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“This beauty ambition is unreachable!” Body dissatisfaction is more common today than a generation ago

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9 months ago

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Photo by Jernej Graj

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Last week I posted a picture of myself and my siStar Anandie Talfie, with some commentary on body dysmorphic disorder, and how it has become a prevalent mental health disorder. I received numerous comments thanking me for bringing this topic up, because it has come to a point that this mental disorder is placing our younger people in danger.

When you go on social media all it does is encourage users to compare themselves to others, and this can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. I want readers to overstand that what you see on social media is not REAL! What you see has been carefully curated and edited, yet there are a growing number of people who are trying to measure up to these perceived standards.

Users often use photo-editing tools and filters to enhance their appearance, leading to unrealistic beauty standards; I had a friend tell me that a woman actually used A.I. to create her body, and when he saw her, he was like, “This ain’t you!”  Social media can create a distorted view of what is considered normal or beautiful. It doesn’t help that influencers and celebrities now set the tone for beauty standards. Their lifestyles, body types, and beauty routines can create an unrealistic ideal that many users may strive to achieve, sometimes at the cost of their physical, or mental health.

Over the years, Janet Jackson has faced speculation about undergoing various cosmetic procedures, including rhinoplasty. Wendy Williams has been open about her experiences with plastic surgery, including breast augmentation and liposuction. Then we have reggae superstar Spice. This energetic entertainer confessed that she managed to get a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), liposuction, and breast lift in one take when she visited the Dominican Republic. She shares that it was to help remove the naturally occurring hip dips which plagued her self-confidence over the years.

We are all familiar with rapper and reality TV star Belcalis Almanzar (aka, Cardi B), who doesn’t deny that she had plastic surgery. In fact, she references her cosmetic augmentations in her songs and openly talks about them during interviews.

The free-spirited, rambunctious rapper said the reason why she wanted to improve her looks is because she needed to feel more confident about herself and wanted to be a successful celebrity. She originally wanted liposuction to facilitate a fat transfer, but she didn’t have enough fat on her body, so the surgeon suggested injectable fillers and she went for it.

Reportedly, Cardi B’s butt procedure leaked for five days and when she returned to the clinic, it was already closed because another patient died on the table (yes, you read that). Her story, however, is a big lesson for anyone considering getting plastic surgery and how dangerous it can get if you don’t choose a reputable surgeon.

Kim and Chloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Nikki Minaj, and of course the man the media loved to expose, the great Michal Jackson…

There is an insidious agenda, a narrative of perfection that is being pushed here in North America, and it takes different forms all over the world, in different countries and cultures. It is the reason why in recent years we have witnessed a growing interest in psychiatric disturbances involving body image. It is undeniable that the number of messages related to body image in the media has increased considerably. This mediatization of the body now dictates and strengthens the standards by which an individual can catalog a body as desirable or not.

One of the most dangerous effects of the media on body image is that social success is directly linked to the body image that the person possesses. Television, magazines and social media strive to present idealized characters, and this promotes an unattainable epitome of beauty. In an article titled, “Unfiltered: The Effect of Media on Body Image Dissatisfaction (2017),” researchers share that the canon of beauty is the set of characteristics that a society considers conventionally attractive, or desirable. The saturation of images representing “perfect beauty’ is spread all over the world everyday across multiple channels. It has now invaded other cultures and their perceptions of self.

I want to introduce the term Body Dysmorphic Disorder. It is known as a mental disorder in which a person suffers from concern and distress with the perceived defects in their appearance and subsequently can experience significant impairment in social, occupational, and interpersonal functioning. People with this disorder may have feelings of shame and disgust about the perceived imperfections. Studies now indicate that there is a high tendency towards cosmetic surgery among individuals who suffer from this disorder.

It is clear that this form of body dissatisfaction is more common today than a generation ago and is widely recognized; I think that now is the time to drop an important note; although some may assume that this disorder is more prevalent in women, men are not exempt from going to extremes to change their appearance, and it has been happening for a while.

In 1997, researchers began to study “Muscle Dysmorphia An Underrecognized Form of Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” It is described as a novel form of BDD, probably underrecognized, which is termed “muscle dysmorphia.” Unlike typical patients with BDD, who are usually concerned with a specific body part (e.g., face, skin, hair, or nose), persons with muscle dysmorphia are pathologically preoccupied with the appearance of the body as a whole; they are concerned that they are not sufficiently large, or muscular; their lives become consumed by weightlifting, dieting, and associated activities.

Naturally there are consequences associated with this disorder; they include: profound distress about being seen in public, impaired social and occupational functioning, and abuse of anabolic steroids and other drugs.

Those navigating this disorder take the ultimate risk with their bodies and go under the knife. The researchers who investigated, “Body dysmorphic disorder in individuals requesting cosmetic surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2022)” assessed 188 BDD patients. They found that the most commonly affected body parts include skin (65%), hair (55%), nose (39%), eyes (19%), and breasts for women (18%), or bones for men (14%). The unhappiness with these features, and the repeated messages of, “If you don’t like it, you can change it,” pushes people to take the ultimate step and subject themselves to needless pain. In the end, there is no true satisfaction, and they go under the knife, again, and again.

Society is an ever-changing entity. The media is a catalyst that influences society’s way of acting, thinking, lifestyles, customs, consumption, and opinions. With constant exposure, these idealized perceptions of beauty are slowly internalized and thought of as needed. Our current media has constructed idealized portrayals of beauty that have led people to believe they can attain an appearance that is not natural but constructed.

This beauty ambition is unreachable; what will continue to happen is an unseen evolution of people, who have severe health and mental complications: low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, anorexia, and unhappiness regardless of their actual physical state.

Be mindful of judgment; people are suffering, and we have to find a way to support them.

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We, as humans are guaranteed certain things in life: stressors, taxes, bills and death are the first thoughts that pop to mind. It is not uncommon that many people find a hard time dealing with these daily life stressors, and at times will find themselves losing control over their lives. Simone Jennifer Smith’s great passion is using the gifts that have been given to her, to help educate her clients on how to live meaningful lives. The Hear to Help Team consists of powerfully motivated individuals, who like Simone, see that there is a need in this world; a need for real connection. As the founder and Director of Hear 2 Help, Simone leads a team that goes out into the community day to day, servicing families with their educational, legal and mental health needs.Her dedication shows in her Toronto Caribbean newspaper articles, and in her role as a host on the TCN TV Network.

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Community News

Hidden Agendas – Bill C-293: The silent Bill being passed right under our noses

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2 days ago

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October 3, 2024

By

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Greetings everyone.

It is always fascinating, isn’t it? How some things dominate the news, get talked about endlessly on our social media feeds, debated over dinner tables, and dissected in countless articles and op-eds, but what about the things that do not make headlines? What about the decisions that happen quietly, in the background, while we are busy discussing everything else?

This edition, I want to shed light on something that has been happening right under our noses. A bill, being crafted, debated, and—unless we take action—soon to be passed by the Canadian government, without most of us even knowing it exists. By the time it hits the public radar, it might just be too late.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking, “What bill? I haven’t heard about any major legislation.” That is exactly the point. While we are kept busy with all the newsworthy controversies, this bill is being shaped in the shadows.

Why hasn’t this bill gotten the same attention? Why isn’t it making headlines? Is it not important enough, or is there something else at play? What this bill will do is undermine Canadian sovereignty by shifting power to unelected, non-Canadian organizations like the WHO and WEF.

You see, it is always the quiet ones, the bills that fly under the radar, that often carry the biggest consequences. The laws that: reshuffle power dynamics, alter rights, or change the very fabric of our society without any of us having a say. By the time we are aware, the decisions have been made, the ink has dried, and we’re left wondering, “How did this happen?”

So today, as I share the details of this bill, I want you to think critically. Ask yourselves why it has not been brought to our attention sooner. Why has it been kept quiet? Most importantly, what can we do as a community to ensure that we are no longer kept in the dark?

It is a move that willfully hands over control of your food, your privacy, and your rights to globalist agendas. You have likely heard of the hard work Citizengo is doing around the world to stop the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic Treaty.  A treaty that would have countries sign away their national sovereignty and become servantent states under unelected globalist rule, whenever and however the next “pandemic” is called. If this goes through we will see the World Health Organization’s “One Health Initiative” rolled out in Canada. This has dire consequences and will essentially usher in a technocratic surveillance state under the guise of safety and preparedness.

What if I told you that Canada, thanks to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and Jagmeet Singh’s New Democratic Party, have already hatched a plan to surrender our national sovereignty to their authoritarian globalist friends. Let me introduce you to Bill C-293, the Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act, introduced by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. Currently, the bill is awaiting its 2nd Reading in The Senate, under the very noses of every-single Canadian, and this is news for some of our readers right now.

I only just learned about this Pandemic Treaty Bill myself when the team at CitizenGo reached out to me. Shortly thereafter, LifeSiteNews released their article, and I was truly shocked by what I read. “Included in Bill C-293 are provisions to ‘regulate commercial activities that can contribute to pandemic risk, including industrial animal agriculture,’ produce ‘alternative proteins,’ and ‘enable contact tracing of persons.”

In other words, if Bill C-293 passes, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The World Health Organization (WHO), The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and other unelected globalist international bodies will have unprecedented control over Canada’s sovereignty.

If this bill is allowed to ascend into Canadian law, the federal government would have to listen to these globalist agencies “guidelines” in regulating our agriculture industry all under the guise of something called “pandemic prevention.”

Guess what else falls under this vague label? Promoting alternative proteins like insects while phasing out traditional meat production. Even more alarming, the bill allows for contact tracing, raising serious privacy concerns and enabling government overreach. How many more digital applications are you going to have to pay for, like ArriveCAN, if you decide to travel abroad, or even throughout Canada?

Here’s how Canadian sovereignty will be lost:

  • Global Regulation of Industrial Agriculture will target meat production and give international bodies influence over what Canadians can produce and consume.
  • Promoting Alternative Proteins through the pushing of lab-grown meats and insect farms designed to devastate local farmers and meat producers.
  • Implementing Contact Tracing to intrude upon every aspect of your life. Without privacy, digital IDs and contact tracing tools grant significant power to the government to control individuals’ behaviour, including where you can go through the usage of mandatory lockdowns and “social distancing” style policies.
  • Ceding Control to Global Institutions were Canada’s pandemic response and industries would be 100% subjected to international oversight, ending our national autonomy as a democratic nation that values individuals’ Human Rights and Freedoms.

The Senate was set to resume its business on September 17th, 2024, but here is the reality: this is not an accident. Certain policies are designed to be kept quiet, tucked away, and only brought to light when there is no turning back. Whether it is the complexity of the bill, or the deliberate silence around it, it is clear—the less we know, the less we can protest.

It is not just this one bill. It is a pattern. While we are being distracted by the flashy stories, we miss the subtler, yet often more impactful, moves happening right beneath the surface. What is the strategy behind this? Silence. Secrecy. Control. Before we know it, we are living with the consequences of decisions we never had a chance to discuss, let alone oppose.

Now, I am not here to incite fear. I’m here to inspire awareness, because we still have a say. We still have time. We must start paying attention to these quieter moves by our government. We need to ask the hard questions, demand transparency, and hold those in power accountable for the decisions they make in the shadows.

If we don’t, we’ll continue to wake up to laws that we had no idea were even in the works. We’ll continue to have: rights, freedoms, and choices taken away without our consent. And that, my friends, is a dangerous place to be.

Democracy doesn’t just live in the loud, public moments—it thrives when we shine a light on the quiet ones too.

REFERENCES:

https://www.onehealthcommission.org/en/why_one_health/what_is_one_health/

https://www.citizengo.org/en-ca

https://www.parl.ca/documentviewer/en/44-1/bill/C-293/third-reading

https://em.citizengo.org/OTA3LU9EWS0wNTEAAAGVic6AghmKYA6VL35jcL7JwEYFvRucjLnneADAZGHY-8NrORLPoh1N5xgY_bNvOwh7xoMLCzs=

Bill C-293 (International Pandemic Treaty) Revisited: Concerns Raised Over Food Supply

 

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Community News

The drug manufacturer and pusher man: Off with their heads

Published

2 days ago

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October 3, 2024

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BY STEVEN KASZAB

Victims of the opioid epidemic have been shouting aloud to the: authorities, addiction/mental health emergency providers, and local governments for help. Asking, pleading, and when action does not happen quick enough protesting the apparent inaction of those who are supposed to be protecting society. There will always be excuses as to why those who manufacture and sell these drugs are not in prison right now. Their legal rights, the police’s inability to soundly find proof necessary to have them arrested, the federal government cannot stop the importation of these illegal drugs illegally, nor the domestic manufacturing of this poison. Aboriginal Rights, personal and privacy rights, international domains, lack of response from India and China’s Security Apparatus in stopping those in their country.

It comes down to the question, if you are addicted to drugs, are you of sound mind and body? Can you think for yourself, or must a public judicator force the addict into rehabilitative care? Often war does not have rules, and the war on drugs has been one sided for a very long time. Those nations that allow illicit drugs to be made in their territory, or transported from should feel the effects of powerful embargos. Let the Foreign Affairs Office do something useful by placing: Mexico, China, Columbia, Burma, and others on an embargo list not allowing them to ship or sell their products to Canada.

Long ago sanitariums were set aside, considered politically incorrect. Now, these same institutions of medical rehabilitation are necessary to hold involuntarily addicts for a three-to-six-month period, where their healthcare, mental health, and addiction therapy can be carried out. Inviting the church organizations to assist with their historical experience can be an asset.

Our society must take the war seriously, or hundreds of thousands of our citizens will perish. Take no prisoners, as those who manufacture and sell this poison know exactly: what they are doing, who they are harming, and what the end game truly will be.

For all those who have not seen someone dying of addiction, being poisoned long term, or it was their very first try…wake up. Decide whose side you are on, the victims and their families, the society you live in that is possibly the best that can exist, or you’re on the side of evil, people who make a living by poisoning and killing others.

Choose, and choose well.

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Community News

Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity 4th Annual Canada Leadership Summit and Nations Building Award

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2 days ago

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October 3, 2024

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BY PAUL JUNOR

There will be much to look forward to at the 4th Annual Canada Leadership Summit and Nations Building Award which will be held on Friday, October 4th, and Saturday, October 5th, 2024, at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel. The event will be hosted by the Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity and along with several partners such as: International School of Greatness (ISG), Diversity Institute located at TMU and other strategic partners who have been integral.

The CIDWE is described as the premier global event that gathers leaders from diverse backgrounds, all united by a shared dedication to transformational leadership and tackling today’s most urgent issues through networking, advocacy, and steadfast commitment. An integral mission of the summit is the goal of inspiring participants to rise above: personal, professional, and corporate challenges, and their aim is to ignite the spirit of leadership in everyone and transform those in positions of authority into nation builders.

On Friday, October 4th, 2024, there will be an evening of networking. It is intended to inspire critical dialogue and action on a global scale through strategic learning and networking opportunities.

On Saturday, October 5th, 2024, there will be a Business Breakfast Forum followed by the Leadership and Diversity workshops. There will be a Business Branding and Profitable Growth Workshop. Participants will learn about the Seven Laws of Exponential Growth and how to leverage the Psychology of Sales and Marketing to build generational wealth and achieve global impact.

These series of workshops will focus on: Transformational Leadership, Strategic Management, Social Justice, and Community Development. Some of the speakers include Dr. Wendy Cukier, Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad, Dr. Upiomoh Osholene, Dr. Mary Grogan, Alethia O’Hara Stephenson, and others.

The Nation Builders Award will be given to thirteen inspirational and motivational individuals who have distinguished themselves in a variety of fields such as: government, academia, business, and community service. A nation builder is understood in very specific terms as  someone who actively contributes to the development and strengthening of their country. In addition, nation builders take responsibility for their country’s future, working to create: systems, policies, and cultural practices that lead to long-term success and prosperity. They are visionaries who understand that the strength of a nation depends on the collective efforts of its people, and they work to: inspire, lead and empower others to participate in this important work.

In an email, Nosakhare Alex Ihama mentioned, “Our dedicated committee meticulously selected the 2024 nominees, ensuring that the awardees exemplify outstanding leadership and community service across our nation. With about 100: speakers, panelists, entertainers, sponsors, and strategic partners involved; we are proud to be recognized as a leading platform for national transformation. We congratulate the distinguished 2024 award recipients and eagerly anticipate learning from their insights while celebrating their collective achievements in making Canada truly North and Free.”

Participants will be able to network with the speakers and Nation Builder Award winners. They will have an opportunity to engage with thought leaders and policymakers and be part of meaningful conversations that will shape our collective future.

The titles of the awards and the names of the thirteen recipients are:

  • Nation Builders Lifetime Leadership Award: Senator Wando Thomas
  • Nation Builders Award for Excellence in Black Community Development: Dr. Winston LaRose
  • Nation Builders Legacy Award: Honorable Dr. Jean Augustine
  • Nation Builders Award for Inclusive Government & Policies: Greg Fergus
  • Nation Builders Award in Education & Academia: Dr. Gervan Fearon
  • Social Justice Icon Award: Honourable Michaelle Jean
  • Nation Business Award for Business Excellence: Harriet Thornhill
  • Nation Builders Rising Star Award for Social Justice: Nicholas Marcus Thompson
  • Nation Builders Global Humanitarian Award: Kamala Jean Gopie
  • Nation Builders Award for Inclusive & Equitable Sports: Rowan Barrett
  • Nation Builders Award for National Unity & Harmony: Senator Murray Sinclair
  • Nation Builders Award for Media, Arts & Entertainment: Patricia Babia
  • Nation Builders Award for Law and Justice: Hon. Justice Donald McLeod
  • Nation Builders Award for Youth Empowerment: Diana Alli D’Souza

There is much to expect from the upcoming Leadership Summit and Nation Builders Award. No doubt, there will be many moments of: empowerment, inspiration, motivation, and engagement.

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