Ashley Judd on the Objectification of Women's Bodies

If you read one thing this week, make it Ashley Judd's post for The Daily Beast.

Judd, in the tabloids recently because a round of steroids which cause her face to appear puffy lead to the speculation that she'd gained weight, had work done, or, sin of all sins, was simply getting old, says:

"That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient. Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it. This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times—I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women."

Just stay away from the comments. Some people never learn.