Standing tall

I really should stop looking at Pinterest...it just makes me mad...although it's also starting to make me bored too so it won't be long.   But while I'm here, here's what's making me mad today:



Well, it's an example of it.   Can you see what I mean?  Let me tell you:  look at the way she's standing!  Have you noticed that not only do lots of women in fashion shots look so thin a good breeze would blow them away, they also stand as if they haven't quite learnt how to do it yet?   What is that strange stance for?  Toes turned in, legs slightly awkward looking; it's like those nature films of baby giraffes struggling to stand for the first time.  Since when did looking like you could barely walk upright become a standard of beauty for young women?  It has a weird kind of apologetic look about it, like we shouldn't really be out in public.

This is how a woman should stand; upright, feet firmly on the ground, ready for what she needs to do and making no apology for who she is or what she's doing.

Jessica Ennis not apologising for what she's doing

I've just been reading Tina Fey's great book Bossypants (thanks for the recommendation Becca) and she talks (a lot!) about what it is to be a woman in a male dominated industry.  She expresses her admiration for her female colleague whose response when a male colleague says he doesn't like a gag she has written says "I don't ****ing care if you like it"  In other words, no apology for failing to please, or for existing, or participating in the world.  I bet she stands like Jessica Ennis.