“I am a phenomenal woman,” the respected author and poet Maya Angelou has proudly claimed. She’s right, but she’s not the only one. Women everywhere seem to have forgotten that. Yes, we have our good days and bad, but it’s important to remain true to ourselves. We should also love ourselves while we’re at it.

I pray for the day that I go on without hearing that redundant phrase, “God I need to lose weight.” I have had enough of that kind of talk ? and so have the men around you.

Although I am not a big fan of men right now (would it kill you to call when you say you would) I do however agree with them on this obsessive issue women have about their bodies.

Men claim to be tired of hearing about this whole “I hate my body” song and dance that women have adopted. Well, that’s not true; women have not adopted it. It should be common knowledge by now that women have been taught to hate themselves since birth.

Men, perk up your ears. If you are truly sick and tired of how women deplorably remind you of how hideous they think they are, then you can make a difference. Stop them while they are singing their deleterious songs and let them know how silly they are being. No wait, never mind. I don’t think that a mere man’s opinion can undo centuries of damage.

Fellas, I know you cannot possibly understand why women have such a problem with themselves, but you guys seem to forget that we live in a society that measures men by their income and women by their image. We are all aware that we reside in the age of technology where information is more accessible and everything is visual. The idea of beauty is fickle, but women’s striving for the ideal is a constant behavior that needs to stop.

For this past century women are continuously bombarded with the dominating airbrushed images that proclaim, “Look at me, be like me, if not oh pity.”

And guess what? We all actually buy into that garbage. But now we must get rid of this garbage entirely ? instead of recycling it.

So where did this hatred for the female form come from? It couldn?t be from men. Procreation would have ceased a long time ago if that was true.

Maybe it started in the Victorian Era with those darn corsets, but it was probably sooner. Who knows where or how it was started, but it is ever-present.

The creation of supermodels hasn?t helped. The fact that people get rewarded for being genetic freaks only contributes more into that image-is-everything genre. But now the media is enforcing the idea that not everyone is designed to be amazons with Colgate smiles. About time isn’t it?

Focusing and judging women on how they look is an age-old problem, so let’s find a solution. Females, hear this: stop those calorie-counting antics that annoy the hell out of everyone close to you and start living! You heard me, and stop comparing yourselves to those “role supermodels.”

This new found awakening is not only intended for the Bottecili angels of the world but even petite women. Thin girls go through proverbial hell, too.

They are now being told that they are either not normal, Ally-McBeal anorexic, or they are just plain snickered at. Either way we can?t win, that is only if we lose ourselves in this old hype about placing a woman’s self-worth in her appearance alone.

Are we as women going to continue to allow this kind of laughable yet dangerous attitude shape our world and put us down in the process? I for one refuse to do so any longer. Now how about yourself?

Georgette Todd is a Journalism major and can be contacted by mail, c/o the State Hornet., CSUS, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA, or by e-mail at Kit [email protected].