Image taken from http://www.chicagonow.com/feminist-christian/2013/04/real-beauty-real-talk/#image/1
Pertaining to the topic of women’s beauty, we know the usual rhetoric of how women should be measured according to their character and substance, and not according to their physical appearance. Thus, we often turn a cold shoulder to models who are stick-thin, and the idea of being “plus-sized” or “big” is just something that God has created me to be/something that I was born to be.
It is pertinent that we first understand the history and evolution of women’s beauty, and how societal standards have evolved throughout the various ages and civilisations of the modern world. In the past, women who were slightly larger were deemed more attractive than their slimmer counterparts, because being bigger was seen as a sign of affluence and power, two key elements that society (back then) favoured greatly in a woman.
Sometime later, the whole notion of bigger women being more attractive than thinner ones seemed to die out, and make way for a new trend of fashion in which larger women were chastised for being fat, thus giving rise to the usual fashion industry standards of stick-thin models, various eating disorders and even the emergence of the “thigh gap”, a standard in which a woman was deemed “not fat” if she could stand with both feet together and her thighs not touching each other as a result.
In response, women liberal groups and feminism activists condemned the fashion industry (and societal standards), demonising the dangers of anorexia and bulimia that were prevalent in many young girls trying to achieve that “perfect figure”, and encouraging women to be comfortable in their own skin and how their bodies were.
“Being plus-sized is okay”, says some activists and lobbyists. “Be happy for who you are, because you were born this way.”
Whilst I take nothing away from the notion that the measure of a woman (or man) should be primarily focused on his or her character, morals and substance rather than their physical appearance, it is important to note that society’s tendency to overcompensate in addressing certain topics is setting up for a dangerous precedent, one that is arguably more destructive than the initial problem itself.
Why do I say so?
Going back to the example on societal standards for women’s shapes, a large problem (pun not intended) is that more and more women are taking such advice to heart, falsely connecting the logic and believing that it is “okay to be fat”, because being thin is just a moronic societal standard that we should not follow. Being plus-sized is okay, and we should be proud of it! I am made to be big, and thus I shouldn’t change (i.e. lose weight) who I am!
Not to equate correlation with causation, it is also worthwhile to note that obesity rates have been increasing around the world.
The problem is that we have overcompensated for our disdain for stick thin women, thereby over-advocating the notion that women should not try to achieve the far-fetched standards of the modelling industry. Taking this to heart, an inconspicuous danger that presents itself is that more and more women are shunning exercise and dieting, because of the voices that tell them otherwise. We’ve always raged over how shallow society is in deeming thinness as the ‘in’ trend, but when was the last time we supported plus-sized girls making an effort to lose weight?
Women know that they should not be conforming to the long-criticized standards of the modelling industry (i.e. a strong emphasis on being thin), but they should also know that being too plus-sized (i.e. overweight) is not good either.
Now, I’m not saying that all plus-sized women are wrong. Some are genuinely trying to lose weight to be in the healthy range, and I applaud them for constantly slogging it out in the gym or making the effort to run to keep fit. What has to be done, in my opinion, is that society has to achieve that balance in sending out messages to young women all around the world, with regard to their body shape and size. Feminist groups lobby for the eradication of advertisements promoting the ‘size 0’, but they should also be lobbying for the eradication of advertisements that say “being big is okay”, because it will only lead to the false, pretentious belief that being big (and I mean unhealthily big) is okay.
That being said, a recent trend that developed within the last two years or so is the idea of fitspo. Is fitspo bad for you? I like what Cynthia Bulk, director of the University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program and author of The Woman in the Mirror: How to Stop Confusing What You Look Like With Who You Are has to say:
“Yes. Fitspo refers to images and words that women post with the purpose of inspiring themselves and others to live a fit, active life. Unfortunately, the images often portray dangerously thin, overly sexualized women with bodies that the vast majority of us will never be able to achieve. What’s more, slogans like ‘My weakness becomes my pain, and pain my pleasure’ are often just as shaming as those used in thinspo, and I worry they could fuel the fire for people with eating disorders. A lot of fitspo is a thinly veiled version of thinspo, promoting the same obsessive tendencies and impossible appearance ideals, and that’s a trap.”
What do you think?
The inspiration wall 