Measuring Up

Every summer, my favorite art maven here on Gabriola, Kathy Ramsey who owns ARTWORKS, hands over the same item to an entire possee of artists, and asks us to create something from it. I love the challenge. One year, we were given a box of kleenex so - inspired by my years as a less than buxom teen - I found a vintage lethal weapon pointed bra, stuffed it full of every tissue in the box, and then mounted it on a wooden plaque with an engraved sign reading "Best rack 1963".
This year the object was a wooden ruler and I extracted head to toe criticisms about women's bodies from my collection of old books and assigned them to the corresponding body parts on an old photo. I realize you will not be able to read the text easily unless maybe you use a magnifying glass, but trust me, the comments are brutal. Here's the statement I wrote to go with it:

Women have been trying to measure up to some impossible ideal or other ever since Eve asked Adam if her fig leaf made her look fat. Primitive cave drawings have been discovered recently which clearly depict women using crude seaweed straps to cinch in their waists.
OK so I made that up.
What I didn't make up are the passages of text in my piece. They were lifted from my vintage charm, beauty, poise, and etiquette books.
According to the Canadian Women's Health Network, girls as young as 5 and 6 in this country, are engaging in weight control measures.
Post Feminism my foot.