So, I have been thinking about a topic that never stops receiving attention: body image. Well, not only is it body image that receive ample discourse, but also body size, especially that of celebrities.
The recent uproar about Ke$ha checking into rehab for an eating disorder is what sparked my desire to delve into the topic.
Yes, I noticed that the singer seemed to have thinned down in the recent Pitbull music video "Timber," but the wasn't really any subjective thoughts I had about it, like "Oh, she looks so much better" or "what happened?!"
And then there is Jennifer Lawrence and her commentary on how Hollywood and the media supposedly portrays her, where she says that in the world of the celebrities, she is considered "obese" and yadda ya. I am not going to deny that the media does this, but I haven't actually seen any magazines comment on Jennifer Lawrence's waistline. I'm sure that many people agree that she is by no means overweight.
Now, I'm not trying to say trash on either celebrity, because this isn't the purpose of this post. In fact, I would prefer to focus on the media and how they determine what is "too fat" and what is "too skinny." Think about it; how often do you see commentary about some celebrity's size in the magazines or other media forms? Really. I'm sure that a majority of the population would agree that what the media describes as beautiful is only a distortion of reality. It is frustrating, really, because of how much focus is towards the size of a person, and how that is related to their beauty. Everybody is made differently, is that not correct? Some people are made to be more curvy, and some are made to be stick thin. Look at their bone structure.
I've received compliments on my size, about how skinny I am. To be honest, sometimes it is flattering, because of how I have been influenced by the standards of media. Other times, I feel insulted. Even when I inform a person of what my pants size is, I receive a response of disbelief. The reality is that I need to wear at least a 6 or 8 (US) in pants. In Asia, I'm a size XL or XXL. Sure, that can be a blow to my confidence, but there are standards for different cultures; women in Asia are typically petite, so their concept of size is also different. But, back to my size. I explain why I need to wear this size, which is because my hips are a little bit more wide-set than other people. This actually is true. When I stand, my hip bones at the widest part, not necessarily "padded with extra cushioning" and my butt, well... That actually is a bit bigger, too. The reality is that my genetics coded for me to have curves in my lower half. I will have to say, though, that I received one of the biggest insults from a man who had no idea what he was talking about.
I exercise, and I love to exercise; running, weight lifting, playing sports, yoga, and so on; you name it and I am typically a fan of being an active participant. I don't do it for any other reasons than enjoyment, stress relief, and health. Now that you have been given the abridged explanation, let's go into this insult business. As I have mentioned before, sometimes I receive "Wow! You are skinny!" as a compliment, and other times, I am quite offended. This is a moment in which I was disgusted. A man decided that it was his duty to inform me that my exercise was too extreme, that running one and a half miles (about 2.4 kilometers) and then performing dynamic exercises, some involving "explosive" movements (i.e. power exercises like squat jumps or power squats) following the run was "too much" and that I don't need to do these exercises because I am thin enough. This concept the poor fellow had, that all women exercise to remain skinny and his apparent need to express it through suggestions to limit my exercise habits made me lose respect for him. The type of exercises I perform are not to be thin, but to maintain muscle tone and build strength and power. As a self-proclaimed athlete, he should know better and should have been able to recognize the purposes of the exercises I was performing. In addition, he should have understood that you should never publicly underestimate someone's athletic ability based on their size.
So, back to the media, where did they come up with the standards of how skinny a certain person should be or how curvy? Have the people of media considered how strong their influence is over not only the "basic civilian" but also the people they comment upon?
Another thought I have is how ads make their contributions. When an ad is on Facebook, it often isn't focusing on the healthiness of a person's body, but rather: "Get skinny fast!" or "Lose pounds!" Both of these ideas talk solely about weight loss. Weight loss isn't necessarily healthy. For the obese person, yes, it is, because the primary contribution to that person's weight is actually body fat. But when we are talking about a person who exercises regularly, their weight isn't due to fat but, more often, to muscle. Remember the saying "muscle weighs more than fat"? It's true, muscle is more dense than fat is. Here's a look at a microscopic view:
Muscle Tissue Adipose Tissue
Just look at both of these pictures: see how dense the muscle tissue is? And look at that of the adipose tissue, You can see how much space one of those cells is taking.
And at a larger scale, 5 pounds of fat versus 5 pounds of muscle:
This isn't an exaggeration, because both replicas are meant to be to scale.
So let's go back to size, weight, and the over-attention given to it by the media. Not only is there that, but also, there is this backlash from other people about size, with statements like "big is beautiful!" and so on. Again, my commentary is that everybody has their own size. I don't side with either team, because then that means I'm against the other. Skinny is not beautiful, and neither is big. BEAUTIFUL is beautiful, it should never be stereotyped by size, or any other physical attribute like hair or skin color.
I think I thoroughly distracted myself. Honestly, I do try to limit the amount of public media that I happen upon, but in this day and age we all know that is impossible. Our generation (mostly) is completely connected to others via that (what we think is) simple internet. Smart phones, tablets, chromebooks, etc are everywhere, and so is our accessibility to the world wide web.
So, I would once again like to reflect on how our access to the media affects our perception of what is beautiful, and what is considered a "healthy" size. Because frankly, that image keeps changing, and I don't mean that in a positive manner.
Check these out:
Until next time, (and my apologies for the incoherency)
K.
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