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

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

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

Miss America: are we sending a dangerous message?

Let's get something straight... Take a look at this link and scroll down to number 9.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/things-that-havent-changed-for-women-since-the-feminine-m

(If you don't feel like clicking the link, this is what I'm referring to.)

So let's start with the basics - the caption to this photo equates the Miss America pageant to the Miss Teen USA pageant. Nope. Not the same thing. By referring to these two as the same pageant, it accuses the Miss America pageant of spreading to a younger demographic noting the ages of 14-19. False. Miss America contestants are between the ages of 18-24. There is a Miss America's Outstanding Teen division which is for a younger age group, however it is is incredibly age appropriate. 

Miss America is separate from Miss USA. If you mis-label either pageant to a contestant or volunteer with either organization, most likely they will be a little beefed and will politely set you straight through explaining that they are two diverse organizations.

What really peeves me is the link you reach when you click on that highlighted phrase saying, "The contest sends a dangerous message about how specific beauty ideals are connected to success."

The article is headed "Beauty Pageants Should Die". Author, Courtney Martin, says, 

"Real beauty is about resilience: girls and women 

who have been through something and come out the other side

 with an idiosyncratic scar or a hard-earned wrinkle, 

like the first lines of a powerful story."

This is absolutely true. But you know what? The women that I have interacted with exemplify just that. Women in the Miss America Organization (I cannot speak for other pageants because I have not been involved with them) have been through very real and very powerful stories. I know women who are advocates for cancers and diseases and social issues that they have experienced on very personal levels. Miss Kansas is a sergeant in the US Army and teaches our youth the importance of outdoor activities and breaking barriers and stereotypes such as the ones Martin is placing on pageant girls. The current Miss Iowa doesn't even have an arm and she aspires to be on Broadway. And this article is accusing us of not having powerful stories? Wrong again...

Miss Iowa, Nicole Kelley

Sergeant Theresa Vail, aka Miss Kansas

"If there were a pageant where girls were asked, 

“When did you really get lost and how did you find your

 way back to yourself?” — well, then I might go in for that."

That is another quote from Martin. I've been asked a question almost identical to that in interview. In the Miss America competition, we all take part in a private interview where we are asked questions pertaining to social issues, politics, personal ideals and opinions, our accomplishments and yes, our failures. I have been asked, "When is a time that you have failed and how did you come back from it?" 

The interview portion of the competition is sometimes the most terrifying and also most revealing part. But unfortunately, the audience does not get to see that and people outside of the pageant community often don't know or forget about that major part of the score. That is the first time the judges see us and the first impression that we make. I've heard it said that you can win the competition solely through your interview because it is that important.

So yes, the Miss America Pageant does still exist. The existence has not changed not just since the 1960's but since 1921. But the organization has grown exponentially. Miss America is the largest scholarship provider for women in America - making available more than $45 million in in-kind scholarships. Scholarships and the importance of education in the Miss America Organization has been in place since 1945 when Bess Myerson was the first Miss America to receive a scholarship from the Organization. 

Quoting from the Miss America website, 

"Participating in the Miss America system not only helps you pay for college and prepare for a career, it also provides an opportunity to gain additional life experience, working on issues of importance to society, enhancing your personal and professional skills and developing your performance-related and other talents."

So are we sending a dangerous message? No, I don't think so. We dress up and look nice on stage because, whether anyone likes it or not, there is an importance placed on image in our society. But the women I know take that element and run with it. Just as a haircut or a sleeve of tattoos or any other kind of clothing choice is self expression, we know how to express ourselves through our clothing choices. Not only that, but it's not about the dress, it's about the woman wearing the dress. Anybody can wear a stunning gown that cost way too much, but it takes something special to convey confidence, grace, individuality, and strength over the footlights through just a few seconds onstage. 

And lastly, no, pageants should not die. Hopefully I've explained at least a few reasons why I value the Miss America Organization in this post...It actually ended up being much longer than I intended...

End rant.

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014

She's got no fingers!!

This woman is incredible! I don't have much to say that she doesn't say, herself, in the video - so watch it. She is a goldsmith and makes stunning jewelry without having the luxury of fingers. In fact, she can't imagine having fingers anyway, she thinks they would get in the way!

You can check out her website here: http://www.annettegabbedey.com/

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014

Photoshopping Real Women Into Cover Models

This is a follow up to my last post about photoshop as it is another perspective on the use of it in advertising. This video is only 2:40, and the experiment takes regular women and transforms them into "cover models" - what most girls look at magazines and dream to look like. 

Their reactions are the important part. They might not react how you would think.

You should watch the video, but if you don't, here are some lines from it that stood out to me and were noteworthy...

 "It's a never ending battle..."

                  "You look at yourself and you know you can never attain that ideal..."

"I did not expect it to look like that at all!"

"...there's not much left of who you really are."

"This is how I've always wanted to see myself...I'm questioning why I ever wanted to look like that."

"...it's natural to be critical of yourself, its natural to be uncomfortable or awkward. but you just have to know that the ideal just...doesn't exist."

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014

How To Look Great In Photos

I read this article today and it brings up a different side to the Photoshop argument. And I am offering these thoughts and this article as another way to think about this subject. 

"Google the query, “how to look great in photos,” and none of them says don’t worry, just look natural." 

Instead, what pops up are tips and tricks to virtually nip and tuck, tan, and botox your portraits. However, the article is not your run of the mill "Photoshop is the devil" article. This actually offers Photoshop some defense.

"Photoshop is used — and arguably abused — in fashion spreads to tweak more subtle imperfections, but it is used liberally. Teeth are whitened, tattoos are removed, pimples are erased, freckles are vanquished and, yes, arm and thighs are slimmed and spray tans are applied or removed." But I think most of us can 'fess up to the fact that we use photo filters on our Instagram and Facebook posts. How many photo editing apps do you have on your phone right now? The number of apps dedicated solely to this purpose is insane. So why is it okay for us to add filters and edit our own photos, but not okay for magazines to retouch the celebrities?

A good point that is made in this read: 

"...is anyone anywhere really under the impression that any publicity photo is a raw image?"

There are lots of ways photographers and models alike can manipulate the outcome of images without even opening a photo editing application. Models can angle their bodies, photographers can utilize lighting sources and camera angles, and even the makeup, hair and styling choices can create real-life illusions without the help of a computer. 

I want to be clear that I am not implicating that we should edit and fine-tune every image we take or see. I am saying that Photoshop is not going to stop, and we need to be real with ourselves about what we are seeing. We are not seeing raw images. We hardly ever see raw images unless we are the ones taking them and we see it before we do our own quick fix edit ourselves. Magazines only post the most flattering pictures of the celebrities and we don't get to see the other 900 shots of them that are un-flattering. Yet we compare ourselves to that one, chosen shot. 

Sometime soon I would also like to discuss how Photoshop can be used as an art with photography, but that is another post, entirely. 

- Annika Wooton

Miss Butler County 2014

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/fashion-and-style/debra-bass/a-few-words-in-defense-of-photoshop/article_37245de5-08e3-57ed-9932-aca910868ea9.html