Plastic Molds

“Plastic Molds” by Monika Blichar
In a world full of insecurity that is masked with materialistic consumerism, how can a girl really know what’s going on? In today’s society, we are bombarded with images of the destined Prada, a black bag that is supposed to conceal imperfection and anxiety with lustrous leather tassels. Every day, women all over the world must be asking themselves the same time old question; what am I really supposed to do?

Each morning I get up and get ready for another day at the office, a classroom at the moment, a hub of adolescent gossip mixed with an insightful amount of pubescent boisterousness. Each day, one of these adventurous minds turns to her peer and reveals how much she would love to be a famous bombshell, a sultry celebrity, a ‘model’ for this generation. With eyes awe struck and days spent dreaming of a life where everything is possible without any effort, these young girls beg me to question what kind of example has been set that continues to persuade even the brightest youngsters that a plastic life is so desired. What has happened to appreciation, gratitude, community, and love?

Being at an age where every time I look at the sky, I wonder what, if anything, could somehow repair the damage that we’ve done not only to ourselves but to the immense beauty that is quickly disappearing from nature. They say that you can’t always get what you want; yet, I beg to differ. Why can’t we have whatever we want without having to sacrifice the best of ourselves as women and the infinite bounty that we have been so fortunate to have received from Mother Nature?

As human beings, we have all been given a grandiose set of timely gifts in life. People in all cultures have demonstrated through both time and space that all of us possesses something great to offer the world. We are able to excel in a multitude of domains the deeper our interests and minds are intrigued. Centuries of literature, art, music, and discovery have proven to us time and again that people have accomplished earth shattering discoveries driven by a sense of passion to rise above all challenges and unlock the curious mysteries lurking in their minds. Time has shown us how incredibly brilliant people; both women and men, have truly been.

For some reason, somewhere along the route to ‘the greater good’ and knowledge as power, we have eliminated the quest for truth with a false sense of self. A self that has been replaced with an image of a plastic Barbie queen strolling around the sunset in the City of Angels looking for something she can’t even express. Her eyes simply convey confusion, illusion, and worst of all, a loss of innocence combined with a yearning for some sort of explanation.

Women today are cursed with The Plastic Plague, a dismal existence ruled by inadequacy, fear, and anxiety. Not only are most women not valuing themselves as creatures who recreate life, they are attempting to counsel themselves by accepting the plastic phenomenon and succumbing to those falsehoods by destroying their own worth and flair. By definition, plastic is the term for a range of synthetic or semi synthetic materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Instead of lusting after one of their inner passions; learning, creating, and loving; masses of women are falling into the pits of consumerism and advertising, surrendering to a life hunting for the synthetic replacements; a perfect bag that will match a certain sultry dress. (Lest we forget that with the dress, there also has to be the perfect shoes, the perfect make up, the perfect breasts, hair, and nails, natural or man-made.)

In a world that continues to publish images of 12 year olds looking as though they are 30 and on the verge of an orgasm, how do young women even stand a chance to succeed as more than just the stereotype of what has been plastered all over our cities like a disease. Women need to look around them and see what is going on in corporate and political offices which is not only permitting basic core values to be thrown out the window, but what continues to perpetuate the vicious cycle. Is being beautiful in stereotypical standards; having the implants, the extensions, the anorexic figure, as beautiful as having an elevating, educational, and inspiring life full of possibility and accomplishment?

Time changes everything, they say; yet one constant throughout time has been the illusion that women are subordinate to their male counterparts and so must preserve their beauty at all costs in order to attain success in which ever terms North America deems it to be. Even in an era of freedom and democracy, this relentlessly disgraceful notion continues to corrode the minds of young women to the point of discouragement, gloom, and perpetual depression. Having been able to transform the world to the state that it is today; a playground where everything is possible, what can people do to ensure we all reach our potential rather than decay mentally and physically? The first step has to be to recognize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that it does indeed come from the inside. Step two is to recognize that the word plastic derives from the Greek plastikos, "fit for molding," from plastos "molded." Perhaps it's time to break free from the mold?