20 years later...

I haven't posted in a while - things got busy...like they do... every so often.

But guess what happened while I've been MIA?? I had a birthday! I have reached the 20th year of my life.

Oh yeah, I was a cute kid ;) 

In honor of my 20th birthday, I wanted to post 20 things that I deem influential at this ripe age. 

...or important to remember.

...or noteworthy of some sort. 

I don't want to say it's my "Top 20" because I honestly haven't meditated on this much more than a day or two. But regardless: 

20 Things You Should Read 

(And Maybe You Will Take Something 

From At Least One of Them)

1

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20

That is my twenty-year-old wisdom for the night. Also, I need to give a shout out to Pinterest for fueling my quote addiction and being the source of these beautiful renditions of words that I used. I am a huge Pinner on Pinterest. If you want to follow my boards and see cool artwork, more awesome quotes, fantastic style ideas, and tattoos, here's my link: http://www.pinterest.com/annikawooton/ .

I hope you are twenty quotes wiser and at least one of those resonated with you. If not, check back here later this week for a post on someone really really cool.

- Annika Wooton 

Miss Butler County 2014

Barbie's Influence: Good or Bad?

I've been turning this question over in my head for three years now since it was first brought to my attention...

Is Barbie a good or bad influence?

And I don't think there is a truly clear answer. Let me explain.

Barbie was created in 1959 by a woman named Ruth with a daughter named Barbara. (Side note - Obviously, Barbie was named after Barbara, but the weird part is that Ken was named after Ruth's son... and Barbie and Ken are like...a couple?) As I understand it, Barbie was created because the only dolls out there at the time for girls to play with were predominantly baby dolls. And baby dolls were simulating playtime for very young girls to already start acting like the caretaker, the mother, the wife. Ruth wanted a doll for her daughter to play with that did not place a feeling of responsibility and adulthood on her so early in life.

So then there was Barbie - a teenage fashion doll. And the rest was history...

Not quite. Barbie has been attacked for various charges of "bad influence" on young girls. She's too thin. She's too blonde. Her clothes are too adult. Her boobs are too big. She is an unattainable image of beauty. It's true that if she were a real person, her waist would not be able to contain a functional set of organs and her feet would be too small to support her height. 

But what about the actual Barbie doll makes the children in our society covet her looks? In my opinion - nothing. It is the reality that we are a part of that places such an importance on image and looks. Barbie is not the enemy here. Children are picking up cues in their cultures and societies that pretty and skinny and fashionable is better than average. Granted, Barbie probably doesn't help with the fact that children see and hear this standard all around them anyway, but it is not her fault. 

Do you know what Barbie is hardly ever recognized for anymore? Her ambition. Her career goals. Her adaptability. Her success. Her ability to do whatever she wants without a man to support her. (Yes, Barbie has had multiple wedding dresses, but Barbie has never officially married Ken.) She is independent. She is the first woman astronaut, the first woman president, she is a doctor, an artist, a teacher, a mother. Her slogan at some point was, "Be who you want to be." Barbie is an example for young girls that they can dream. She emulates imagination through her fantasy characters and ambition through her many careers. And to top it all off, we have to fault her for looking pretty while doing all these things? 

I am not saying Barbie is the ideal role model if we take every aspect of her into account - there are many controversies surrounding the doll. But I am saying that the actual doll cannot be criticized for the importance that our society places on the beauty myth. From what I've found, adults and parents worry about the influence of Barbie's looks on their kids more than the kids do. I remember reading a book a few years ago (I can't recall the name or author now) that had counts of women remembering their playtime with Barbie. A few admitted that they strived for her perfection, but most said she was just a doll. Just a plastic doll that they could fuel their imagination and story time through. 

I agree that subconsciously, Barbie's figure is probably engrained in our minds to some extent. Another point to think about is the effect of Barbie on young boys. A lot of times, the first time a young boy consciously sees nude representation of the female form is an undressed Barbie doll in his sister's or friend's toy box. Not only can Barbie warp girl's standards for themselves, but that is also an implicit event that could effect men's standard they hold women to as well. Just a thought.

All that said - there is this really cool project that Nickolay Lamm is starting. I'm sure you've seen his viral simulated image of what Barbie would look like if she had accurate human proportions. He is trying to get funding to make an "average" Lammily Doll reflective of real bodies. He has a crowdfunding site, so if you feel so inclined, you can support his ideas to help make this actually happen. "My plan is for Lammily to come in different ethnitcities and body shapes... I want to show that average is beautiful," says Lamm.

I recognize that Barbie is not a good role model in terms of her physicality. It is truly unattainable. But I think she sets some pretty good examples otherwise. But I also think that it would be incredible for a Lammily doll to come on the market and I hope that it proves to be successful. 

What do you think?

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014

Link to the Lammily doll page I was referencing: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/this-barbie-doll-has-the-porportions-of-an-average-american

The Swimsuit Diet

Whenever I enlighten someone I have met with the fact that I compete in pageants, certain subjects usually come up. They ask how I prepare for competition, what all it involves, etc. I tell them the categories that the actual competition involves and they pause on the Swimsuit part. "Do you work out a lot?" "Oh, do you have to go on a diet?" "I would never be able to give up (insert favorite food here)..."

So here's the down low... at least for me, I can't speak for everyone.

The swimsuit part of competition is officially called "Lifestyle and Fitness". And it has that name in this system for a reason. For me, competing onstage in a swimsuit is not just get-as-skinny-as-you-can-before-June. It's a concrete goal that I can work towards, to not just get in the best shape possible for a competition, but to build a healthy lifestyle and healthy habits.

For anyone who knows me, I am as un-athletic as they come, not to mention uncoordinated. I tried swimming, soccer, and basketball when I was younger, but to this day, I could throw a ball at the ground and miss. So getting in to the gym was hard for me. But I will admit - before I started getting in shape under the guise of the swimsuit competition, I would get winded walking up even a flight of stairs. In addition to that, I am addicted to Coca-Cola. I didn't think it was possible, but now I definitely do. Coke is my weakness. So are Cheezits. So are greasy burgers. My diet was terrible.

I have been blessed with a slender figure ever since I grew above 2 feet tall. You could have definitely called me "scrawny" or "boney" for a while there in my tweeny-bopper years. But that couldn't be blamed on anything but preteen awkwardness. Then I matured and filled out. I did not gain the Freshman Fifteen even though I worked in the dining hall and got free food all the time. But here's the deal - I do not want to alter my body type. I don't believe anyone should. We are all different shapes and sizes with different curves and angles. There are ways to be fit and healthy for every body in the book that do not involve smashing yourself into a cookie cutter mold.

But anyway, I compete in pageants and I have to go onstage for a whopping 20 seconds in a bikini, so thin is good right? Well sure... but I don't want to be skinny for the sake of being skinny. I want to be healthy. I want my skin to glow, not from a tan, but from the water that I drink and the foods I fill myself with. It's important to me to learn how to nourish my body and take care of it now so that it doesn't kick me in the butt later. Same thing with working out - yes, there is the factor that I'm onstage in front of who-knows-how-many people in minimal clothing coverage... but this is a habit building regimen and something I want to continue past my pageant career. I workout with a few of my friends who hold me to high standards and are teaching me routines that I can later carry out by myself.

All that being said, I will not pass up on a good burger. I treat myself to a soda every so often. The Hot Box Cookie shop in Lawrence sees my face a few times a month. And Cheezits are still the best study food out there. Regardless, I am taking steps forward that are helping me cultivate a healthy lifestyle that will hopefully progress with age.

The care that we take of our bodies now will effect us later in life. I'm learning this... slowly but surely. It's very difficult to entirely reroute the foods I'm used to eating but it is a lifestyle that I want to take part in so that I can have a long and healthy life ahead of me. So I don't diet or workout just for pageants... I don't diet at all actually, because diets are normally in a set time span. But having the goal of a pageant to work towards definitely helps motivate these lifestyle changes that I intend to keep up with.

...And that's my two cents for the day.

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014