Farewell Jane McGrath

I'm very sad to hear that Jane McGrath has died at 42. Obviously I only know her story because she was married to a sporting hero, but I loved their interview on Denton. It was Jane who was interesting and engaging. After that interview I stopped thinking of her as another of the blonde cricket wives, and I'm always a sucker for a celebrity who uses their power for good.

To quote the boys' constant refrain, "It's not FAIR". Little kids shouldn't lose their mum. Nor should a man lose the woman he so clearly adores. I know it happens all the time everywhere, it doesn't make it any less sad when it happens to someone I know, even if only through Andrew Denton. Sometimes life sucks.

Who knew I had ugly underarms?

I support the concept behind the Campaign for Real Beauty that Dove advertise with, but one has to question their commitment to women's self esteem when they run an ad campaign for deodorant that claims to leave your underarms fit to be seen when wearing a singlet top. It has never occurred to me before that my underarms might have unacceptable skin. I mean, the hair I knew about, but I thought the skin was fine!

I have been thinking about body image a lot lately, trying to work out how to steer my daughter through the minefield when she is older. As with charity, it starts at home, and I have been actively trying to adjust my attitude. I'm trying to look in the mirror and look for the good stuff instead of the bad. I am also trying to change the way I look at other women. If I notice someone who I think doesn't look so good, I've started looking at what's wrong with the clothes, because they are clearly the problem. This leads to looking for what the assets are that are not being sufficiently justified by the naughty clothes and slowly starts to recondition my mind to look for beauty instead of flaws in everyone.

It's hardly a surprise that clothes that fit and flatter are hard to find, even if someone attempted to fit "real women", how would they achieve this? We are a wild and varied lot, how can we expect any more than 5-10% of clothes to look any good on any one person? I bemoan the massive variety of actual size in any given label size, but if this variety didn't exist, we really couldn't find clothes for most people. This hypocrisy in my whinging has only just occurred to me. Duh!

And then I see the news today, about a woman who may well have killed her children and attempted to kill herself, and I think, why I am I worried about body image?


PS 3 nights in a row of sleeping through! Woo hoo!