Are Women Addicted to Org Porn?
Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch, the authors of Everything (Almost) In Its Place, a book about how to get realistically organized, warned of the downsides of consuming too much ‘org porn.’
Negative self-image. Fantasy-induced over-spending. Marital tension. A new kind of airbrushed fantasy-land is wreaking havoc on our homes and our psyches: org porn. “Org porn is that glossy, airbrushed fantasy world where everything is pristine, serene and perfectly in order, sort of Playboy, but with chore charts and name-plated cubbyholes,” said Sarah Welch. “It’s everywhere you look these days: in magazines, coffee table books, advertisements, and TV shows. And when consumed in excess, it can lead to feelings of inadequacy, binge spending on organizational products, and even marital discord.” The authors have interviewed hundreds of women on the topic of organization and an astounding 80% of them feel they fall well short of the mark when it comes to getting organized.
“Don’t get us wrong, gazing at beautiful images of meticulously organized rooms, perfectly displayed collections, color-coordinated closets, flawless family schedules, pristine kitchens, tidy mud rooms, and picture-perfect work spaces can be titillating – even meditative. There’s a reason we call it ‘org porn,’” said Alicia Rockmore. “But when they become the primary yardstick by which you measure your own general state of organization is when it becomes unhealthy. An airbrushed land of perfect organization cannot be sustained in this messy, unpredictable world called real life.”
Chasing perfection fuels something the authors call “organizational inertia,” a type of paralysis that makes it virtually impossible to get started. Nearly every woman surveyed for Everything (Almost) In Its Place agreed that the most difficult part of getting organized was knowing where to start. If perfection is the objective, that paralysis makes sense. Keeping your house, work and schedule magazine-ready requires a superhuman effort to achieve and constant, superhuman vigilance to maintain. The goal of getting organized isn’t necessarily to have everything picture-perfect, but rather to eliminate inefficiency, so that you have more time to do what you actually want to do.
Instead of holding yourself to an impossible org porn standard, the authors advocate ditching perfection and instead focusing on why you want to get organized in the first place. Remind yourself that org porn is merely entertainment and an escape that few if any actually achieve. Reality is something entirely different. If it helps you, use those org-porn images to focus on the benefits you are trying to achieve: calm, efficiency, etc. Once you are clear on the real objective, then you are free to define your own rules for achieving that end goal (and what that end goal will look like for you).
4 Responses to “Are Women Addicted to Org Porn?”
I LOVE this article. I’m a professional organizer and I cannot tell you how much org porn I see in my clients’ homes (not to mention the occasional real porn!). I am completely on board with this and am going to check out that book. Those photographs are taken on a set. With no kids, no pets, and no inhabitants. remember that!
I read this when you originally published it, then ordered your book. Got sidetracked and never hit Submit on the order! I reread it again and have actually ordered the book.
Thank you! Thank you for pointing out that perfection is an unrealistic expectation. I am one of those who is paralyzed by perfection.
[...] help that at every turn ‘perfect organization’ (a little something we like to call org porn) is held up as the achievable ideal. And to help you get there, you have to follow a series of [...]
[...] against which we measure ourselves — and chances are good that it’s either related to ‘org porn’ or your mother’s definition of organized. Whatever the driver, the standard is probably not [...]