That’s kind of sad. People of all different completions is what makes the human species so fun.
Oh, and the botox and lip injection stuff has to go. You’re 50. Act like it.
EDIT: I’m am a very tactless person sometimes and the above statement about acting like 50 was in retrospect somewhat offensive and I apologize. What I should have said was “You’re 50. Enjoy the wisdom two score and a decade have given you and don’t try to hide your age. Everyone has different definitions of beautiful but I’d suggest to stay away from the creepy 50 year old dudes who are trying to act (and hit on) 20 year old ladies. Remember the rule: 1/2 your age +7. Or not. Whatever floats your boat”.
I’ve seen SF-y projections that as biomedical and genetic technologies evolve, individual humans will, in not too many decades, be able to rebuild themselves with any appearance, gender, or species desired. Consider the consequences.
The context of your reply, which was a direct reply to @anon61221983, made it look like you were responding to her post, and by implication, contradicting her point.
If you want to make a more general point to the thread at large, it might help to use the “Reply” button at the very beginning or the end of the thread. That way, it doesn’t look like you’re arguing with an individual poster.
Sorry, you must be looking for the Gattica thread.
Maybe if women over 30 weren’t consistently treated like shit for daring to age… But we’re no longer people considered valuable, because we are no longer considered “attractive” by society. Things are better than they were even a decade ago, but women who are middle aged are more often ignored, mocked, and/or told that we’re ugly than men the same age. It fucking hurtful, so I can understand why many women turn to plastic surgery, because we are not valued any longer, no matter what our actual accomplishments might be.
Maybe we should stop treating women like pieces of meat who are rotten once they reach a certain age?
[ETA] Also, what does it mean to “act 50” exactly? Should people who hit 50 instantly start knitting and wearing matronly clothing? Stop wearing make-up? Never go out and have a good time? And does that only apply to us women, or should men stop working out and dressing nicely, too? There is an awful lot to unpack in that statement… or rather that demand from you.
Besides, my body, my choice. If I want to get Botox or tats or any number of cosmetic things like that, why shouldn’t I? It’s not a public health issue.
The problem with skin whitening creams is that they are underpinned by white supremacy. I would have no problem with their existence, if their entire existence wasn’t predicated on the idea that lighter is better.
Besides, who decides what 50, 60, 80, 100 is supposed to look like?
And isn’t it funny how it’s usually women who get told how they’re supposed to look and what they’re “allowed” to do to achieve it?
Nope, that isn’t the source of disconnect. There was no confusion on the Chinese culture of classism or skin tone your describing. All but 1 of my immediate coworkers over the past 7 years are from East Asia (from Korea and China). Both at work here and in my travels in Japan and Korea I’ve seen similar things to what you’re describing.
The disconnect is purely in our ideas of what race and racism are.
My main 2 responses are: 1) all racism is also classism and 2) race is never about genetics
First, classism and perpetuating social hierarchies is an essential part of race. If I were to take a stab at a short definition of racism it might be: a self-perpetuating class system that divides people based on an arbitrary, ever-changing mix of physical, geographic, and socioeconomic traits whose sole purpose is maintaining the social dominance of the group at the top. As “disappointing” as this definition may be, hopefully it will provide a new understanding of what is being discussed in topics on race
Second, genetics has long been used as an excuse for racism, but the racialization of people as “black” (or any other racial group) has never been based on genetics. While all physical differences between people have genetic influences (including between darker and lighter skinned people of the same ethnicity), as a biologist (and a human), saying that race is genetic makes me want to cry.
Yesterday, I was in a conversation at work about people having been told to change their appearance to “look professional”. After thinking it through, there isn’t a single time my whole life that I’ve been told how I should dress or wear my hair (from someone other than a friend offering advice or my mom). I wonder how many people who aren’t melanin-deficient men that is true of. Any?
Wearing clothes while being female is like walking a tightrope: if you look too good, you’re being provocative/distracting. If you don’t dress well, you’re a sad sack/“cat lady”/etc. etc. Not trying to speak on behalf of all ladydom, but in my experience the same goes for makeup and grooming in general.
Scandinavian and Dutch involvement in the Thirty Years’ War was fairly brutal. And, given the subject, writing off Dutch imperialism/colonialism is missing the target market of the product.
I guess what I was trying to say was embrace your age. Don’t try to hide it with Botox, lip injections, fake tanning makeup, and various other implants.
Sorry, that statement did come off rather offensive.
I was trying to talk primarily about men being idiots. It seems my message got bungled which is why I apologized.
And I’ll tell my kiddos how to act as I see fit especially when they start throwing a temper tantrum in the store and ripping their masks off or doing some other nonsense. When I see some 50 y/o walking around without a mask in a public place, I’ll tell them too. So sometimes it helps to remind people “how to act”.
