What Conservative Women Can Learn from Marilyn Monroe
Being a conservative and a mom with a young daughter, it truly bothers me to see the way that younger girls are bombarded with less clothing, skinnier models, and a truly unrealistic body type. I admit that when I was younger, especially in high school, I went to great lengths to try and fit into the “Barbie” body type. I stayed a size “0” or “1” throughout high school and college, and when I got pregnant with my first child, I was truly terrified of gaining weight at all. After two kids and a lot of time to think, I have made a huge change in the way that I see myself and the way that I want my daughter to look at the world and her own body as she gets older.
One of the main things that bothers me today is the way that super skinny models and actresses are idolized for their bodies. Dolls are all built the same way, making it hard to teach a younger girl about being healthy over skinny. I have noticed lately that there has been a major call and push for plus sized models – which in reality are the sizes that normal, everyday women are. I jump on board of these causes, magazines, and other public ad campaigns that show normal sized women as beautiful and I make sure that I show this to my daughter as well. I want to show her, and hopefully other little girls, that being healthy is always the better choice over being too thin to please someone else.
When it comes to being a conservative woman, it can be hard to find clothing that fits right and doesn’t look horrible. Sure I hate shopping in the “Plus Size” area, which really is about a size 11 for me. I hate seeing all the cute little summer dresses that would never look good on me in a million years. And I hate that there aren’t more cute plus sized clothing options out there.
However, I love that Macy’s has been promoting their Marilyn Monroe clothing line lately. Why? Well, aside from being a Monroe fan, I love that she was a woman with curves. Yes, she had times when she was very skinny – but for the most part, she flaunted her curves to her advantage. In today’s world, most of her clothing would even be considered “conservative”. But the real reason that I love they are promoting her style is that the thing she was the most famous for was her sex appeal. Even with curves, even with a covered up, conservative dress, Marilyn Monroe oozed sex appeal.
When it comes to body types and what I want my daughter to see, I want her to be able to see normal sized women that look beautiful. I want her to see normal sized women that are healthy and happy with their bodies and their curves. I want her to see that it is ok to be different than “Barbie”, than super skinny models that have eating disorders to stay thin, than the extremely thin actresses that have to wear tiny clothes to keep themselves in the news.
Who truly benefits from being so thin? Not the women or the girls that feel they have to be this way. Not the families of these women who can end up with severe eating disorders or other health problems. Who benefits? The clothing companies. The magazines. The newspapers. The toy manufacturers. The diet pill makers.
Being a conservative woman, it seems that there aren’t enough “Marilyn”‘s out there in today’s world. Dress for your body type, for your personal style, not for what the magazines think you should look like. Not for the runways, not for the movies, not for anyone but yourself. Marilyn Monroe dressed for herself, she wore what she was comfortable in – from a super tight, curve hugging dress to pedal pushers and a flowing shirt. It didn’t matter what it was, she was always put together well and looked beautiful – with her curves.
So ladies, love your curves. Love who you are. Love what God gave you. Don’t “conform” to the ideal that every woman should be a size 2 or less. It’s not right. Even the ancient Greeks knew that women with curves were healthy and beautiful, not sickly skinny. If you ever doubt that curves have power, even for a conservative woman, take a look at how people react to a picture of a woman built like Marilyn Monroe versus a size 0 model. I bet that you’d be truly surprised at how many men and women will say that the model looks ill and the normal sized woman looks better.
Our values with our body types need to change and they can change starting with us and our daughters and granddaughters. Don’t let it slip through your fingers, take the opportunity to talk with younger girls and women about being beautiful in the body that they are in, not the body that Hollywood thinks they should have.
