Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Lay Off Renée's Face

You know, I understand there is a discussion to be had about beauty and unrealistic standards and expectations that we, as women, constantly have shoved down our throats by all manner of outlets; media, society, etc.

A friend's therapist once told her, "It's impossible to live in a blue world and not be stained blue."
We all deal with body issues in one form or another. And a discussion about accepting ourselves as inherently worthy people who are inherently beautiful on our own terms would be so much more productive than shaming a woman who made a decision to alter her facial features and then dared to show herself publicly afterward.

I am honestly not saddened by Renée Zellweger's new face. It's HER face. From my vantage point, the onslaught of judgement and mocking she's being subjected to is part of the problem, not the solution.

As an actor, I would make a different choice facially. I need to have access to dark circles and wrinkles etc to tell the kind of stories I want to tell. But that doesn't put me on some sort of self righteous high horse. Believe me, there are other ways I might alter my physical form to suit my own personal aesthetic. And at this age, I no longer give a hot shit what anyone else thinks of my choices. (For the most part. Being stained blue and all...)

Still, to me it would be so much better if we used our energy to insist upon equal pay for equal work rather than using it to ridicule women based on their appearances.

I had the pleasure of meeting Renée years ago when she was shooting a movie here. Because I did something to help her out in the tiniest of ways, she went out and bought me two different types of coffee because she wasn't sure which I would like best. So she wanted me to have both.
She couldn't have been lovelier. Kindness, to me, is a thing of beauty.

We all get to have our preferences. But when it comes to women, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. Beauty exists in a woman whether anyone else beholds it correctly or not.

If you're reading this, you are loved. And more fucking beautiful than you know.

Your #1 Fan,

The Happiness Detective
AKA, Enid-Raye Adams