I have always been overweight. When I was little, size did
not matter. All that mattered was that I was well fed and ate healthily. As I
grew up, my weight did matter. People looked at me differently because of my
weight. I heard many murmurings about my size and how ugly I was. Whenever I talked to boys I would always be
weary of my appearance and feel self-conscious.
In ninth grade, my doctor told me that I needed to lose
weight for the health. I did not complain. Although I knew that I needed to
lose weight for health reasons, part of me was excited to get that extra push
to lose the weight. If I lost all of the weight, I could be pretty and people
would not call me fat behind my back. I was ready to gain that self-confidence
and change my appearance.
I decided to go on weight watchers because I did not want to
lose the weight artificially. Let me tell you, it was not easy to lose the
weight. I had to watch what I ate and work out most days. It was all worth it.
Losing the weight allowed me to gain the self-confidence that I did not have
before. People stopped talking about my appearance behind my back and told me
upfront that I looked good.
I am not the only girl that has struggled with her weight
image. Based on Shaw and Lee, 95 percent of women overestimate their body image
(235). Media enforces these images of the “perfect” woman. They are usually
skinny, beautiful, and the object of man’s desire (Miss Representation). These
are not healthy images of women. Girls
in high school look at these images and want to be just as skinny and just as
beautiful as these women. From a very early age, girls dress in provocative
clothing and spend money to look like their favorite celebrity. This is
atrocious that some young girls are being unhealthy because of their role
models.
But then I start to reflect on my own role models. One
celebrity comes to mind, Kate Middleton. In the past, Kate Middleton has been
bashed because of her body weight. Many people think that she is too skinny.
Now, Kate Middleton is pregnant and her weight is a big part of the
tabloids. So it makes me wonder, should
Kate Middleton really be my role model?
I have to think, why did I like Kate Middleton in the first
place? Was it her body weight or was it her story? Although I do like her style
and sometimes try to mimic her clothes, her image is not the only reason I like
her. Although I originally liked her because of her connection to Prince
William, I call her my role model because of the kind of person she is. I am appreciative of her “working class
background” and her charity efforts. Even though some people might question her
true nature, she seems like a kind person that cares about people. Doesn’t that
sound like a good role model? Some people might think of her as a passive woman
but I think of her as a strong woman that will make a difference in the world.
After all, if she ends up having a girl, her daughter will be next in line to
the throne, after Prince William. What a great accomplishment for feminism!
I struggle with making sense of my position in the media. I
do not like that young girls are trying to make themselves look like skeleton
models. I would hate to hear that these girl’s role models make them concerned
about their image. However, I would never give up Kate Middleton as my role
model just because of her weight. That is the problem with young girls; they
are not looking at the person behind the body. Young girls look up to actresses
like Selena Gomez and Blake Lively without really knowing what that celebrity
stands for. If girls were conscious about who their role models are, maybe the
world would be a better place.
Who are your role models? Why do you like them? Does their style affect your identity?
A few more of my strong women role models
On Gilmore Girls, the main character (Lorelei) started her own
business.
Parks and Recreation:
Leslie Knope ran for city council, and won.
13 Going on 30: Jenna Rink realized that image is not everything and that everyday life should be celebrated
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your story. The media puts so much pressure on us girls to be skinny and fit the "mold" that we sometimes forget about what is healthy for us! Congrats to you for losing the weight to live a healthier life. I loved the use of pictures in your blog, it really helped carry your story across. Jennifer Hudson is one of my role models; I respect her so much as an artist especially because I am a singer myself. I hope her weight loss was for health reasons instead of pressure from the harsh media. People should be looking up to her because of the work she does, not the way she looks.
Katie- Hi Katie. Thank you for your kind comment. I completely agree. Media places too much emphasis on people’s looks and not enough emphasis on their inner appearance. Young girls should not feel that they need to conform to any image. That being said, it was extremely difficult to be overweight because of all the hurtful words that were said behind my back. So, I can understand the reasons girls want to look a certain way. As I have gotten older, I have realized that everyone’s bodies are different but I would be lying if I said I do not think about my weight or what I am eating at least once a day. It is just the harsh world we live in. I hope that someday we can all care a little bit more about what is on the inside than what is on the outside. I really appreciate that you like Jennifer Hudson because of her music and not because of her size. Hopefully, by becoming aware of these image problems, we can change the world little by little.
DeleteThis was a great post. I totally agree with you about Kate Middleton. It is amazing to me how much pressure is put on her about her weight, and before she was pregnant it was because she was too skinny, and they were afraid she wasn't going to be able to have a baby. They don't focus on how well she portrays herself, and how positive of a role model she can be for girls. I think she is a wonderful role model because of what she stands for, and you are right that celebrities are often not treated this way. I also think Adele is a great example of standing up to the media pressure. She told the media that she wasn't going to lose weight, because she was a singer, and that had nothing to do with how she looked. It was a powerful and risky statement because the media seems to hold the power in creating icons, but she is such a good singer, that she was able to stand up for herself.
ReplyDeleteHi Kailaini. I did not know that about Adele. The fact that she cares about her singing and not her body image is a powerful statement for little girls. This weekend I learned something else about Adele. Did you know that she is the same age as Taylor Swift? Their body images could not be more different. Although Adele is a great image for young girls, sadly, young girls more often mimic Taylor Swift. Although I like Taylor Swift’s earlier music, I feel that her new music is all about her image. She is trying to appeal to younger girls but is not helping them with body image. She herself is a skinny tall blonde. The fact that she has so many boyfriends could make young girls think that they need to constantly be dating someone. This also makes her seem immature. She does not seem true to her earlier self and that might be a bad image for girls. Adele, on the other hand, is strong and mature. She shows girls that people should love you for who you are and not for what others think of you. I hope that someday the media will promote people like Adele instead of Taylor Swift.
DeleteThis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgFeZr5ptV8
Versus This
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeumyOzKqgI
I especially like that you chose to explore why it is that you chose Kate Middleton for a role model. I think it's important for us to examine why we place our role models on a pedestal? Do we value their aesthetic beauty? Their intelligence? Their charity? I grew up in a culturally homogenous city for the duration of my high school experience. My school lacked diversity. Being Puerto Rican-Irish, I didn't feel like I fit my own school's beauty ideals. The girls that were deemed beautiful were athletically slim, tanned, and had All-American, Girl-Next-Door features. Interestingly enough, I found comfort in some of the models in magazines because the ones I chose featured women with mixed heritage. I think it's important not to characterize all models as skeletal because some women are naturally very thin and picked on for their size as well. In general, I'd like to see more diversity in the representation of women in magazines. While I found comfort, models of varying heights and weight would help to widen the beauty ideals that exist. I really look up to Carrie Underwood. She exudes beauty inside and out. She's a petite woman who seems to be in very good shape, but more importantly, she often talks about things she cares about in a sphere (Country music scene) that may not always agree with her.
ReplyDeleteHi Meghan. I really appreciated your comment. Coming from an overweight perspective, I might say harsh things about naturally skinny women. I’ll say things like “Oh she has it so easy” or “It’s so easy for skinny girls to shop”, when in all honesty, skinny girls have issues too. One of my favorite quotes is “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle” and this idea plays into third wave feminism. Before we generalize about the media, we should ask ourselves if these women are only promoting a skinny girl image or if there is something more to them. However, like you said, it would be great if there were a more diverse image of women in the media. Again, we should not discriminate against anyone, large or small, because there is a story behind every individual. Instead, we should chose role models for who they are instead of how they look. That being said, I also love Carrie Underwood. Although she is skinny, her music shows girls that they do not need to conform to a boy in order to be happy. One of my favorite songs is “Nobody Ever Told You”, which tells all young girls that they are beautiful.
DeleteLink to "Nobody Ever Told You": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq3XfUSi5GA
Lauren, I really enjoyed your blog. The way you approached the subject made it very personable. Something that I find interesting that relates to me more, and was also mentioned in Miss Representation, was the pressure on already skinny girls. I can't tell you how many people , friends and family included, tell me that I need to eat a burger or eat a biscuit because I'm too skinny. What a lot of people don't realize is that I've never had an eating disorder but that I can't keep weight on very easily and it takes a lot of work. I have to eat constantly and still people say "I wish I was skinny like you" when in reality those comments are hurtful too. It's so crazy how we look at one another and judge before we know each others stories when there are struggles for everyone on both sides and every side in between.
ReplyDeleteI also liked when you talked about your role model and how you analyzed when she was your role model. It scares me that a lot of kids today, especially young girls, have "role models" and don't even know why. It might be because they are pretty. And instead of looking at these women in society as their role models I hope that for future generations that kids especially look to the men and women around them, their peers, teachers, elders, etc, in search for that role model and inspiration because there can be a lot that can be learned from the real life people surrounding them. I hope that as times change and society grows and expands that the upcoming generations can hold onto some of the great values you have too.
I completely understand. I have a friend that is really skinny. I asked her once how she did it and she said that that is just how she is. She says that she eats a lot but that people do not see it. I completely agree with you: discriminating against any body type is wrong. Society should appreciate girls for who they are and not for their bodies (Maybe that shows the harm of having a men controlling the media). I also hope that this image of women in the media can change. My sister is sixteen years old and many of her friends conform to the popular idea of beauty. She herself spends about an hour on her hair and makeup a day. However I do not think that it is her fault for her conformity. Maybe she really does enjoy getting ready in the morning. Or maybe, sadly, media might have a lot to do with it. I wish women could be themselves instead of worrying what other people think of them. But then again, I am guilty of caring about my image too.
DeleteLauren,
ReplyDeleteThis was such a great blog to read. I really enjoyed it. When I was a young girl, I was always significantly underweight for my age and height. I was also always extremely involved in dance. I would spend two to three hours a day at dance after school and my weekends were committed to competitions.
As I got older, my body developed more normally, and I was under a lot of scrutiny from my coaches. At one point, I was asked to stand in front of my peers and all of my flaws were pointed out as "motivation" to get rid of unwanted body fat before competition. At this point, I was 5'6 and didn't weigh more than 110 pounds. I adopted some extremely unhealthy habits and my weight dropped dramatically, to the point that my health was in danger.
My role models were always famous dancers with "perfect" bodies and holding myself to their standards was very harmful to my body and to my sense of self. I think it is scary to realize that young girls, including myself, can fall into this trap. I truly believe the ideals society presents are unrealistic and unachievable.
I really admire that you chose a role model based on her personal, rather than physical characteristics.I also appreciate that you presented some role models in the media that are recognized for their minds, or their humor, rather than their sexuality. Great job!
Hi Colleen. I completely understand. My sister attended an arts school for dance and she had a similar experience. She developed an eating disorder because her program focused too much on her weight. She realized that she was not living a healthy life and decided to drop out of dance her senior year. Now she is thirty-six and has a good lifestyle. However, it is terrible that she had to give up what she loved in order to be healthy.
ReplyDeleteI will also admit that I occasionally have role models based on their body image. However, this is not a bad thing. I must ask myself why I like them and why I appreciate them. If they are pretty, do I only like them because they are pretty or can I appreciate them for who they are? Being pretty is not a bad thing it is the only thing you like about a person.
Hey Lauren! I really liked your blog, I loved how you based it around your personal experiences, but then also related it back to our reading in class. However I do think you could of put more examples of how this stuff relates back to more of our readings and how your examples relate to for exapmle Shaw and Lee. I do think you did a little bit of this,but you could have gone further with explanation. I also really enjoyed how you talked about how girls don't look at the subsistence behind there role models,only the looks. I think that is a great way to put it and I agree with that's exactly whats going with girls today. They see these gorgeous skinny women in the media and decide they love them and want to be like them and they become their role models solely because the women are pretty. Overall I enjoyed you blog and I think it connected with our readings and it was very current to today's time.
ReplyDeleteHi Dominkka. Thank you for your comment. I completely agree. I could have connected Shaw and Lee's "Inscribing Gender on the Body Article". I could have included a section about other types of eating disorders that might have made my argument sturdier. However, my main inspiration was a reaction to "Fat Revolution" to get another side to her opinion. I also drew inspiration from Miss Representation and could have related it more to that article.
DeleteHi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteYour story is quite inspiring. It is amazing how much of a role that weight can play on self confidence. I believe that this is all due to, like you mentioned, media. If the media was telling women to it was considered beautiful to be "curvy" and not stick thin, then that would be what everyone would shoot for.
If you look back through history, the beauty ideal used to be more curvy and over time has come to be super thin. This is shown in the picture in this link: http://heartymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/when-did-this-become-hotter-than-this.jpg.
However, I feel that the ideal weight for women has started to go back to more of the Marilyn body type. It is starting to be more acceptable to have curves. Although it now has taken a little bit of a twist and women are supposed to have curves but still be skinny. This makes it even harder for women to achieve that "ideal body". Maybe eventually the body that is considered beautiful with transition all of the way back to the "curvy" type, and the modern ideal body is just an transition body type.
Hi Nicole. Thank you for your comment. I could not open your picture. Could you send it again? I do agree that our ideas of weigh might have shifted in the past few years. However, our idea of beauty is still majorly persuaded by the media. In magazines like People, we are told that real beauty does not require makeup. However, I guarantee you that their will be a section in that same magazine telling the reader what makeup products to get. I hope that we will eventually get away from trying to achieve the perfect body but the media has to realize their influence on us. I also think that we will not get out of this perfect body mentality because we are living in a consumer society.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI love this article you wrote! The mix of pictures, personal connection, and use of the readings made it enjoyable and interesting to read. As a boy with a metabolism given to me by my parents, and the fact that i constantly played sports, I never had to deal with weight problems. Your story and role-model questioning still connects to me though because I dealt with other kinds of coming of age problems such as acne, sexuality, etc..... I liked your point that a role model should be based on what the person does and not what they look like.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt. Thank you for your comment. It would be interesting to hear weight loss stories from boys because they probably have different social factors influencing their identity. I also think that other age problems can affect your identity in the same way. Again, it would be interesting to hear of these issues from a guys perspective. Girls are encouraged to become the perfect woman but what does the perfect guy look like? Is he athletic? Smart? Violent? Society and mass production picks on our own insecurities. Both men and women are victims of this social pressure.
DeleteI really enjoyed your connection to Kate Middleton as a role model rather than a body image to strive for. I noticed that you stuck to her volunteer work and philanthropy, but you could have examined her role in the royal family as a representative of the country, her academic achievements, and her conversion from a citizen of Brittan to a member of the ruling class.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your questions, I admire Melissa McCarthy as a powerful and hilarious woman. Her ability to transition between the sweet and loving woman who sometimes gripes at her husband on Mike and Molly, to an identity thief in Identity Thief, to the groom's sister in Bridesmaids effortlessly shows a well rounded woman who can encompass all zones of a female identity.