I have never been able to call myself skinny. Nope, not once. I grew up with friends lean as bean stalks, friends that never understood what a different body type felt like. A six year old should never have to be hyperaware that they are ‘bigger’ than their friends, and an eight year old should never be bullied about his/her weight and come home crying everyday from school.
Society has perpetuated an ideal body type that is used as a sounding board for beauty and approval. It has been this way for the centuries, each dictating a body type, that should be achieved in order to be desirable- especially for women. Lets take a trip down memory lane shall we?
GIPHY
For an intriguing yet quick read about the ideal body type throughout time:
https://www.thelist.com/44261/womens-perfect-body-types-changed-throughout-history/
Or if you love a transformation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrp0zJZu0a4
Through the centuries ideal body types have been imposed on society and if you don’t fall within the expectations it can impact your personal and professional life negatively.
In my case it was being hyperaware of the space I took up and avoiding letting my personality really shine, because I already was big and didn’t want my personality to make me seem larger. Now that I look back on it I realize how ridiculous I was being because a. I wasn’t even as big as I thought I was, and b. even if I was, who is to dictate that because I was probably the heaviest girl in my class I should try to make my personality smaller in the hopes that it would make my physical body appear smaller.
Me at 5 or 6 years old
This little girl (above), believed that one day she would be liked by boys more, or have more friends, or be prettier, when she was older and skinnier. Because all the media, and toys and photos that came into her life showed teenage girls with willowy frames so unlike her own. My personal favourite dolls and TV show when I was little— the Winx Club.
Winx club/ Nickelodeon
Now looking back at these cartoon girls, it’s easy to see the unrealistic body image ideas set up in society, and girls as young as seven are already questioning why they don’t look like them. Or why they won’t ever look like them. I was desperate as a little girl to look like one of the Winx Club girls.
Luckily enough even though there still isn’t a massive range in the ideal body, in the past couple of years there have been leaps and bounds in the promotion of body positivity and diversity of bodies in the media. From Mattel’s classic doll barbie adapting different body shapes and sizes to a plus size model on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK magazine.
Barbie’s Fashionistas. Photograph: Barbie
Plus Size model Tess Holliday on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine
Although it may appear that times are changing and diverse body types are being celebrated, even these movements had their share of negative backlash. In the Global News piece about Tess Holiday’s Cosmopolitan cover, multiple twitter arguments were brought up about the cover “normalizing obesity”.
Obesity is a huge issue in society today and eating right and exercising regularly is incredibly important for physical and mental health. However, diet and exercise does not always work for everybody. There are many medical conditions that prohibit the body from losing weight and in turn these individuals are ostracized by society.
Another troubling trend facing mainly women of larger stature is the cruel pranking style of pigging. “Pulling a pig” is a cruel prank where a man dates or flirts with a woman he and his friends consider ‘fat and ugly’ for fun. The winner of the sick game is whoever can woo the ‘ugliest’ woman.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/pigging-cruel-new-dating-trend-need-know/
In 2017 UK citizen, Sophie Stevenson, “says she travelled from England to Holland for a date – only to find out she was the victim of the “pull a pig” prank” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41566852/woman-says-she-was-the-victim-of-the-pull-a-pig-prank-date).
There are so many issues when it comes to body positivity and ideal body standards in society today. From shopping and commercial store sizes, retouching in magazines and media, male body shaming, and even skinny shaming. In a body positive movement we should be celebrating everybody’s body.
In my next blogs I will discuss more of these issues with a more in depth view on body image from the perspective of a big girl making her way in a skinny society. As for today, let’s all take a quick second to think of something we love about ourselves. Because the first step in changing societies mindset on ‘perfect’, is changing our own.