I am once again struck by the fundamental dichotomies of human existence.

The thing we call “intelligence” is more of a curse than a blessing. Think about it before you disagree: You can thank your “superior intelligence” for your ability to completely blow off your body’s survival signals (humans are the only animals that will not respond to danger cues and remain in situations that have already been identified as dangerous or life-threatening). You can thank your “intellect” for such human wonders as suffering, envy, vengefulness, and guilt. Don’t forget to offer your gratitude to the “brainpower” that allowed you to be trained to never act aggressively enough quickly enough. It’s that “higher functioning” that lets you believe that no one really wants to hurt you.

The reality of “intelligence” is nothing more than this: we are trainable. As a matter of fact, we are so very trainable that we allow ourselves to be trained without even knowing or consenting to it. We are so very trainable that we allow ourselves to be trained by persons and circumstances that aren’t qualified to teach. And though we are intelligent enough to recognize poor training… though we are equipped with the tools to ensure that our training is relevant, fruitful, and constructive… though we are capable of conscious discrimination between what is creative and what is destructive… we all too often choose to “think” or “feel” rather than BE.

Ladies: do we honestly believe that it’s a credible, savvy marketing ploy for designers to display their creations on models whose bodies are representative of less than one percent of the population as a whole? Of course we don’t. As a matter of fact, each and every one of us recognizes the strategy as ludicrous. Each and every one of us recognizes advertisements in fashion magazines as misleading, unrealistic, confusing, and in some cases downright misogynistic. Yet 75% of us – yes, 75 f**king percent – feel anxious and unattractive after perusing a fashion magazine for 10 minutes. 75 f**king percent of us feel ashamed of OUR bodies after a few minutes with a magazine. OUR bodies = 99% + of the female body type range. Fashion models’ bodies = less than 1% of the range. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out which ones are the mutants and it’s NOT US! And though we recognize the marketing strategy as ludicrous and hurtful, those designers – the ones who use the mutant models to SHAME us – are far richer than you and I.

I sincerely doubt that anyone reading this would pay money to watch a circus in which all the animals were trained to HATE THEMSELVES. Why? Because we are intelligent, because we can choose between innovative and inhuman options, and because each of us knows that having a purpose is singular to contented life.

No, we wouldn’t stand for that kind of circus. We would not endorse or support such a circus. We would be incredulous to learn that such a circus was wildly successful around the globe. Yet, we allow ourselves to be the circus monkeys of advertisers who have no qualms about using our intelligence against us. We’ve allowed ourselves to be trained not only to dislike our selves – our SELVES! The most marvelous gift of all!! – but to actually float an entire economy on our self-dissatisfaction.

Makes you go “hmmmmmm,” doesn’t it? Me too!