Body Image

 Last time I spoke about the issue of skinny shaming of women, which is only one of the problems associated with unrealistic body image. The topic about female images in the media has been widely discussed, with correlations found between looking at models and felings of depression and self-loathing, eating disorders, and in general unhealthy behaviors as a result of dissatisfaction with oneself.

This, however, does not just apply to women. More and more images of the “perfect” male body type have pushed men to their own eating disorders and detrimental use of steroids or other harmful supplements, all aimed at achieving abs, biceps, and looking like the latest beach photo of Hugh Jackman. And while the issue has been widely addressed for women, it is still very closed when it comes to men. They have been ridiculed for their shortness, fatness, skinniness, and other aspects of their appearance that do are not in the category of masculine. There is no “Real Beauty” campaign for men, you can rarely see an overweight guy in movies without him being the funny man, who compensates for his looks by providing money or entertainment. If a man is fat or short, this is always discussed and connected with stereotypical complexes. If they are not dreamy, they are not worthy. This needs more attention. 

Skinny shaming

If you spend some time randomly browsing the internet, you are bound to run into what has turned into an anti-supermodel mantra: “Real Women Have Curves”. That’s not very nice. Actually, shaming girls who are skinny by nature, or by choice, is just as detrimental as making fun of those who are overweight.

The fat girls get a bad reputation for having no self-control, not taking enough care about their appearance, and to be honest, just bad genes (think of people who are at the gym trying to lose weight, and still they are being made fun of as they are running on the treadmill). Skinny girls are on the opposite end of the spectrum – they are believed to be too much concerned with their looks (even if their body shape is just the natural result of a fast metabolism), and often time they are urged by random strangers to just “Go eat something!”

So next time you post an image like this one, think about what you are saying. You are not making it ok for women to look like themselves, whatever their body shape, you are just switching the single desired body type to a few kilograms more.

The five second rule

Do you eat food after you've dropped it on the floor? What if it stays there for more than five seconds? Common “knowledge” will have you believe that if you get to it within the first five seconds, the bacteria hasn't transferred yet, and the food it safe to consume, wile if you eat it after that time frame, you are exposing yourself to bacteria, and therefore potential disease.

This is bullsh*t.  Multiple studies have been conducted using various foods and various floor surfaces, and most of the time the surface makes more difference than the time which the food was left on it. In general, if the floor is dirty and contaminated (and some infectious bacteria, like salmonella, can survive on tile and other surfaces in significant amounts for over four weeks!), you should not be eating it. If, however, you keep your kitchen floor pretty clean, and you wash your food again before you eat it, your body will probably be able to deal with any bacteria that gets into it without making you sick, regardless of whether it has stayed there for three, five, or ten seconds.

Antibacterial Soap

Is you regularly buy SafeGuard in order to protect yourself from all the spreading bacteria, and eventually disease, you should stop and throw it away. Here’s why.

Antibacterial soap doesn’t work. Yes, studies conducted in a lab setting have shown result in decreased amount of bacteria on the subject’s hands. That is, if they wash their hands for at least 30 seconds. And guess what – when you test their actual ability to prevent communicable disease, antibacterial soaps fail miserably. There is absolutely no difference between them and regular soap – they just don’t work as they claim they do.

However, that is not all that antibacterial soaps do. Due to their chemicals, they lead to an increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria. And not just on your hands, either. When you are finished washing your hands (or some people even shower with them), all that water and excess soap goes into the water supply and contaminates it and marine life with such antibiotic resistant bacteria, eventually leading to its overall increase in the environment.  Furthermore, antibacterial soap has been linked to several allergies and asthma. So people, just stop using it. Its not doing you any good, and it is potentially causing a great deal of harm.