Some Answers I Have about "Erotic Capital"

This post is in response to Rachel Hills' intriguing Tumblr post "Some Questions I Have About Erotic Capital." In this piece (a response itself to Catherine Hakim's book, funnily enough), she asks her readers several questions about ideas of beauty and body positivity. Here's a breakdown:

1. Is valuing beauty the root of the problem in body hate, or is it that we are socialized to believe we're never beautiful enough?
2. "Is it just a female thing, or do men experience it as well?"
3. "Have you managed to develop a positive approach to the way you look?"
4. "How do we stop beauty positivity from turning into beauty privilege?"

I have been struggling with these questions, mostly internally, since I started down the route of body love and self-acceptance. How do we reconcile wanting to look good with not judging people based on looks? So, when I read this post, it got my brain cells a' firin' with delicious activity. Here are my thoughts.

All's Quiet Without the Internet...

The internet in our building has been off for a full day and then some, and I have found one great, and somewhat predictable, observation: the internet provides a lot of background entertainment.
I think that the internet is really important, even integral, in our computer-oriented college and country. It's a total privilege and you realize that once it's gone, you feel a little bit lost. You're looking for it, you're going through minor withdrawal symptoms, and you're feeling the lack of privilege.
I don't think that it's strange to be dependent on the internet for a lot of things; I use it to connect with people I can't see every day and look up interesting subjects and, of course, goof off on Facebook. But I think that lacking the internet frustrates me more than it should. I get a deep annoyance at the inability of our tech support to provide me with what I consider a "necessary service."
And then there's the paradox: I went an entire weekend at SOCLR without internet orcell phone access, so why am I upset now?
It's possible to blame the Barnard community, or my own lack of talent at amusing myself, but I think that there's another reason. A more serious reason: we're addicted to the privilege. Having something without having to think about it. Electing to give it up. It's given to us all as part of the deal.
In other aspects of my life, I've been industrious and attempted to realize my own privileges and lack thereof, but in this internet blackout I can't ignore the simple truth that I have been brought up to expect a certain level of comfort and am perturbed when it is taken away.

(posted from the library at our school)

Since then, I've gotten better at amusing myself. So, check out some posts about creative ways to use your time (most of them not using the internet!)