Some thoughts about image

I've posted about this elsewhere, but I feel it's something that must be said.

On the television show Arrow, one of the characters wears glasses. To me, this is actually a very big deal. One, because she is smart, sassy and well-liked. Two, she is loved by two of the male characters. Three, she is very attractive, with or without glasses.

Maybe this is shallow, but here's my point.

I grew up wearing glasses in a time where it was definitely not cool. The adage of: "Guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses" was something that I had to put up with. I was bullied. Mostly because I was shy, but also because I wore glasses.

So, when I see a character on a primetime television show who wears glasses but is not treated as the geek, but is actually a very strong character in her own right, as well as the fact that the glasses are treated as 'no big deal', well, it's a very big deal to someone like me.

Let's face it. Hollywood sells lies. Almost every character who is the protagonist on a television show or movie tends to be attractive, thin, or they have a muscular build. The antagonist, on the other hand, can sometimes be unattractive.

Here's the crux of the matter. Kids are practically killing themselves to be like this image. We hear hundreds of stories of kids suffering from anorexia or bulimia, or hurting themselves because they think the image Hollywood sells is real. We've all seen the articles on how images of models are photoshopped to make them conform to an image they think people want to see and we're now seeing some backlash.

Maybe it's a small thing where a girl looks pretty wearing glasses. These days glasses are a fashion statement. I'm not disputing that. It's just that I spent my formative years, the years which are crucial in affirming self-esteem, being made to feel like I was ugly. I'm still not over that and it's been a long time since my teen years.

Have you ever seen those teen movies where the girl who wears glasses is either ignored or bullied because she's considered unattractive, then suddenly she gets contact lenses and everyone looks at her with new eyes? Yeah, that was me. The before anyway. The after: that was wishful thinking on my part. It didn't happen for me.

Hollywood has a long way to go in undoing the damage it has done through these particular movies. It's still one step forward two steps back, but to me the character on Arrow represents a certain type of person who doesn't usually get to be the love interest, or even a strong character.

Baby steps. We can still effect change, one small step at a time.