Stop The Praise of Skinniness

Its Tuesday, the day where my fellow musical theatre majors and I have tap and jazz dance consecutively for two hours each. Now, you may think that these days will be joyful and fun for all partaking, but each class uncovers everyone’s subtle insecurities. My female friends walk into the room with cropped t-shirts that show off their lower stomach, and immediately walk to the front of the room, before even acknowledging the existence of others, to examine their stomachs. Sometimes these looks in the mirror lead to the women throwing their shirts back down and then moving onto to stretch before a class: a sign that they are reasonably content with how they look for the day. Others? Not so much. More frequently after examining themselves they will run to their peers screaming “Im so bloated and fat,” or, “I just want to be skinny.” Though women are often more in the limelight for body dysphoria and examination, my male peers, and myself, are prone to the same. As they enter the dance studios they immediately flex their biceps in the mirror, or lift up their tank tops to check on the “status” of their abbs. Usually this leads to the men making gym plans with each other later in the day. Some poke fun at people who act this way, but how could we not? It is nearly impossible to attend a Broadway show, see a great deal of dancers who are in the best shape of any people I have ever seen in my life, and not feel as if I must look the same to reach that kind of success.

At other points I have witnessed conversations between both men and women where one person will compliment the other on their physique, such as muscles looking more toned, and the receiver of the comment will proceed to list what they are still missing. At one point, one of my dearest friends said “well I want more tone in my shoulders, more definition in my lower abs, and I want the fold between my breasts and arms to go away.” Its as if they have specific requirements for themselves to have the perfect, most-fit body.

Now these self-examinations are detrimental to the mental health of young people, but most dangerous are the conversations heard in-between classes. Quite often I will hear both my male and female classmates, including myself, praising others saying “wow you look skinny today, you look so good.” These comments only lead to students working even harder to look skinnier and skinnier and impress their peers. Its comments like these that lead to severe eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Also, imagine the effect this must have on the men and women around them who also have insecurities regarding their bodies, whose physicality that day do not garner that comment? A compliment to one is a motivation to purge to the other.

If we eliminate words like “skinny” as something that is “good,” we would relieve the pressure of constantly having to feel that way, which we all know is never possible. Some people’s genetic makeup will never allow them to have the most poppin’ abbs or the desired gap-between-their-thighs.

Imagine a world where eating disorders and body dysphoria do not exist? The only way to take part in creating that world is to eliminate the dialogue in celebrating ONE body type, and allowing people to work out as much as the physically can and want to. Now this is no clear cut, simple answer; however, I believe this would help to relieve a lot of the pressure with young people and needing to impress their peers. Instead, praise self-love and comfortability! If we stop allowing celebrities like The Kardashian family and other famous models, who often spend thousands of dollars trying to rid themselves of “flaws” that most men and women have, we stop giving power to the dialogue that often hurts young people. With less attention spent on celebrating unreal expectations, the mental health of young people will increase, and they can move onto focusing on the events in one life that deserve a great deal of attention. When not worrying about their bodies, young people are given the mental capacity to focus on their friendships, staying afloat academically, and living as happily as possible.

The four years spent working towards an undergraduate degree are some of the most formative and difficult years of one’s life, and removing the pressure of one’s body image, would help these young people find a silver lining in a time that can feel so stressful and difficult.

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

The National Eating Disorders Association was founded as a support, both monetary and physically, for those people and their families who suffer from eating disorders. I believe they are trying to spread the message about how severe and life-threatening eating disorders truly are, and gain national support from as many people as possible. I believe their audiences are both people who are conscious of eating disorders, and those who are not. By targeting both knowing and ignorant audiences, they are gaining numbers in their supporters, while also creating a community of people who would overall champion and fight for the rights of the men and women suffering from these different disorders.

The reason I chose this organization as an advocacy group for my project is because I am focusing on eating disorders amongst musical theatre majors at PSU. I am a musical theatre major here, our program is ranked in the top 5 in the country, and both my peers and I put a great deal of self-induced pressure on our physicality. We are constantly told by our professors that we are perfect and hirable the way we are, but it is almost impossible for us to think this when you attend any Broadway show and the majority of the performers are in some of the best shape you have ever seen.

What I am more focusing on with my project is eliminating the use of certain words to say that someone looks “good.” Quite often the men and women, including myself, will praise others saying “wow you look skinny today you look so good.” Or people will praise someone if their arms look a little more toned than usually. Not only does this give unrealistic expectations to the person receiving the compliment to try and maintain a certain body image, but it also effects the people around them who are probably also insecure, and do not have anyone praising their looks. This only causes them to want to purge or do other harmful things to themselves. By eliminating words like “skinny” from our vocabulary and associating them with “looking good” we would help to alleviate a lot of the pressure these students feel. This would only help their mental and help make what can seem like four incredibly difficult and formative years in one’s life not as hopeless or scary.

Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of time, and yet for thousands of years this marginalized group has never fully felt integrated into society. Maybe it is the current administration, or just the feelings of the deep South finally reaching the entire country again, but it feels as if a new era of potent homophobia has swept over The United States, when homosexuality used to be normalized and celebrated in ancient civilizations. In 500 BCE, ancient Egypt paid no mind to same gender relationships, in fact, they celebrated them. This was mostly because they did not believe in sex as binary and confined between opposite genders. Thousands of years ago the now belittled minorities flourished, and then societies began to, and continue to, shoot down this group of marginalized people and try at every point to minimize their rights as citizens. For example, five states in the South, including Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas, still have laws that permit discrimination in restaurants, stores, and hotels against homosexuals. These laws exist only in these states, and yet they continue to try and spread their anti LGBTQA+ agenda even further. These state lawmakers are also trying to create more laws that would allow for religious exemption, which would then cut off the government’s ability to censor people on any of their religious beliefs.

These states, and laws, may seem very of the past, but homophobia continues to also effect couples living in Northern, considered “more accepting” areas. Since 2017, the year President Trump took office, hates crimes of any sort have increased by 3% with those specifically pertaining to LGBTQA+ individuals making up 60% of that number.

These individuals either fear for their lives every time they leave their home openly with their loved ones, or they fear the hateful words of strangers that may be thrown at them while they walk the streets (Thoreson, 2019).

Even for those people who claim to support gay rights, their internalized, societal homophobia continues to be projected onto homosexuals. Articles published on snapchat or any other form of pop-culture news entitled “10 Secrets You Didn’t Know About Gay Men” or “Characteristics of Your Gay Best Friend” unintentionally isolate the community, and make gay men and women feel even more “other” to the rest of society. Where are the articles about one’s heterosexual best friend?

In a time where bigotry and hatred have taken new reign in our culture, acknowledging one’s privilege and helping marginalized communities live equal lives is a must. Hatred and acts of violence must be called out and punished. In order to destigmatize homosexuals and their lifestyle, education programs must be implemented early on in the lives of children.

On Tuesday February 26th I attend a deliberation from a SuperTeam of a different professor’s English 138T class. I chose to attend this specific event for multiple reasons. Some of these include having two friends in the super team, being interested in the topic (“The Value of A Modern Education”), and it was one of the only events that fit into my schedule. Now as I took my seat in Webster’s to watch the deliberation I was genuinely excited, but as the event began I kind of lost my interest.

I think the biggest downfall of the entire event was pretty much every presenters way of leading each section of their deliberation. Instead of using a modern vocabulary that was a combination of both accessible and formal, pretty much the entirety of them spoke as if it were their college essay. Almost each presenter read directly from their notes, which looked as if they were long, typed-up paragraphs, and I could tell that they wrote their notes as if it were an essay. Now I would not have minded reading their ideas and suggestions, because honestly I did think they were substantial and thought-provoking, but listening to them made the event painful. I immediately began to “zone out” as they continued to speak in this overly-sophisticated manner. It made their words and the event overall seem more as if they were lecturing at me instead of trying to spark my interest to engage. There were definitely moments where the conversation was very interesting and I wanted to participate, but for the majority of it I sat there uncomfortable.

The other major downfall of this deliberation was the group member’s desire to speak. Unlike my group, who only had three people show up, there were around ten people who showed up. Were there moments of silence? Of course, but as time went on the participants warmed up to the event and wanted to share their opinions. The group members also seemed to be warming up and wanted to talk when people that were not in the group also had opinions to share. It just seemed pointless that these people were supposed to be facilitating discussion, and they kind of took it all up.  

Besides their actual execution of the event, the group’s ideas were really well thought out, and the issue guide was made in an interesting engaging way. I just think these students needed a lesson in engaging an audience in an interesting, yet less formal manner.

In class when we discussed the real reason behind creating a “This I Believe” speech, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of these speeches is to kind of solidify our own beliefs before beginning conversations where we may questions others. So, my ideas for this project mostly revolve around topics that have been detrimental in my life and have been integral throughout both the best and worst times of my life.

My first idea for the speech would be talking about how I believe the arts, and theatre especially, are detrimental to the progress of our nation, and essential to creating empathy and healing the soul. Now I am a musical theatre major, meaning I have a great base of knowledge on the subject, and have spent many many years studying both how to perform within a musical/play and theatre history. So I may be biased, but I know many people who are not as involved with the arts who have felt that the theatre has also changed their life. I would probably reference my own experience with my favorite musical and how I saw it in a phase of my life where I most needed it. I saw Sunday in the Park with George, a show that brings to life the story of the painter George Seurat and his famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, at a time when I felt kind of stuck both creatively and socially, and the show’s central character feels the same way. By going to the theatre I purged these emotions, as Shakespeare would say, and was finally able to “Move On” as the show’s main anthem suggests.

Sunday in the Park with George Broadway- Photo Credit

My second idea for my “This I Believe” speech is actually a doctrine that I have kind of cultivated within the past semester of my life. I believe that having a positive inner monologue, and trying to see each trial in ones life in a positive light is the only way to live. Last semester I kind of dealt with my real battle with my mental health. I felt trapped, unfulfilled, and beaten down by little annoyances that normally would not even bother me. After months of feeling this way, one of my professors finally said to me, “Aidan you cannot control your life’s stimulus, but you can control how you react to it.” And from that moment I always try to remind myself of this mantra and how I am truly the only one that can dictate my happiness. No thing or other person can.

Now for my civic issues blog, one of the topics I am rattling around, because I truly cannot decide on one, is the importance universities place on athletics. In high school I began to investigate how some universities pour millions of dollars into their athletic programs, but most of the time they only break even and do not bring in a great revenue. As someone not really that interested in athletics, this seems absurd. Now Coach Franklin makes over one million dollars a year, and year the school of theatre cannot gather to funds to update their building as its programs grow in prestige. Even though the arts programs are funded well, and have support administratively, people overlook them simply because the university funnels much more money into athletics. I would probably discuss how there needs to be a cultural difference in appreciation and support of the arts. Normal professors of course make nowhere near as much as Coach Franklin when they are the ones who are teaching students to be pioneers in their industry and change the world.

Coach Franklin- Photo Credit

My other idea for the civic issues paper focuses more on current political issues, and specifically the fight for LGBTQ equality. Now one of the prompt questions states, “do you think the same-sex marriage question overshadowing other important rights-based issues for the LGBTQ population?” If I am to be frank, I do not believe any of the many fights for LGBTQ rights overshadows another because they are all fighting to normalize same-sex relationships. I think too many Americans still believe that homosexuality is not natural and that seeing two people of the same sex in a relationship is somehow “not right.” The homosexual marriage laws only want to allow more people to marry their loved ones, so more same sexual couples fill the streets, and therefore become a more normal part of society. As long as these rights are helping to normalize homosexuals in everyday life, why would anyone fight over which law is more important when they all are trying to improve the lives of these marginalized people.

LGBTQ Flag- Photo Credit

Image by Pinterest

Though I have never seen this image before, its simplicity helps in creating a very powerful message of unity, empathy, and a need for our country, and the entire world, to unite. Three subtle aspects of this image are the most prominent in stating this message.  

The most notable difference between the two hands that are connected is the size. The caucasian hand is large, meaty, and somewhat hairy, implying that this must be the hand of some kind of adult. On the contrary, the other hand is a fourth of the size of the other, it has no visible hair, and it seems as if it were just skin and bones. By heavily featuring the distinct, different features between the two, the image argues that people must be willing to connect with those different than them, and maybe assist those in need. The smaller hand looks as if it were attached to the body of a malnourished child, so maybe the image is from some kind of rescue mission where people were helping them? No matter, it still compels audiences to assist those in need. 

The most notable and drastic difference between the two is of course the difference in skin color. One is obviously a white male with creamy, peachy skin, while the other is a person of African descent with an extremely dark skin tone. This difference between races subtly argues that people of our modern day society must continue to connect and help with those that differ from us. With the rhetoric of our current president, and the leaders of other societies, being mostly hateful and accusatory, we must love and spread peace.

The last aspect of this image that argues the message of love is the shadowing and the way the light hits these hands. Of course, the two hands connecting are the core of the image, with the light focused right on them, but the shadows in the background help to emphasize its message. It’s almost as if these hands are coming out of the shadows and into the light, showing that empathy and human connection between different creeds can truly be life changing and revolutionary. Though no dialogue or context is given to this image, many lessons can be learned, and can continue to inspire our nation to be more empathetic. 

I chose to watch Clint Smith’s Ted Talk entitled “The Danger of Silence” where he discusses the literal danger of silence and how the inability to speak one’s thoughts can be the demise of our democracy. He delivers this message eloquently and beautifully by referring to many moments in his life where he refrained from speaking his beliefs in order to please those who surrounded him. In fact, he coins silence as, “the residue of fear.” In these moments, he felt as if he could not “speak his truth” for he would be ruining potential friendships, missing out on donations to his failing school, and trampling any kind of reputation he had made for himself. The use of such metaphors and real-life examples helps to really deepen his message, and allows the audience to see just how urgent he is in communicating this. He expertly uses pathos as a way of capturing his audiences attention throughout. 

Clint Smith’s method of delivery also assists in really imparting his message. Instead of forcing his message outward toward the audience, he seems to be truly living in it. As stated, he uses many real life examples, and with each one, you can watch the pain, joy, or whatever emotion he is experiencing unfold in front of you. In fact, in some moments he seems to be in such an emotional state that he must close his eyes. He is very raw and honest throughout his delivery. I watched the video through youtube of course, and not once did I feel as if he were trying to reprimand or force his beliefs on his audience. Because Smith truly lived in the moment and “delivered” his speech, I felt a greater urge to then act on the message he was delivering.

In my senior year English course, we also studied Ted Talks. For one portion of this unit, we were assigned to find a pre-existing Ted Talk and recite it, and then a few weeks later we had to write and perform our own. While studying these special kind of speeches, I discovered Sarah Kay, one of the best public speakers I have ever witnessed in my life. This talk, entitled “If I should have a daughter” is unlike any other Ted Talk in existence.

Though the actual script of her Ted Talk is beautifully written, and quite fascinating, her delivery really pushes her presentation to be that of excellence. She maintains strong eye contact, uses natural gestures that accompany what she is saying, and varies her pitch to make it seem as if what she is saying is genuine and not rehearsed. Unlike the professional talk we watched in class, which I felt as if was too rehearsed and rigid, Sarah Kay just has such a genuine spark beneath her. She most definitely rehearsed her piece, but it is never stiff or as if she is “going through the motions.”

The organization of her Ted Talk also allows the audience to empathize with her feelings, and follow the trajectory of her message quite easily. Her ideas flow naturally, and she builds off of what she says previously before moving onto her next component. While she continues to speak she introduces new ideas, but also emphasizes what she says previously.

Lastly, I believe her use of visual, picturesque language elevates her speech and makes her message even more interesting. She uses phrases like, “I am going to paint solar systems on the backs of her hands, so she has to learn the entire universe before she can say, ‘oh I know that like the back of my hand.’” Now, Kay’s underlying message may be that she wants to teach her daughter to always find joy in discovery and never see herself as having mastered some skill, but she refrains from stating this in a boring, explicit manner. She paints her message using such vivid language, yet it does not take away from her message. In fact, it just makes it more relevant and special.

Image by Little Hotelier

I could not agree more with author Andy Kessler regarding studies on human behavior, and how scientists, or as he mentioned grad students, are prone to group people based on similar characteristics or habits. I have mostly interacted with these hastily generalized studies as someone who is a millennial, and is constantly categorized as being of a certain way because of when I was born.

For many months at a time, it seems as if I would log onto any form of social media and watch adults trash millennials for being lazy, not being able to problem solve, and pretty much state that we are ruining American society as a whole. As someone who works very hard at their academics, and frankly everything that I do in life, I find it incredibly offensive and frankly dumb that people try to attach defining characteristics to millions of people. If I have learned anything outside of the classroom throughout my upbringing, it is that no two people are exactly the same. And in fact, I have found that I was mostly taught this phrase by adults and teachers when trying to explain why kids in my preschool class behave differently than myself. So, if adults are teaching us from the very beginning of our education that everyone is drastically different, why do scientists try to define large groups of people into categories? If we simply let people live without having to compare them to others, we would no longer have these false studies.

Fortunately for me, my paradigm shift paper focuses on the change in musicals on Broadway, and how they have faded in and out of cultural relevance throughout the past century, so I do not have to worry as much about false “human” studies. Most of my research has to do with solid, undeniable facts about Broadway attendance, and how the literal structure of musicals has changed over the years. This is inarguable data, and that is one of the main reasons I chose to select this topic. Not only is it a topic that I have done personal, independent research on for years, but it is also very factually based and does not involve how people have psychologically changed over years.

Image by Playbill

For my Paradigm shift project, I have decided to focus on the drastic shift of musicals in our society, and how they have gone in and out of cultural significance.

As I have learned throughout the musical theatre history courses I have taken, Broadway musicals have not always been at the forefront of society. Frankly, I do not think musicals have truly moved to the front of our culture yet, but over the years, the creation of some shows has really brought public attention to the theatre scene as a whole.

On August 6, 2015 Hamilton opened on Broadway, and it completely changed musical theatre for the better. It not only gathered a great deal of press for that one show, but it also brought a huge spotlight to the whole theatre community. Many other musicals, such as 2017 Tony Award winner Dear Evan Hansen, began to then also garner great attention because people began to take interest in NYC theatre, and expected the quality of the shows to be that of Hamilton. People began to think that if Hamilton was “that good,” the majority of Broadway shows must be as well. According to an article in the New York Times, the 2017 season of musicals brought in a record 1.3 billion dollars. This article claims that New York Theatre has never experienced this many hits before, and it is most definitely because people are starting to take interest in many different Broadway shows (Paulson).

I plan to start my research in the 20’s, during the famous Tin Pan Alley period, and show how musicals of this time period were comprised of hit songs that the public already knew. Because these musicals used the popular music of the time period, they were at the forefront of culture, and people were eager to see their favorite songs sung live in the theatre. I will then talk about the 30’s and how people flocked more towards cinema because it was simply cheaper, and quicker in escaping the harsh realities of the time. In the 50’s, the era coined The Golden Age of musical theatre, the musical form drastically changed, but the TV grew in popularity, so people were less likely to go to the theatre. This is somewhat also true of the 60/70’s, but then the introduction of Disney musicals in the 90’s completely revamped Broadway. It brought huge attention to all shows running in NYC, and Disney actually spent millions of dollars trying to clean up Times Square so that theatre-going became a whole family affair. Finally, I will conclude with Hamilton and how shows for the modern audience have truly brought Broadway into 21st century culture.

Image by Amazon

Of course, I have not completed my research in the slightest, but I am eager to continue to fill in the gaps, and trace just how much Broadway has fallen in and out of the spotlight over the years.