"Self care shouldn't be gendered" - top surgery scars

[NeurotrashWarrior]

I find this immensely chilling. I hadn't thought of non binary like this before.

On the one hand creating a child like but adult body ( I feel sick)

And on the other hand exulting in the scars; self harm as self care...

All types of awfulness dressed up as glamour and put on Instagram.

I wonder if this would be discussed in parliament re self image?

www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/05/232331/lachlan-watson-top-surgery-scar-interview

I haven’t followed the link so apologies if I have misunderstood but why does being ‘non-binary’ whatever that means, mean that you can’t have a natural, non-surgeried body? Isn’t it about how you regard yourself?

Why does adopting cosmetic ‘Male’ physical norm markers- like not having breasts- mean that you are more non-binary than someone who has breasts? What am I missing? This move seems very sad but also missing the point I thought was trying to be made. A bit like (much less invasive example) when schools say that they’re going to have a ‘gender neutral’ uniform and then with great fanfare they say it is just kids wearing trousers (and not wearing skirts?) ie conforming to ‘male’ gender norms?

Health, comfort, self-care, self-love, and self-priority are things that should be universal.

Says a young woman who had an elective double mastectomy for cosmetic purposes. I don't see health, self-care, self-love or the rest in her account of her life.

The poor woman is obsessed with her appearance. She says nothing about anything else in her life. It's all narcissism and a desire to label the minutiae of life, even toiletries.

I suppose one day she'll grow up. I don't know whether to hope she does or continues oblivious.

Chatty I think that's why I was so shocked; previously I'd understood NB to be as you describe. Suddenly there seems to be a type of NB who are body modified too. Who are more likely to be women cutting off their breasts. I'm not sure a man who is NB would have penile surgery - to what I'm not sure - and not want to develop breasts?

It's just occurred to me that society's obsession with breasts for the wrong reason may play into this. If there was more breastfeeding visibility and general knowledge, would breasts be such a problem for young women? Would they be as sexualised? Would they have a more meaningful purpose?

This bothers me and I don't know if I can articulate why. I rarely see myself reflected on screen but I don't feel alienated from the human race because of it

But I can't help seeing a cultural reflection here of something I keep seeing in different places that are largely entertainment based of feeling like you actually don't exist if you, or someone exactly like you isn't on a screen somewhere.

Yes, to both of these comments. It put me in mind of the thread about ableism. I wonder if this isn't another version of what bothers me about trying to avoid words like "disabled" for people who don't think of themselves as disabled, even if they are trying to communicate for quite a practical purpose like getting an accommodation.

There is this sense that you are validated unless you see the image that reflects you precisely, or have a word that describes you down to the last detail. Or the idea that my daughter brought home from school that if you didn't let everyone know all your thoughts about what you identified as, as you were going through life, you were somehow not living honestly.

It's as if there is no concept on an inner individual that is a secret from everyone else, or maybe even to some extent from yourself, everything is external. It reminds me a little bit of Jung talking about how we present a persona to others, but very often, and to our detriment, we begin to believe that the persona is really who we are, and maybe even all of who we are.

From the article, my bolding:

"Watson, who plays Theo on Netflix's teen drama Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, just partnered with Unilever for the brand's latest initiative, United We Stand. The campaign pairs six grassroots, non-governmental organizations with LGBTQ+ voices and allies to raise awareness about the lack of accessibility of beauty products in the queer community."

Name me one "beauty product" that is not already "accessible" to the "queer community" ?

None.

(Follow the money.)

All this suggests to me is that sales of women's "beauty products" to both women and men were reaching saturation point, so manufacturers needed to create and/or exploit a new "target market", ie. the "queer community".

Give it time and the "queer community" will be segmented again along the lines we seen drawn between groups under the "Queer Umbrella" aka "Trans Umbrella". ( If they do not already exist there will be "special moisturisers" to deal with the "special problems" of M2F facial skin and "special aftershaves" for transmen.)

Marketing Planning 101. Create demand for re-packaged products by creating new markets and/or segmenting existing target markets.

"Non-Queer" examples.

• increase demand for existing products by inventing new "problems", generate social stigma (to avoid) and/or personal insecurity (to soothe) and then sell products as "solutions", eg. halitosis and Listerine *

• increase demand for existing products by promoting variations on existing "problems" and watch to see if the suckers fall for the applying the "solutions" more frequently and/or in greater amounts, eg.

1) halitosis (again): brushing your teeth with toothpaste is not enough, you need to brush your tongue as well ! 2) Body Odour (BO): Men! Aftershave is not just for your face after you have shaved it! Douse your whole torso with Aftershave! ** (anyone old enough to remember the Henry Cooper "Splash it all over!" adverts for Brut?)

• having established the "problem" and an accepted "solution", create new products that "improve" on the old products, eg. halitosis (again): brushing your tongue is so yesterday, you need a "tongue scraper"!

Celebrity Endorsement - nothing to add, everyone understands this as a marketing strategy.

From the article again:

"partnered with Unilever for the brand's latest initiative, United We Stand. The campaign pairs six grassroots, non-governmental organizations with LGBTQ+ voices and allies"

ethicalmarketingnews.com/unilever-launch-first-of-its-kind-pride-campaign-united-we-stand

Anyone surprised to see this from the "Ethical Marketing News" article:

"As part of the campaign, Unilever and RanaVerse created films for each organization, each featuring a different ambassador. The films are directed by Tourmaline, a passionate advocate for the trans community. Unilever partnered with breakthrough director Tourmaline, director of Happy Birthday, Marsha, a film about iconic transgender artist and activist, Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson and her life in the hours before she ignited the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, to capture creative content that shines a light on the important organizations in the LGBTQIA+ world. A passionate advocate for the trans community, Tourmaline is committed to shifting the conversation around the gender binary of society and unearthing histories of trans women of color."

If you want to see an illustration of a Marketing Planning tool for identifying possible market segmentation and target markets you need look no further than the "Genderbread Person".

• Listerine (from Wikipedia)

"According to Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's book Freakonomics:[5]

Listerine, for instance, was invented in the nineteenth century as powerful surgical antiseptic.

It was later sold, in distilled form, as both a floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea.

But it wasn't a runaway success until the 1920s, when it was pitched as a solution for "chronic halitosis" — a then obscure medical term for bad breath.

Listerine's new ads featured forlorn young women and men, eager for marriage but turned off by their mate's rotten breath. "Can I be happy with him in spite of that?" one maiden asked herself.

Until that time, bad breath was not conventionally considered such a catastrophe. But Listerine changed that.

As the advertising scholar James B. Twitchell writes, "Listerine did not make mouthwash as much as it made halitosis." In just seven years, the company's revenues rose from $115,000 to more than $8 million."

* Aftershave* (from Wikipedia "Aftershave")

"Some aftershave manufacturers encourage using their fragranced aftershave as if it were cologne, in order to increase sales by encouraging consumers to use it in a more versatile manner, rather than just after a shaving session."

I’m so confused by what Instagram sees as a male vs female nipple.

When was the female nipple in this instance turned into a male nipple and therefore not censored by Instagram? When the mammary tissue behind it was scooped away?

I don’t think they accept self ID for nipples. Or is it based on the self ID of the person themselves? So what if they identify as male but haven’t had ‘top surgery’? Are their nipples male (and therefore acceptable) or female (and therefore obscene)?

Slight tangent.

How is self-motivation self care? Its absolutely insane and promoted by a massive company! You couldn't make it up.