The diet and fashion industries, aided and abetted by doctors who should know better, have done a hell of a con on women. But once women get a "certain age," 50, and the thyroid starts going to shit and estrogen decreases, those diets will not work anymore. Medical attention will be necessary if a thyroid or diabetes is the culprit.
This hatred is being exported:
Part of the torment of fat, and fatism, is how it grows. Dominant American (read privileged and white) body ideals have spread along with our pathologies. Despite the conventional wisdom about African American and Latino cultures’ appreciation for more voluptuous female body types, eating disorders are on the rise for both those groups. We are also exporting our body issues to faraway places, with disturbing success.
Studies funded by Harvard Medical School tracked the eating habits of girls on the island of Fiji, where television was first introduced in the year 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, the islanders watched Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210, and 11 percent of the girls surveyed developed bulimia — a disease previously unknown to them. Television, it seems, can carry disease. That is not to say those affected were unwilling victims.
“The girls were articulate and explicit about why they were making themselves throw up,” says Harvard medical anthropologist Anne Becker, who led the study. “They felt that if they had a Jennifer Aniston body, they would look more modern and more Western, and they would have a better chance of getting a job.”
1 comment:
It's indeed disturbing. As a woman of African American descent, the idea of accepting more volumptuous bodies are not as dominant as it was in the past. Actually ethnic cultures are very strict on women's "weight" as European cultures are said to be. I come across a lot of men in my community who nit pick women's weight, even down to cellulite and a little belly fat. As a woman of color I also frequent blogs dedicated to fashion aimed towards our culture and the women who post are extremely hung up on body image and weight. With the so called war on obesity started by Michelle Obama who is African American there could be influence there as well. We see a woman like us telling us don't be fat then we take it heart. Also the domino affect of plus size celebrities now losing weight, magazines and music videos in hip-hop culture that used to feature "thicker women" now using models and smaller women. Even Latina icon who helped with the appreciation of a larger rear Jennifer Lopez is considerably thinner. It's widespread. The way women are bombarded with weight discrimination is pretty horrible. I'm sure larger men experience it too, but not at the rate women do because women are measured by our beauty and not our success. The body image woes will continue as long as fatism/weight discrimination exists. It's unfortunate and can claim a lot of lives.
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