Five people I know posted this on Facebook today, and another couple emailed it to me here. I think that says a lot. Not about Dustin Hoffman, but what he has to say. Here he is talking about taking the role of Tootsie in 1982, a film in which he plays a woman.
Let’s talk about this.
*insert five paragraphs about the feminist uprising*
Well, now that I got that off my chest, I want to make three points.
1. Dustin Hoffman is awesome. We all knew that already though, right?
2. Harsh truth that needs to be said: If Dustin Hoffman was not the one saying this, and it was a woman saying this, would anyone pay attention? No. Probably not. And that, THAT right there, says everything about the time we live in.
3. Dustin Hoffman, without trying, explained something that I have wanted to say on this blog for a long time. Ahem…
People ask me why I don’t include many pictures of myself on this blog very often. Or why I don’t do videos or fashion posts or What I Wore Wednesday, etc. I could say it’s because I hate to look at myself in pictures – all I see are the flaws. I could say it’s because I don’t think I look all that nice. I could say it was because I was raised by staunch Midwesterners who looked upon even occasional self portraiture as vain and unnecessary. I could say it’s because it’s hard enough to take pictures of glue guns and pom-poms, much less a human being, much less myself. But all of that is crap.
Here is the truth: I don’t want that pressure.
It puts pressure on me to worry about my appearance – something I weirdly appreciate in others but detest in myself. It also puts pressure on you to make assumptions about me based on what you see. That is why the internet is awesome – we get the opportunity to get to know others personalities without the burden of seeing each of our physical appearances. Imagine that! That is what Dustin Hoffman was talking about there. Sometimes I wonder if that is how most men operate in the first place, but that is a larger, messier discussion for another time.
My point is, as is, I can write a post about whatever I want and never have to worry about my fat butt, or my crooked teeth, or if my dress looks sloppy today…you can’t see it, so you don’t give a crap, and by that logic, neither do I. Wahoo!
Likewise, on my end, you, you can leave a comment in your pajamas, three weeks past-due for an upper lip waxing and guess what? I WILL NEVER KNOW. These things will never prevent either one of us from saying what we want to say, whereas, in real life, that just isn’t the case. At all. There is no pressure to keep up appearances when you never let your appearance play a role in the first place. It would be awesome to arrive at a point in life when neither one of us would ever feel those obligations, but until we are there, I’m happy where I am – behind the camera.
So yeah. That’s what I wanted to say about that.
Now, let’s go rent Tootsie.
LATER UPDATED PS FOR MY FELLOW BLOGGERS: What I just wrote above does not apply to you. Just because I am neurotic about this subject does not mean anyone expects you to be (including me). In addition to being generally awesome and fun, including pictures of yourself is a great way to build connection with your audience, and I would not begrudge that of anyone. You do you! Yay for bloggers!