I Came Here for Helen, Who is This Forty Smith?

Fair question. Helen is the face and co-founder of You Are Fully Human. Forty Smith is co-founder, and a fellow writer and thinker who runs the website and writes articles. They have known each other all their lives and work closely together.

Helen's primary focus has long been combatting the heresies of The Insecurity Industry, also known as "unrealistic beauty standards." (We don't love the phrase "beauty standards" because it concedes that much of what is even asked of women is beautiful, rather than distorted, and a big problem is that the "standards" are ever shifting, which makes them...not standards.)

Forty's perspective is more focused on domestic equity and understanding/combatting the more widespread misogyny that makes it even possible to have the Insecurity Industry, let alone have it thriving to the tune of billions of dollars in spending a month.

You probably came here via your experience of Helen's work on Instagram, or some of her podcast appearances. (If you're reading this post long after 2024, maybe the numbers will be different, but as of May 2024, most of our readers find us this way.) Helen will continue to post on IG, but we will be moving to have more content on this website for a few reasons.

1.) When you talk about shaving, makeup, etc., the algorithm on IG will feed you ads about hair removal products/services, makeup, etc. We find this is unhelpful to readers who are trying to counter the nonstop brainwashing designed to create insecurities in women about every square inch of their bodies.

2.) Higher quality conversation. We want to screen out people who are not ready to do the work you are ready to do. It is not helpful to constantly go back to Square One with people who want to argue about "I do it for me," or "stop shaming women who are different than you," etc. These are boring, cowardly arguments that have taken up enough time. We are here for the people who are ready to move forward in recognizing the full humanity of women in every stage of life. We also wish to avoid the abusive trolls who will double-down on dehumanizing arguments any time they are "forced" to see a woman in her natural state. (Poor dears!)

3.) We want to make a space where you can immerse yourself in healthier ways of thinking and being. We will be careful to keep a culture that creates conversation and understanding, growth and grace. If you want to dive in and really let yourself breathe in fresh air, we want you to do that without being hit by numerous counter-arguments, as is going to happen on social media. (e.g. "reel by Helen on women having a right to be comfortable in their bare faces," followed by an ad about shaving your peach fuzz and painting your face better, followed by a reel promoting a limiting and stultified version of femininity, with comments that demonize women who don't conform to some particular narrow standard.)

One of the ways that both Helen and Forty came to change their well ingrained views on shaving and makeup (and other issues) was by seeing many posts, memes, arguments, and counterarguments online, especially on Radblr (radfem tumblr). However, a problem with that method of reversing the "women's body hair must be removed for the sake of hygiene/beauty" brainwashing is that it comes with a lot of repetitive posts, immoral beliefs (someone arguing for exterminating baby boys and using only sperm banks to reproduce), and many questionable argumentation styles.

While it was helpful to see many analogies about, "what if we did this to men too?", it was also counterproductive to see so much sarcasm and mockery overall. Anything that could support a conservative position was derided, even if it was scientific fact, such as new mothers being at-least-initially more sensitive to their babies because of their experience of gestating them. On the flip side, plenty of socially conservative people in trying to protect stay-at-home moms and children from the "total work economy" end up making arguments that treat female subjugation and male incompetence in the home as good and natural.

Our goal here is to explore the issues that impede our ability to live a fully human life, whether it's sexist beliefs that demand more of women than men in almost every arena of existence, from physical appearance to parenting, or it's the unquestioned underlying beliefs many of us have about the definition, place, and value of work, independence, and reciprocity. Any article we publish in some way points back to our basic statement of belief: you are fully human.

Anyway, you're not likely to see much of Forty on social media, but her writing will be a mainstay on this website, and if you're ever having technical difficulties on the website, she will be the one helping you sort them out.