Issue 9: Girl Power

F INALLY

Vol. II / Issue 09

BAM/PFASC

D

e

a

...scroll down that Instagram newsfeed.

Girls posting photos to show off their unclothed bodies.

f home so excitedly.

She opened her mouth and I started to bleed.

Posts screaming “insecurities”.

The 2 simple words, she shouted: “follow me”.

Screaming “take my self-worth”.

Screaming “talk to me dirty”. Screaming “I lack intellectuality”

My skin peeled. My mind flipped. Stomach dropped. Fingers clenched. Toes curled.

The screaming gets louder and louder as young women choose to portray beauty in the form of commercial advertising.

My sister exposed to this network of disgust. My eyes burned.

A free advertisement that began with so much worth.

But now ladies voluntarily exchanging self-respect for a display of flesh.

These girls are stuck in this mentality, that men just wanna see, ...their physical offerings.

....open up that Facebook browser...

Ladies posting photos that strip them of their dignity like a teenage boy strips down his old Winnie the Pooh wallpaper.

Stripping and striping until underneath...

There’s a frail white wall. A wall weak from distress of toxic adhesive that once put it together in adolescence. a blank canvas. A canvas that lacks personality, opinion, morals, and respect.

Last year. my 12 year old sister came

The girl that asked me how blenders work. The girl that would ask me to run my fingers through her silky golden hair. The girl who colored outside of the lines because she hated boundaries. The girl with the big blue eyes, deep like the ocean, that I would drown in, just to seek the smallest sense of comfort. The girl who’s sweet chuckle unlatches every nerve in my body. The girl with the golden smile that makes my organs shiver.

Yet, everything changed faster than the seasons. She soaked up worries like a sponge. Squeeze the sponge, insecurities started to spill out. Left dry, she only soaked up what her friends did or said. it pierces through my skin like a rusted bullet. the idea of her being exposed to this new image, a new degrading trend of disgust. this socially constructed compression that is breaking her down, robing her of the confidence she used to own.

....scroll down that Instagram newsfeed... And the screaming is killing my hearing.

SPECIAL THANKS SPECIAL THANKS SPECIAL THANKS SPECIAL THANKS Raquel Parra Nicole Solis-Solson MAYELA RODRIGUEZ PERWANA NAZIF BIJOU KARMAN GABRIELLA GINI DIANA TEREMZAWI NAO MOTEGI A. CONDE

STUDENT COMMITTEE RAG BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

summer2014 hav a good one