Basically I want to talk about body weight. Over, and under, the two sides of the coin (and the debate).
As a young female, I would have to admit that weight, body size and shape are topics that are often not far from my mind. I stress over being "fat" frequently, have a horror of changing room mirrors and exposing my flesh. I know I am not alone in this, I know plenty of girls (and women) who do the same. But it still wrecks my head, because I don't think it should be this way, and with a BMI of 23, I know that it shouldn't be this way.
Then we have the other problem, obesity is on the rise (I even posted about it), and all the things that come with it (diabetes, heart disease; we all know what they are!) It is a fact that more of us are overweight than underweight. Walk down any street in Ireland and I am sure that you will see more people that you would grade as "fat" in your mind, than as "healthy".
So where is the balance? On the one hand we (women mostly I think, and please acknowledge that I am generalising hugely and that not everyone will agree) have this huge media and social pressure to be thin. There is a constant projection of thin =successful, thin=attractive, & thin=healthy around us, and so in our minds, thin=enviable,thin= desirable, thin =what we want to be. Remember girls, you can never be too rich or too thin. I say that not without a certain amount of bitterness.
I hate that I get upset about my figure, I hate the way I feel I would be better if I were thinner, I hate always feeling self-conscious about my body, I hate the way I dream up crazy weight-loss schemes in my head, I hate that I am jealous of friends who are slimmer than me, and worst of all I hate that fact that I am supposed to be beyond all this. Especially because going into health sciences, and being very aware of what constitutes "healthy", and having worked in countries where being thin meant that you were poor and/or ill, where food was so precious, having cared for a child who was so malnourished that their skin was peeling off, having seen real hunger.......... I really should know better.
Two close friends of mine have battled with eating disorders, one of them had to be hospitalised. I doubt either of them even now having "overcome" will ever have a good mentality about food and bodyweight. They are both intelligent, together girls from good homes, who are going on to pursue high-flying careers. I know of maybe two or three others who were in my year at school. So how many out of the general population are suffering, tormented?
Recently I read an article on BBC about "pro-ana" and "pro-mia" groups on myspace and other networking sites where girls egged each other on to get thinner and thinner. Surely it couldn't be true could it? Being a member of MySpace I did a search there. What I found made me absolutely sick. It was all true and some of it was literally unbelievable. How could people think these things?? Almost all had warning labels along the lines of "If you are not serious about ana (anorexia) or are just going to disapprove, you may not join. Ana is a lifestyle choice not an illness" This was on one of the girls pages. Supposedly "thinspiration". Underneath it a girl had written "I love this vid...thanks for all the help!"
More thinpriation =)
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How could you look at these pictures and see perfection not illness. This video makes me really sad, and deeply uneasy. Check out this girls profile if you really want to feel queasy.
And then there's the other side of the coin. The fact that we are facing an obesity epidemic. Fact: Nearly two thirds of men and half of women in the UK are either overweight or obese. And that isn't good either is it? Officially there are 1bn overweight people in the world. At the same time as having fashion and the media push the thin is beautiful image at us, we have food and drinks companies pushing the "eat eat eat" idea at us. How many times have chocolate bar companies used the "go on, you deserve it" line to push high-calorie, nutritionally empty products at us?
Below the Mars Delight, specifically marketed to women, and containing 22okcals and 14g of fat.
Is it any surprise that people are ending up like this?
My question is where is the balance? How do we find a healthy middle ground? What is the future going to be? I cannot clear this subject in my own mind.
6 comments:
I've got some female friends who are scarily thin and pale, and often get ill. It is worrying.
Also as a guy I used to worry about my weight, only I'm quite skinny. I used to feel like I looked a lot younger than a lot of other people my age (and I did look younger really). There's a lot of pressure to look bulked up and sporty for guys, so being 6' with a BMI of 18 doesn't do wonders. Also guys are less inclined to talk about it, it's not a macho thing.
I'm about 10st3 now, still pretty skinny but not nearly as bothered anymore. Partly because I look more my age but also because these past few years there have been a lot of skinny, geeky male music icons - sort of like me i guess (well not an icon!).
I can totally epathise with anyone with weight issues because of it though.
Obviously I wrote this post from the female perspective because thats the one I am most familiar with,but its really good to hear from the male side of things, because I think its often ignored. the whole thing is nuts really isnt it?
Each person has to choose the balance that is right for him/her. If you feel healthy with a BMI of 23, you are active and eat healthy food, then you should be happy with who you are.
As you correctly noticed, being thin is somehow considered being perfect in every way (unfortunately). There should be more awareness on anorexia both at schools and media, as the teenage girls really don't know what they are doing with their health.
Lala this is a great post. I feel exactly the same way as you. I have 2 anorexic friends, both of them hospitalised, and now a third one. I can't help her, I have had enough. I realise it is a mental illness, but I can't find the strength. This is stupidity.
Even when the media are fighting anorexia, at the same time we are pressures to persue the "just before anorexia" image. What it this shit? I have a BMI of 22.2 and that is supposed to be the healthy one. Still I have trouble finding jeans that I like on my size (29-30).
These girls have serious problems and the video was SHOCKING.
This is illness and nothing more than that.
I really doubt if Marilyn Monroe had a less BMI.
Good post...I had no idea about the pro-anorexia subculture
When I lived in the States, I weighed about 105 pounds (47 kg). I am 155 cm. That was totally normal and fine then, and if I went up a bit, people would notice. In retrospect, though, that is a BMI of 19.5 or so. I wasn't unhappy with my body then, but I was very careful not to creep up.
Now, living in a country where they really dislike thin women, I have gained 8-10 kg, putting me at around 55 (sometimes more), BMI around 23-24. I am still considered "too thin." Thin here means "weak," "underfed" and "ornamental woman who can't do much work." No one likes that. I have two friends who have gone to dietitians to get advice on how to gain weight.
The interesting part is that I also exercise now and want a strong body. Some of that weight is muscle, but most of it isn't.
The difference now is that I now LOVE my body as it is. The little stomach, the round, soft thighs and hips, the fuller face, make me look so feminine and good. I look at pictures of me from before, and I look like a little girl, or sick (which is how everyone immediately reacted here). Now I look like a strong woman. (This is also an advantage in medicine.) When I go back and visit there, people sometimes slip in snide comments about my weight going up, but I just don't care! I like my body so much better now...because of what it can do! There is something to the fact that the super-thin look is infantilization of women.
The other thing that has changed is my total concept of what a woman's body should look like. Here, women who are full figured wear bikinis, and the little bit of fat that spills over the panty part is considered oh-so-womanly. I don't care what anyone says, the TV and culture things DO cause anorexia.
The downside is, as you said, that it is just expected that a woman's weight creeps up with time, that by middle age she'll be pretty round all over. By the time women are 50, they are easily at BMIs of 30 and have all the high blood pressure and stuff. This is even more so in the Arab sector, where women are even less influenced by the "thin" media stuff. The best thing we try to do is get them swimming at a gym or something, to counteract the weight and blood pressure.
You're right. It's just a hard balance. Seems like health and a healthy body should be more important than a particular weight or BMI target.
Great comment Sara!
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