Another very eventful week! After I spent last weekend with my family in Windsor to meet my new nephew, I rushed back to Kitchener for a few work meetings and interviews (keep you fingers crossed for me!). I also began course work for the post-grad program I’m working on- very excited about the trajectory I’ve been moving along. After a busy week in the city, I returned to Lionshead and helped my boyfriend get his sailboat in the water. I managed to get in a little bit of climbing but conditions were a wee bit muggy and wet. Can’t wait until everything dries out so I can really get some climbing done here!
Here’s a few more pictures taken by James. How cute is my new nephew!
Women no longer strive for a curvier figure, as our society has made us believe that twig like legs and a BMI under 18 is best. I’ve even seen popular clothing stores, such as Urban Outfitters, print “don’t eat” on their t-shirts as well as models such as Kate Mose exclaim that “Skinny feels better than food tastes.” The average american model is 5’11 and weighs 117 lbs while the average american women is 5’4 and 140lbs. Moreover, BMI’s of Miss America have steadily decreased from 22 in the 1920s to a low of 16.9 in the 2000s (healthy BMI’s are greater than 18.5). Our society has taken a turn to associate “thin” with “hard-working, beautiful and self-disciplined” and “fat” with “lazy, ugly and lacking will-power.” Is it just me or is there something seriously wrong with this picture?
Personally, when about 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat and 41% of 6 year olds want to be thinner, something needs to change! In fact, in a global study in 2004, only 2% of women and girls described themselves as beautiful. Eating disorders now affect more than 7 million American women (I’d argue that number is much greater) and 60% of adolescent girls reported to have gone on weight-loss diets. As a result, the dieting industry is now a multibillion-dollar business in the United States. We, as a society, need to start accepting eachother and ourselves as we are. If you’re overweight, take measures to loose weight to be healthy, but PLEASE, don’t draw conclusions about not being beautiful or think you have to get down to the fantasy sizes that models are these days.
Media Influences
While younger girls are more effected by media stimuli of thin, digitally enhanced and airbushed models and celebrities, studies are showing these kind of images influence women of all ages. Body image perception begins early on in life, probably even before children begin to play with dolls. The Barbie Doll, first debuted in 1959, typically has an elongated neck, large breasts, long and thin legs and a very small waist, attributes not representative of a healthy individual, let alone the average North American. Girls are later influenced by ultrathin (often children) models in just about every form of advertisement, from clothing and jewelry to food; girls are constantly bombarded with unrealistic beauty standards. While the fashion industry is slowly getting better in terms of increasing the size of what’s allowed on the runway to showcasing more “plus-sized” (healthy sized) women, there is still a long way for it to go.
Diet food ads appear 63 times more frequently in women’s magazines, and women’s magazines include 12 times more articles and ads focusing on weight, dieting, and body size than those targeted to a male audience. This kind of exposure has been linked with more anxiety and depression among adolescents. Even video games, one of the fastest growing forms of media, has a role, with female characters who are both slender and minimally clothed. Given that adolescents spend almost 7 hours a day exposed to some media form, this has serious impacts on what they view as beautiful. Female gender roles, as perceived by women and the media, include traits that emphasize submissiveness, modesty, thinness, and appearance investment. These gender roles are reinforced by all of the sexual objectification of females in the media, focusing on appearance and diminishing non-feminine achievements.
Fat-talking
Many of us are guilty of whispering about our enemies after they put on weight or poking fun about an obese stranger. When one of our friends uploads a picture of a, once healthy sized, women who wen’t from size 8 to size 2, many of us think to ourselves how much better she looks. This kindof behavior makes me cringe, not because I don’t support healthy eating and exercising to reach a healthy size, but because many of us, including myself at a few points in my life, believe that we’ll be only beautiful when we can fit into an extra small sized jeans. Fat-shaming doesn’t encourage people to slim down — in fact, it can actually make them gain weight. For example, high school students who were teased or harassed for being overweight responded by skipping workouts or gym class, and eating more. I, for one, know how it feels to be made fun of for weight. From carrying a little bit of weight in grade-school and hearing that I’m fat to being an athlete and hearing wispers about being too muscular, I can attest that fat-talking is hurtful and only makes you feel bad about yourself.
Fat-talking is considered normal among 93% of women, with self-drogatory comments such as “you’re not fat, look at my thights!” How many of us women can admit to talking about eating and exercise habits, fears of becoming overweight as well as meal-replacement and weight-loss strategies with other women? This kind of talk is transcending to everyone, damaging your (and your listener’s) outlook about your self-worth and beauty, and triggers unhealthy behaviors such as keeping toxic friendships, lowering self-esteem, over- or under-eating and skipping or excessive working out. We need to replace this talk and thinking with something realistic and positive; don’t compare yourself to others, don’t put people down for their weight or looks, and PLEASE, don’t fat talk to your daughters. If your overweight and would like to change something about your lifestyle, be proactive about it but stop feeling as if youre self-worth will be that much better after the weight is gone. Thinking positively will get you so much further in not only achieving a healthy weight, but improving all aspects of life. We need to be more aware of the words we say because it can have direct and sometimes severe consequences to not only ourselves, but to the ones we love.
And a final conclusion…
While media isn’t something that we as can readilly change, we as individuals can still have serious impacts on our own and the people around us’ perception of beauty. By practicing positive talking and compassion and eliminating the judgment of yourself and others, we can lead by example to make everyone feel good about themselves. Stop comparring yourself to others and start appreciating your own individuality and self worth, which is way more than a size 0 pant size.
Karazsia B et. al. (2013) Thinking meta-theoretically about the role of internalization in the development of body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors.Body Image 10:433–441.
Sharpe H et. al. (2013) Is Fat Talking a Causal Risk Factor for Body Dissatisfaction? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders 46:643–652.
Varnes J et. al. (2013) A systematic review of studies comparing body image concerns among female college athletes and non-athletes, 1997–2012.Body Image 10:421–432.
Yager Z et. al. (2013) What works in secondary schools? A systematic review of classroom-based body image programs. Body Image 10:271– 281.
