Say It Louder For The People In The Back

Say it louder for the people in the back

Can we talk about how the term "glow-up" used to mean that someone was looking healthier and happier, like perhaps they started going on walks and eating better, or maybe they dumped their boyfriend, joined CrossFit, and got a new job. Obviously it had the potential for some negative social effects, but overall, it was a fairly harmless term and I actually liked it because I felt like it was a nice way to compliment women who were making drastic changes in their life to better their personal health without being specific. Like I noticed a coworker who had previously mentioned her journey of training for a 10K to help get back in shape and lose some excess weight, had lost 20 pounds, so instead of saying "wow you looked like you lost a bunch of weight" in the presence of other coworkers, it was nice to be able to say something like "you look so healthy and glowed up!" to acknowledge her hard work.

Now whether you agree or disagree with that term being used to acknowledge women meeting personal health goals, I think we should all be concerned with what "glow-up" has come to mean. As I scrolled thru Tik-Tok recently, I noticed an ongoing trend of people posting "can we talk about (insert celebrity name)'s glow up?!" And most of these celebrities are young, early twenties or even 19 year old women whose photos are shown of their 15 or 16 year old teenage, fully clothed, minimal to no makeup, selves followed by their "glow up" photos. The second set of photos shows a 19 to 23 year old woman with a full face of makeup, extensions or some striking haircut, a variety of revealing outfits, and most likely at least one photo of her in some sexual pose such as straddling a piece of furniture. The ideal "glow-up" celebrity is trying to shed her "good girl" persona, and follows the directions society has given her to sexualize herself in every way possible. It breaks my heart that these talented young women using their sex appeal are being hailed as an "improvement" over their innocent younger selves.

You know those yard signs that are like "In this house we believe: climate change is science, no humans are illegal, gay rights are human rights" etc. and they basically just sum up the American liberal belief in one easy-to-read sign? I want one of those for radfem beliefs that just sums our talking points up. I'm thinking something along the lines of "In this house we know that:

-lgb rights are human rights

-feminism exists for the liberation of women

-abortion and contraception are healthcare

-hormone replacement and plastic surgery for the purpose of gender transition are NOT healthcare

-Pornography fuels the sex trafficking industry and both industries exploit women endlessly for male pleasure

Anyone else have additions?

I don’t even understand why people are so confused by today’s young people having less sex than previous generations of young people. Young men cannot maintain an erection unless they’re being incredibly rough and degrading and oftentimes watching a video of another man being much more violent to another woman and young women don’t actually want to be beaten and humiliated and like injured every time they have sex. Our expectations are not compatible

I had a friend in middle school who was Mormon and at that time, I strongly identified with the Lutheran faith and attended an ELCA church. And even as a politically conservative, Christian 13 year old, I got into some intense religious debates with this girl. And she was prepared for every single one because the teenagers went to church every morning before school for Bible study and my Bible knowledge, as the daughter of someone with a ministry degree, absolutely paled in comparison to their level of indoctrination. So I present to you, a short list of weird things I learned about the Mormon faith as a teenager:

1. They think Heaven has levels. And everyone goes to Heaven regardless of religion, it's just a matter of which level. It's my understanding that the only way to go to Hell is to be an Ex-morman.

2. They don't drink caffeine or alcohol. My friend did drink Mountain Dew occasionally, so I think caffeine may have been more of a personal preference. The bizarre thing about this is that everyone knows how heavily featured wine is in the Bible. These people took communion with water rather than have a teaspoon of wine.

3. They have a holy book that I later learned was "translated" by Joseph Smith from an Egyptian scroll of hieroglyphics, which only he could understand. The only problem is that we eventually found the Rosetta Stone and lots of people learned to decipher hieroglyphics, and as it turns out, none of the information in that book matches what the scrolls actually say, something Mormons choose to conveniently ignore.

Per what I've seen on social media, my friend ended up going to the same college they all go to (you know which one) getting married young (shocker), and surprisingly, getting divorced young. I don't know if she still identifies as Morman, but I have learned that attacking people's core beliefs will just make them double down on them. It is my hope that she has had some time to critically examine her faith through a new lens.

I absolutely agree. The only time we have a need for plastic surgeons or anything "cosmetic" is when people need something reconstructed after a car accident or some other traumatic event. My mom had a coworker that got a "tummy tuck" after losing a bunch of weight and then proceeded to get sepsis and almost die. It is absolutely not worth the risk in the name of pointless beauty standards.

i am anti-cosmetic surgery as a whole at this point idc!! idc if that isn’t “progressive”!! “it’s a woman’s choice to get it <3” yes it’s every individual woman’s choice to have the same face and i’m sure it’s completely divorced from misogynistic, eurocentric, capitalistic beauty standards that will shift over time and make those women feel bad about themselves all over again