FALSE BEAUTY A DEADLY ADVERSARY

"We have an investigative team at CTV that exposes issues that need
changing. Hopefully, you watch (those stories) and you feel
something. You feel angry, or sad, or incensed and, as a group of
people we go, 'Wait a minute. No, this is unacceptable.' When we
decide enough is enough, as a community, we can make that change happen."

- - Tamara Taggart in a promotion for a CTV series, Dec. 29, 2011

Angry. Sad. Incensed.

All of that and more.

The pre-Christmas death of Abbotsford teen Cheryl McCormack invokes a
strong response in any viewer. It begs two questions: How many more
tragedies must families endure before we rise up en masse against
illegal drugs and those who peddle them?

And why does today's "liberated" woman still allow society and its
image-makers to define her worth according by the attributes of her
body rather than by her character and her talents?

McCormack, 17, died on Dec. 22 following a severe reaction to one of
the ecstasy pills she and her friends had taken at a sleepover
earlier in the week.

At the time of the newscasts, Abbotsford police were on the hunt for
the dealers who had supplied the drugs.

McCormack's death, together with the fact that three other girls also
took the drug that night - reportedly in an effort to lose weight -
serves as a tragic reminder that it will take a lot more than the
efforts of police forces and groups like D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) before we can hope to overcome the combined
influences of criminals and decades-long, gender-based societal mores.

These and related issues arose during our family's after-dinner on
Christmas Day conversation about Gloria Steinem and feminism.

For many reasons - including, I suppose, the society in which I was
raised - I have never been a devotee of either Steinem or organized feminism.

But if we set aside for now the conjoined subjects of illegal drugs
and organized crime, why do so many women strive - to the point of
risking their health and their lives - to meet the impossible
air-brushed standards of marketing image-makers?

Although men and boys are not immune, women in particular fall prey
to these pressures.

Yet we have ample evidence to show the folly of that striving, from
bizarre kinder-age beauty pageants to generations of frozen-faced
Botox-women to alleged career-ending sexual abuses in the RCMP -
subtle or overt, the phenomenon surrounds us.

Echoing Taggart, it makes me angry, sad and incensed: sad to see
so-called tiara-babies losing precious childhood years to the
frustrated ambitions of their mothers; incensed to hear of
chauvinistic bullying and stereotyping.

The B.C. NDP's recently reported affirmative action policy is another
example. How dare the NDP imply that, evidence to the contrary, a
competent woman can only hope to win a nomination if a male is barred
from the process?

Have they not looked in the mirror?

Despite the fact that he encouraged the revolt against party leader
Carole James when she was booted out and replaced by a male
successor, party president Moe Sihota is a self-described defender of
the NDP policy.

Did he bother to check the gender balance in the Legislature, or a
myriad corporate directorships in this country before he blustered
his way through a recent interview on the topic with CKNW talk-host Bill Good?

As for the rapacious, conscienceless weight-loss industry - it has
long been on my mind.

Well over a year ago, I visited McNews at 15th Street and Lonsdale
Avenue to do an informal survey of the magazine covers aimed at female readers.

I lost count. Virtually every cover displayed a provocatively posed,
air-brushed woman accompanied by one or more teaser headlines.

Magazine content covered everything we needed to know about diets and
weight-loss; tummy flab and miracle abs; how to raise kids and feed
our significant others; and the latest medical scare and/or fashions.

Apparently, women have no interest in matters of science,
high-finance, politics, or the state of the economy.

Why do we buy into it?

During our Christmas conversation, I was intrigued to be introduced
to the work of educator Jean Kilbourne, an author who lays
responsibility for this health scourge at the feet of the
multi-billion-dollar marketing and weight-loss industries.

So, with Monday's news that a 24-year old Abbotsford woman is in
intensive care after "recreational" use of ecstasy New Year's Eve,
"Enough is enough."

Perhaps Kilbourne can be persuaded to visit British Columbia to help
light some fires under those who peddle deadly drugs to the
vulnerable and foolish in the name of weight-loss or otherwise.

Surely, "as a community, we can make that change happen"?