Painfully personal? I doubt it. :-(

Ah, the "Open Source Boob Project."

I can't address it fully without including a metric tonne of links, so let this stand as a placeholder. And also as my statement that yes, I do feel objectified on a regular basis. I have a high IQ, a master's degree, a creativity that my mother and I agreed was "relentless" when I was a child, a good eye for photography and art and fashion. I live in a city (Seattle) with less emphasis on physical appearance than on physical health and experiencing the outdoor opportunities we have here in such abundance.

And yet I have picked up the notion that nothing I do, nothing I am, will ever be as important to the culture at large as how I look. And yes, that drains me of energy that I could put to more useful ends and leaves me with anxiety and feelings of competitiveness for every standard marker of attractiveness that I don't meet. And I am getting older and that's a cultural strike against me no matter how hard I deny or fight it.

It's worst when I feel like I'm failing in other areas of my life, when I feel that looks are all I have to fall back on. I suppose that even makes sense in a sad way.

I know I don't have this particular complex nearly as badly as some others do. But why should any of us have it? As observed by other feminist writers, what cost to the culture when so much intellect and drive is being funneled into something that ultimately has so little to do with how well we live and how well we treat others and how we construct a healthy society?

The Seattle Times has announced it's laying off 200 employees--another example of print media losing business while struggling to keep up with their online counterparts.

But what always bothers me about this apparent rush to put everything online is the people it leaves out. Not everyone can afford their own computer and internet access (it's true!). and even free library computers are not always accessible.

And I'm sure we all know older people who have not become comfortable with computers and still rely on newspapers for obituaries and other news items.

These people are being left behind and no one really seems to say anything about it.

A general "hmph"

Overheard at Sakura Con, from guy in his 20s trying to convince younger girls in costume to let him take their picture: "Someday when you're 42 you'll look back on these and think, 'Wow, I was hot.' "

Ahem, dude, women of the age range of which you speak are sitting next to you. And I'll bet you didn't even realize it.

(Note that he was also one of those know-it-all types, and giving bad advice on how to pose for photos. Considering the source and all that.)

It reminds me of the recent flap over the
Atlantic article about why women over a certain age who want children should settle for men who were once beneath their standards. All that aside, commentary on the matter has been edifying. Or something.

For instance, a comment from this, er, doofus:
Are all the good ones taken? Not quite. But here’s a lot of what you’re going to get as a 40-year-old woman on Match.com: Commitmentphobes. Players. Financially unstable guys. Unattractive guys. Socially awkward guys. Much younger guys. Much older guys. Look in your in-box.

All I have to say to this is, does he even know any women in their 20s? Aside from the "much younger guys" descriptor (and not even that, necessarily), every bit of that sounds like what I mostly came across in my 20s. I'm sorry, but for many of us, it really is that hard to find someone, and I don't think age is much of a factor in that.