Beauty Vs Brains

What is more important to impress the women out there today, I hear men fussing about? Beauty or Brains????

In disbelief and disgust to an apparent ‘gender status’ breakdown I am surrounded with day in and day out, I feel like I have been sucked into a culture storm with fake tans, fake eyelashes, hair extensions, fake boobs, fake nails, fake, fake, fake. It shouldn’t be no coincidence men now seem to mistake brains on a woman for (fake) beauty. Gone are the days men need to strike a meaningful conversation with a woman if all they see infront of them is a big rack (plastic boobs), out on the weekly special in a Coles catalogue. Should this give them any incentive to read the terms and conditions on how to approach the bargain before they claim it?

Probably not.

So without a second to hesitate, their hand has swung back and slapped you from behind. In total disgust, you turn around and see a big grin on a liquored up male-pubescent-teen’s face. “Whoa!!” Is this even happening to a woman who has spent all the time it takes to doll herself up, in front of a mirror and squeeze into the inciest winciest lycra dress she owns, standing in 6 inch Christian Louboutin’s- only to have her integrity brought right down to the grunge of the sticky dance floor in a nightclub? I do recall my mother telling us to keep our hands to ourself otherwise we were asking for trouble.

 Damn straight mate! I would like to know where you left your mannerisms and dignity before you could consider the thought of groping a respectable woman’s body in public. Now, I am not the only one who has seen this first hand. Beyonce was recently embarrassed on stage by an alleged ‘fan’ in the crowd who leant forward onto the edge of the stage where Beyonce was dancing and aggressively groped her ‘booty.’ “Are you even kidding me? This is Beyonce, the ‘Queen B’, who has since the beginning of time had complete ownership of her body, not to mention accrediting the rights to ‘bootylicious.’”

Why do men, now, all of a sudden have the urge to get up on their high horse and strike gold with, what I would assume for women to be, very ‘off limits,’ and restrictive of their boundaries? Have women lost total confidence to fight back and word them off in the politest manner? Do we really need to be reminded how much we are worth for us to think twice before we make an excuse to why we didn’t react in that situation? If that is the path women are taking, God forbid, what would happen to us if we didn’t have a role model, like Beyonce, to thank after her quick reaction to a rightful mention for the man to be escorted out of the concert?

Now call that ballsy or call that self respect, it should be known women do not need to tolerate this behaviour; at any price. If a woman can let this slip up on the occasion she didn’t feel violated, fair enough. However, I know most of you would agree if you saw this happen to a woman infront of you, it would take a good deal of ignorance not to intervene on behalf of these women, who naturally don’t have the confidence to put these men back in their place.

Think of your favourite role models. Put yourself in their shoes. Would they be considered a great role model if they didn’t show integrity? Would they be taken serious if they laughed it off and walked away? Great role models such as Kelly Clarkson are outspoken because they believe their word is the most powerful tool to influence people. They are considered great role models because they are true to their word, which gives them higher integrity and allows their voice to be heard in the most awkward and difficult situation.

Ladies, cut the crap, you know you have the credentials to be a smart role model younger girls need, more importantly now, than ever before. I am disgusted at the derogatory vocabulary men freely label women with. From a ‘slut’ to a ‘bitch,’ it seems like a desperate quest for attention.

Their behaviour is almost predictable. How many times have I crossed the road or walked out of a night club, to hear men yelling from cabs, “Oi bitch, show us your tits!” These comments are sparked from a lack of confidence with themselves, therefore they need to suck dry the energy of women to fill up their self esteem tank. Maybe you were taught to ignore these people and walk away, fair call. But if we live in a society where we walk with the lights turned off, how can we ever see the light of day? Parliament is put in place for politicians to advocate on behalf of our basic human rights, and yes one of those rights is freedom of speech.

Going back to my term ‘gender status’ breakdown, I am dumbfounded to see some people have completely lost their identity and succumbed to acting dumb in a conversation to impress the opposite sex. Normally in a social group, this is where peer pressure comes into play. A grown woman should be able to express herself freely and confidently with an attitude she is free to do whatever she wants at any point. She has been educated and taught the same as men have and as we live in a democratic society, allows her to pursue her dreams she creates for herself.

 So, what inhibits a woman from achieving great success and having ambition?

With images of women pregnant and carrying children in their early twenties it suddenly daunts on young women they should re-evaluate their career path and settle for the most decent job they are offered. Their ambition is quickly overturned with media connotations about where a woman in their mid twenties should be comfortably fit into society.

 A trend I have noticed in slow paced, country-like Perth, Australia is desperation of women to knuckle down with a partner and settle into a comfortable relationship. Suddenly curiosity to explore bustling, bigger cities, with splashes of different culture, and extraordinary people slowly dies away from conversation.  The social norm implanted in Perth forces some of us to think once we have graduated from university we wear the badge of honour and our career is almost complete when we land a job. Then Boom! Maternal instinct has gotten the best of us and we need to feel validated within ourselves. Whose job is that I hear you ask? You guessed it, our partners. I mean listen to the music played on commercial radio, young women singing, “tell me that you want me, tell me that you need me,” calls out desperate for men’s attention.  No wonder why men are overwhelmed with women jumping whenever they say so.

This has alarmed me to believe women are crying out for self identity, asking and seeking validation in every nook and cranny. If women are crying out loud for attention, then why can’t men start to show us women we are beautiful in, ugh, say a polite manner which used to be called ‘chivalry’?

And if a woman’s desire to be loved by their partner, is the only love you feel can satisfy your existence and self worthiness on this planet, then crikey, self motivation, self love, self happiness has completely gone out the window.

 Oprah Winfrey  (above) has recently been honoured with a Doctor of Laws degree and is America’s most respected and influential role model after creating the Harper Empire, and after doing more than 35,000 interviews, (Whoa!!) she’s learned the common denominator of human experience: “We want to be validated. We want to be understood.” Relating an anecdote about the first time Beyonce sang on her show “in all her Beyonce-ness,” she said, “Even Beyonce whispered 'Was that okay?’ -because that's what everyone wants to know: Was that okay? Did you hear me? Did what I say mean anything to you?”

Believe it or not self respected, grown women still exist and I’d like to share my list of favourite influential female artists who are passionate about empowering women through their selection of words. At the top of my list are Florence and The Machine, Beyonce and all her bootylicious, Madonna, Iggy Azalea (Australian female rapper), Ellie Goulding, Gretel Killeen, Oprah Winfrey, Haim (band of sisters), Havana Brown, Frida Gianni and Salma Hayek Pinault.   

These female artists articulate power by using words that is bold, smart and independent. See the impression they have in the media? Picture what you could become, from what you have been dragged through, who has inspired your thoughts, driven your courage, reached out to something nobody ever thought before. To envision something is great, to create change is inspiring others to overcome fear, solidarity and weakness.

We should not take women’s education for granted, in Karachi, Pakistan women must fight against societal and religious norms for their basic human right to education. Humaira is an advocate for young women in Karachi and is determined to fight for girls everywhere by knocking on every girl’s door to enrol them into secondary school.

 There are 32 million girls under the age of 14 in Pakistan, less than 13 million of them are enrolled in formally recognised schools. The literacy rate for women is 26 percent.

 With the power of education we can read and write, allowing each of us to think for ourself, imagine how many lives we can change if we fought for these girls. When girls are raised in poverty, there is a far greater chance they will fall out of the safe haven of school, fall pregnant, catch unwanted STD’s and if they make it through childbirth, have no financial support to raise their children and by the age of 15 this is probably not the future they had intended. Girls and women should be protected and have access to proper care, EDUCATION, HEALTH & JUSTICE.

Background video: Chime for Change

These are the facts, it’s time to change, to notice our voice is a powerful tool in spreading the word for change, and reach out to every girl, every woman, everywhere. Chime for Change is taking on the ‘girl effect challenge’ to spark a global revolution in connecting girls and women who don’t have a choice to speak out.  It enables men and women to work together to help those inhibited by poverty, sexual violence, sexism and sex trafficking to move forward- together.

None of us can move forward, if half of us are held back.

Choose a project, support it and advocate change for women around the world.

Let us not fear our individual acts on speaking out can create change, that women stand up together and pledge for a brighter and safer generation of girls and women.

We need to show every girl from all parts of the world they are not the only one thinking of change, that their dreams can be validated; their career motives are rightfully asserted without the stigma of negative societal and religious norms.

Chime for Change is connecting you to every girl, every woman, everywhere in the world, because if men can stand proud and be the force to be reckoned with, so can WE.

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