"Living" in Tartarus

[jamesq]

Gained another fucking pound this week. My Sisyphus-like existence continues. What the fuck is wrong with me - I should have been finished years ago.

There's a whole fucking plate of really good fudge sitting upstairs too and all I want to do is plow into it. Give myself something really tasty to launch me into a truly epic fit of guilt and self-loathing

Comments

[jamesq]

Preach it sister!

[nikitaa.livejournal.com]

The media puts unrealistic expectations on us all. To fit the mold we would all have to be anorexic.

We've been indoctrinated on the three-square-meals-a-day principle, and taught to clean our plates. Rather than eat when we're hungry, we eat when we're told society expects us to.

Do we really need an appetizer, dessert and the whole plate of food at the restaurant? Probably not, but that's where they make their money, and it's the economy that drives it all forwards.

Recently I've noticed that the media has really been promoting the whole idea of "pearly white and perfectly straight teeth". That's great, but natural teeth enamel is usually NOT that shade of white. (I know that mine aren't). So people are flocking in droves to purchase whitening kits from the drug store, to pay thousands for whitening treatment at the cosmetic dentists who have popped up all over the city - and are even going for veneers.

Who in their right mind is going to have the majority of the enamel of their teeth drilled off so that veneers can be pasted on? Do they realize that the average life of a veneer is 10-14 years, and then it needs to be replaced/redone? And very little of their original tooth enamal is left? I can't see how anyone can consider this a good or healthy thing if they stop for a moment to really think about what they are doing.

Some reports are suggesting that the chemicals that are used in tooth bleaching kits can be dangerous to our health if absorbed (and face it, anything even held orally in our mouths is likely to be ingested), and longer-term can actually damage teeth as the bleaching solution can decalcify them.

Yet our society has sold this idea to us - and we've become much more self-conscious of the colour, shape and straightness of our teeth in recent years. What's next? Are we going to tattoo on permanent tans so that our skin is a flawless shade of "acceptable"? A lot of chinese are purchasing lightening kits (that are TOXIC and BANNED) so that they can be "whiter" which is what their society is pimping as the ideal. http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/13/asia.whitening/

[bungle-lord.livejournal.com]

Has there been any society that did not promote an ideal form to aspire to?
In and of itself, having standards for individuals in a society to strive for is not bad. For examples: personal cleanliness, literacy, courtesy, healthy lifestyles, tolerance, etc. The problems, of course, occur with what is promoted as the ideal and who benefits.