Society's Dysmorphia

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There was a piece on BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour this morning about bellies. Specifically in this particular discussion, women's bellies, and the cognitive disjunct between societal ideals and the actuality of being a normal woman. Despite all of the political and ideological progress that we have made over the past couple of centuries; despite all of the knowledge that we have accrued, and particularly despite knowing full-well in our own minds that the average human body is both normal and desirable: that the pursuit of ideals is baseless and futile in equal measure; no matter one's sex, sensibility or sexuality. The correct philosophical stance, no matter one's background or religion, is that God alone - whichever one you favour/cleave to, should you so choose - is perfect.

My take is more immaterial and of course Zen on this: we are all simultaneously both perfect and imperfect: as the concepts of perfection and imperfection are in and of themselves meaningless: the objectification of the unknowable. The more [photographic?? - there's a PhD in itself, given the state of smartphone tech these days] evidence I see of this mad pursuit of attaining the unattainable, the worse the cases of self-abuse in its service I see: to quote Blind Faith from their one and only - eponymous - album: 'Come down off your throne, and leave your body 'lone...' . If all men looked exactly like the recently deceased Alain Delon in his prime; if all women looked like Sophia Loren in her youth; if all of us conformed to the idealised - and by self-definition transitory - concepts of beauty; we would live in the most boring world imaginable: we would no longer have choice: Stepford Wives made flesh(?) Venus and David had bellies just like most of us...


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