hypocrites

I've been thinking about something that has been bothering me ever since I went to the Lady Gaga concert on Monday.

I went with a group of friends who are awesome. They are smart, funny, beautiful women who are very supportive of each other.

My friends and I have discussed body image and body issues several times. We all have recognized how hard it is to feel good about your bodies when faced with a constant bombardment from the media.

So my friends are very positive and encouraging to other women... as long as we are friends with them.

We talk about wanting to change the world and make it a more welcoming and accepting place and yet, when we were at the concert there was a woman wearing a crazy outfit (or I suppose at a Gaga concert it would be referred to as a "normal outfit") and my friends totally judged that girl and made comments about her body.

To be fair, they did not do it within her hearing. And I suppose they would argue that she shouldn't wear something that revealing if she a) doesn't have a perfect body and b) doesn't want people to comment on it. But isn't that the whole point we are trying to make?!? Shouldn't we be happy with our bodies and not feel the need to cover them up, just because they aren't perfect?!

And that girl might not have heard you, but other girls did. And that soaks into their brain. Sort of like how a man might say that he doesn't like women with plastic, fake, perfect bodies, but then you totally catch him checking them out. It registers in your brain and you remember that.

So when your friends hear you say something about some girl's body, and especially if that girl has a better body than your friend does, it is going to register in their brains. The insult wasn't directed at them but it still affects them. Because it that girl's body isn't okay, then your friend's body isn't okay either. No matter what you say to your friend directly about her body.

Don't you guys get that?!?!

You don't want to be judged. You want to be accepted. Yet you are still judging all these other women. It starts with you. And not just judging people you know, but people you don't know too.

Universal acceptance. Universal love. Jump on the train, people.