Accept that problem areas are not a real thing, they are a societal construct designed to keep women subjugated, paranoid and spending money on unnecessary products.

You weren’t really expecting me to tell you what to do about problem areas in a quick fix sort of way were you?

Well, actually, I will give you one piece of “problem area” advice: If there is an area of your body that  is painful or swollen or bleeding or an unusual colour (by which I mean purple and swollenor something equally horrible), this is a problem area…see a doctor!

Now, back to those “problem” areas everyone seems to believe they have…

What to do about problem areas seems to be a very common question in both the health and fitness circles, whats more it seems to be a question that both industries are willing to charge lots of money to answer.

And that is the key phrase right there: “lots of money to answer…”

There are a lot of major beauty and diet and fitness companies, huge, multi million pound industries all selling the idea that you are not good enough.

They are selling the myth that they can “fix” you for some sort of extortionate payment but worse than that they are selling the idea that you need fixing! They have been selling this idea for so long, and so effectively that it has become a core part of societies beliefs about women (men too of course but mostly and most noticeably women). Women believe that they have to fix parts of themselves, men believe women have to fix parts of themselves to be attractive, or something… It has become the norm to believe that you are not good enough, not worth anything if you are not trying to work on areas of yourself.

Modern society would have you believe that you are not worthy of love/attention/a place in the world unless you are using one or other of these products. It has somehow become the norm to believe you are not good enough. It is brainwashed into people from almost birth, children see and hear their parents and siblings saying “I need to diet” or “I have problem skin” or even “I need plastic surgery to fix whatever” and they start to question themselves.

I have the same problem with the words “flawesome” and the new trend for stating that you are flawed but you are ok etc. The whole concept of flawesome intimates that there is an ideal and perfect form that you fall short of. Just because society’s norms are currently favouring one thing over another doesn’t mean it is ideal or perfect!

In case you haven’t guessed this is starting to make me pretty angry! I am not immune to it, of course I am not but I am trying my best to say this is me and I am awesome…

As a society we need to stand up and say we have worth, we will not live in fear of slightly larger thighs or slightly blotchy skin any more. We are who we are and that is ok!

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way suggesting that people shouldn’t wear make up if they want to, or lose weight if they want to (safely etc) or get fitter or what ever they want to do. And of course things that genuinely improve your health are always good. I am just saying that it is about time we said no to the culture of fear that says we *have* to do these things! People are people with different shapes and sizes and skin tones and face shapes and pretty much everything! It is a strength not a weakness. So…in the words of the slayer…deal with it 😀

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