Fitting

plastic feet formed to fit polymer heels
lofty heights
false ideals
dance in girls’ minds
to fairy-tale tunes
flawlessly complected marketing tools
young thoughts make creative formations
of too tiny waists
and bone-thin limbs
manifested years later
in anorexic meals
and bulimic fits
to fit
lovely lies
melted years earlier in colorful molds
hardened in impressionable minds
for uniform standards
unreal

~

Words and Photography ©2017 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

Posted in poetry & free verse. Bookmark the permalink.

36 thoughts on “Fitting”

    1. Thank you, Jonathan! I never allowed my daughter to play with Barbie dolls. Now she is helping me make funny stop-motion short films with them…Lol
      Ours involve smoke and fake blood though…

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  3. Yes, the battle rages on about the “perfect bodies” which these Barbies have. Of course they don’t look like real ladies. But on the other side of this, news reporters, nutritionists, and such tell all people to eat better, loose weight, and exercise. Doctors put weight loss surgeries “on sale.” They want to fit people into these plastic molds. Why? Because that’s what many people want…to look like Barbie dolls.

    BTW, when do you think they will they ever give Ken a pot-belly and unshaven look? Lol…

    🙂

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    1. It’s all a part of the consumption cycle. We start children out early, and they carry those biases into adulthood. Our focus should be on health, but the truth is that healthy people don’t consume nearly as many products as ill or overweight people do. Our market is tipped toward unhealthy living and ideas, because they drive profits.
      We are using Barbie dolls in the next stop-motions, but those involve smoke and fake blood…lol
      Have a great day, Steve!😊

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      1. I agree with the statements about the profits, as they are true. It just seems part of the world is telling us that we should be okay with how we look, etc. Then there’s the part which is telling us to improve our health through better eating, exercise and such. Of course, that will usually lead to leaner bodies, and better looks. And still another segment of our world is giving us 2 tacos, four hamburgers, and a mega soda for $3.00 bucks! This world is full of so many mixed messages…

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Absolutely. Healthy living inside and out comes down to valuing the life we have each been given. We have a lot of products in our market that battle against that.
        Have a great day, Steve!😊

        Liked by 1 person

      3. We can use a good dose of common sense and reasonable judgment as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and what we are happy with as far as our personal life goals are.

        Enjoy your day, Tanya… 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Powerful words. Barbie’s dimensions are unattainable, so it sets a bar far too high. I wonder how many girls are shamed because of this. I was just thinking about the movie “The Help” where a little girl is comforted and inspired by the maid, played by Viola Davis, after her mother picks on her for not being good enough. The maid would say in a mantra with the little girl, “you are smart, you are kind and you are important.”

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    1. Thank you, Keith. We start children out early with impossible standards. Our market economy profits more off of mentally and physically ill people than it does off of balanced and healthy people. If our focus was on “healthy” bodies and and minds, Barbie wouldn’t be popular.
      I think it is changing but not quickly enough for me.

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      1. Good point, Tanya. This may not surprise you one of the several reasons banks do not like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is they profit off people over their heads in debt. It is the same modus operandi, exploit the exploitable. Keith

        Liked by 1 person

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