Who entered the “Breast Summer Ever” contest, and why?

The judges for Amp Radio’s controversial contest for a $10,000 breast augmentation have picked their 10 finalists. Now it’s up to the public to vote on who is most deserving of the boob job.

Since I first heard about this contest, I was curious to see would enter, their reasons for entering, and whose story would resonate most with the public and win the ultimate prize. Each contestant has made a video, which are posted online. I watched each one and here are their reasons for wanting breast augmentation:

• 4/10 women had lost weight, which changed the size and shape of their breasts. They talk about the “excess skin” left over after weight loss and how their breasts just don’t look right anymore.
  
• 3/10 of the women talked about nursing children and the toll that having kids takes on your body. Basically, they want their pre-baby boobies back.
  
• 3/10 had sob stories, but surprisingly there were no cancer survivors. One woman has a large burn mark that covers her right breast, another has "lop-sided" breasts, and one had a rare disease that made her very thin and unable to develop breasts during puberty.
  
• 1 woman is transgender (she was born male but is transitioning to female).
  
• 1 woman said she wanted a lift and reduction, as she is a size FF and would like to be average sized.

I was a little disheartened to see how many women discussed their post-pregnancy bodies and how they want their old body back. Why can’t we accept that women’s bodies change after pregnancy? Our bodies change throughout our lives – why is an aging body or a post-baby body seen as something that needs to be fixed? (News flash, ladies! You can’t stop aging. You just can’t. Stop wasting your time, money and effort trying to, and accept your aging body instead. I promise life will be a lot more fun that way).

There is an unreal amount of pressure on women to get back to how they looked before the baby. Trashy celebrity tabloids publish issues with headlines like, My body after baby - How I lost 25 lbs in 8 weeks. The pressure is so strong that I actually know women who are choosing not to have children because they’re afraid of what it will do to their bodies. Says Katie Gentile in an article from the Daily Beast,

When women shed the baby weight, they are not merely getting back their pre-baby body, they are obliterating all the evidence of ever having had a baby in the first place. This means the one thing that only women's bodies can do is expected to be immediately erased. The post-baby body is wrung of its recent life-giving feat. Sagging milk-filled breasts must appear perky; the once-swollen abdomen is made concave. It's as if we should actually believe the baby dropped from the stork, from the sky, from anywhere but that toned, buff body.

To me, part of being a feminist is accepting and not judging other women’s decisions and choices. So I’m not going to rag on the women who entered this contest or judge them for what they want. But many of the women talked about gaining or improving self-confidence through breast augmentation surgery, and I think they’re missing a key piece to the self-confidence puzzle. Self confidence is an internal thing – it comes from knowing who you are, knowing your values and what you stand for, setting and accomplishing goals and knowing that you are worthy of happiness and love. True self confidence, self acceptance and self love come from the inside – plastic surgery is an external procedure that will not fix an internal problem.

I won’t be voting for any of these ladies because I fundamentally disagree with the contest. I think the contest promotes body dissatisfaction and the idea that self confidence can be instantly achieved with a surgical procedure. Also, Amp Radio has a young audience and I know lots of kids listen to it. I think it normalizes plastic surgery for young people when they hear about it as a “fun contest.” Our society’s obsession with perfect bodies has gone too far, and I refuse to be a part of anything that perpetuates endless discontent with one’s body.

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Check out some of the contests in Canada offered by ReadersDigest.ca

Have you seen this poster? It might just make your day.

As you stroll about Calgary, you might stumble upon one of these “Booty Camp” posters and wonder what they’re all about.

The posters were created by “Two Big Fat Revolutionaries” (two self-identified fat feminists) who were tired of seeing posters advertising boot camps, which are fitness programs geared towards women. They were pissed off that these advertisements make women feel shitty about their bodies and imply that only slim bodies are healthy and sexy.

So the Two Big Fat Revolutionaries decided to do something about it. They got together, ate a giant pizza without feeling an ounce of guilt, and came up with their own Booty Camp poster in hopes of starting a movement of self-love through fat-positive guerilla art.

The Revolutionaries and their friends postered the city in early April, and continue to put up posters whenever they can. A few weeks after the posters went up, I met up with a friend and she was excited to tell me about the Booty Camp poster she had seen, and how she was absolutely thrilled by it. She took one of the “You are beautiful” tear-offs, and kept it in her pocket. The next time she wore those jeans she rediscovered the note and was stoked to be reminded that she is beautiful.

A poster like this can really make a person’s day. It’s nice to see something that reinforces a positive message about our bodies and doesn’t make us feel like we need to be slimmer, fitter or firmer. As the poster says, “The widespread depiction of uncommonly thin women defines what we consider beautiful, so sometimes it’s hard to remember: YOU are BEAUTIFUL!"

If you want to get involved, put up some posters or just get more info, email the Two Big Fat Revolutionaries at juliet.burgess@gmail.com.

Love yourself this Valentine's day!

For those of you who read my posts regularly, you're probably aware that my two favourite topics within feminism are (1) advertising/media, and (2) body image and self esteem. Since today is Valentine's Day, I wanted to share a quote about loving yourself from one of my favourite writers, Ayn Rand.

I believe that a lack of self esteem is one of the most serious issues facing North American women today. I won't get into too much detail here, but you can read my post The Absolute Importance of Self Esteem to find out why I think self love is critical to happiness and sucess in almost all aspects of your life.

So, this Valentine's day, you should definitely give props to the people in your life that you love, but also remember to love yourself first and foremost. Here is one of my favourite quotes from Ayn Rand (please excuse the masculine pronouns - it was written in 1964!).

"To love is to value. Only a rationally selfish man, a man of self-esteem, is capable of love—because he is the only man capable of holding firm, consistent, uncompromising, unbetrayed values. The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone."

- Ayn Rand in “The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness