualized plus-size model out there anywhere, I dare you to try to find one....why is that? It's like her strength alone is not allowed to stand solo. Putting her in a lingeries, stilettos and heavy makeup to me takes away whatever power we women could have drawn from these women in the pages of our magazines.
Surely there are women who fit in between these two far distant extremes of sexuality the masculine. Notice how the images of these supposedly 'strong' women in magazines and on TV are always either sexualized or either made to look totally masculine; the TV commercial could be about mayonnaise for all we know and still, you'd see women swoon and breathe with their lips parted as if they were in some heated love exchange.
As I get older and struggle to define the newly-found strength in my muscular, healthy and curvy body I do not see anyone on TV or magazines that carry the pride I do without the apologetic additions of lipstick and/or macho qualities. I decided to go on a quest and search on Pinterest and try to find these images of women that I would off-the-bat consider 'strong' but without the over-peppering of either sexuality or testosterone. I quickly found that it was very hard to find such images. Below are some of the very few images I did manage to find.
The difficulty of this quest to find these images made me wonder if there even IS such an identity of a stand-alone strong woman in our collective visual library. In the coming weeks I will try to meditate to try to define what a strong woman looks like to me. I believe as an artist and a visual person I need this identity redefined to fit a more genuine truth about strength in women....obviously, this will have to be a new chapter.....inspiration drawn only from me, seeing as there is practically nothing out there defining strong women that isn't cheaply contaminated.
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