It’s my duty to inform you of what has become a new ‘it’ physical feature that defines beauty and, apparently, sex appeal: back dimples (i.e., Venus dimples, butt dimples).
Excuse me … I just threw up a little.
I confess that ‘back dimples’ were not something I was consciously aware of until recently when a writer, working on an article about this topic, contacted me asking “… are there any exercises that can help with [back dimples] rather than getting a surgical option.”
My first thought after reading that email: you have got to be kidding me. This – indentations of the posterior sacroiliac joint (i.e., SI joint) – is a new ‘it’ feature worthy of recognition, and there’s a surgical option to create it? My second thought: holy crap, there’s actually a surgery for this?
I totally get it now; I see how a joint can be sexy. Just look at it in its magnificent glory. Photo from Wikipedia.
This is a prime example of what’s wrong with the women’s health and fitness and ‘beauty’ world. I’m apparently naïve because, just when I thought there was nothing else about our bodies to criticize, ‘must have features’ to attain, a flaw that must be fixed, or a new sexy standard dangled in front of us, back dimples are ‘in.’
And, hey, remember the surgical option I mentioned? If your back dimples don’t pop out enough, the solution is simple: “Using a short cannula (like a pencil) through a small incision less than 1cm across, the vibration and heat helps break down the fat from inside, and a suction cannula is then used to absorb the fat and sculpt the V spot area and dimples.”
Problem solved, ladies! Just fork over a few grand to get a small incision and have the fat sucked right out (I mean, we all know how terrible fat is and that we should get rid of it at any cost) and enjoy your beauty-enhancing butt dimples. Voila: you’re a more beautiful, valuable, sexually appealing woman. (Well, at least until the next ‘it’ feature arrives.)
The ‘Dimples of Venus’ portrayed in Gustave Courbet’s painting. Photo from Wikipedia.
Bringing the sarcasm down a notch, I will say this: your body is your body and you can do whatever you want with it. But, at some point, when will we (women, society) stop and ask Why? when we see things like ‘back dimples are the new perfectly round butt’ or, quite frankly, When with this nonsense end? when society, celebrities, and photo-shopped pictures become the sources relied on to determine how we should value or bodies and the ‘standards’ we’re told to strive toward?
You may wonder why I’m so agitated about back dimples. (I seriously can’t write those two words without cringing.) First, a woman’s body is not a resume to determine her worth. Any physical feature will not enhance, or decrease, her value or awesomeness. Second, external ideals change on a whim and are something we have no control over and should therefore be irrelevant. We shouldn’t allow society, or anyone for that matter, to determine our values or set blanket standards; you can, and should, determine your values and focus on those personally chosen internal measures because that is what you can control.
For example, there’s a difference between working out and eating well because you want to improve your health, get stronger, and feel more confident (internal measures driven by a process) and depriving, striving, punishing, and fatiguing your way to an appearance declared to be ‘ideal’ or because you think it will make you more valuable to others (external measures focusing on a result). The former leads to happiness and empowerment; the latter to frustration and disappointment.
If you take the time to choose your values, back dimples will most likely not make the list. If they are on the list, you’ll hate me and anything I have to say and you may even send me an email calling me mean names and tell me I’m stupid.
So, How Can You Get Back Dimples?
Ah, yes. Back to the “how a woman can get back dimples through exercise” question.
That question is galactically stupid and rather than continue this conversation I pose a question to women who want back dimples: why do you want them? Is it because a celebrity brought attention to this feature and you saw the reaction it created in other people? It was deemed ‘sexy’ and attractive, no doubt.
What do you think you could accomplish if you took the ‘I want back dimples’ energy and put it elsewhere? What if, for example, you committed to building strength with your workouts. What if, instead of trying to attain the newest ‘it feature’ you created a regimen that made you feel great and actually made you appreciate your body for what it can do? What if you took the time to ask What really matters to me and what do I want? and then designed your actions around that purpose?
Bottom line: the whole back dimple thing is another item added to the ever-growing list of mind-boggling bullshit, and sadly it won’t be the last. But the good news is that we don’t have to put up with it.
We can exit the conversations about what defines beauty and the ‘standards’ women should strive toward, and hopefully other women will be inspired by our actions and follow suit. We can proclaim that it’s not women’s bodies that need to be reshaped and transformed, but rather society’s attitude and perception of what defines beauty, value, and self-worth. And it sure as hell isn’t back dimples.