The
impending sense of doom for Western women’s confidence
“We really don’t need
the pressure of fast metabolism models and weight loss groups making us feel
more uncertain, more unattractive and more unhappy than we already do.”
Every
woman in the western hemisphere knows this feeling. It’s the feeling of
contempt when you have to find the LBD (“Little Black Dress” if you don’t know
the 411). It’s the sickening feeling at the pit of your stomach when you know
you have to buy a new pair of jeans for the winter. It`s the spine chilling
sensation you get when you have to find a new blouse for work...
We
know that these things are not the end of the world but every woman will agree
with me that unless you are a size 6, Skinny Minnie with an inexhaustible amount
of money there is always going to be an issue. When milling around shops such
as Topshop and River Island, there is an automatic feeling of snobbery from the
fellow shoppers around you; you can hear them thinking to themselves “What is
that `12` doing in here? Surely she should be in somewhere like Dorothy Perkins
or another slightly less stylish shop than this one?”
I
do realise that there will be people who are like that, heck! Most people have
their bitchy moments but this feeling I get from the shops themselves is not
right. It seems unless you fit in the shops main “quota” which is size 8-16 you
are in the club, but if you are larger than that then you are not worth most of
the shops on your high streets time... This is just wrong, considering the
average size of a female in the UK is around size 16, but slowly going up to an
18; which means most of us are just squeezing into our “jeggings” and
“skinnies” for dear life. We want the right to feel beautiful in our clothes;
not mere mortals who are being just let into the kingdom of high street cool by
being slightly under average and are the only ones worthy of this due to it.
Being
a size 12, this is about normal for my age. I am slightly rounded but not
enough to be seen as “unfit for” the likes of New Look and H&M. This is
great and all but what about the bigger picture? What about when we look at the media around
us and see size 4 (Or the American Size Zero) models prancing about on the
catwalk making us, the “average Josie”, feel inadequate compared to her perfect
frame and sought over looks? Are we meant to say “Yeah, I see what Vogue means?
I need to see my collar bone protruding out in a worrying manner to feel like I
am socially accepted by the superficial people around me”. No, we shouldn’t, we
should feel like we are god damn amazing in our bodies... But sadly the blinkers
on what is beautiful and healthy do not fall on our side of the court.
Fifty
years ago the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Bridgette Bardot and Ursula Andress were
ruling the screen and all of them averaging at around a size 14. Where is the origin
of why modern culture has become so fixated on an ideal that we cannot reach,
and that only the elite can obtain? I guess this is the way the “beautiful
people” are decided…
Though
what is the point in plastering this ideal when it’s having such a negative
impact on women in the Western world? It`s because money talks. Huge industries
such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers love taking reverence in women’s
insecurities by making them think their bodies need to be more “lean” (like a
piece of chicken) to feel like they can present themselves to the world with
pride. Why? This fad ridicules us as women, why don’t men need to lose 10
pounds to feel like a “new person”? I know that there needs to be a line drawn
in concerns over our health and that`s what they should be for! Not your size
14 thinking she needs to get down to an 8 to look amazing... she looks amazing
as she is! Also why do these groups only advertise to women? Aren’t men just as prone to packing on the
pounds after Christmas, if not worse? Why as a whole are men not as encouraged
to fit to an ideal? Why don’t they feel as bothered to look like David Beckham
as we do to look like Kate Moss? Shouldn’t there be as much pressure put on
them to think they should go to the gym religiously? I realise that strain is
put on men to be considered an alpha male, but nowhere near much as what is put
on woman to feel like is an accepted; not just an ogre living on the verges of
being feminine.
On
the plus side it`s not all gloom and doom. The likes of Marks and Spencer`s
cast women of all different sizes and ages to model their clothing; this gives
us hope for maybe more companies to consider using more realistic people to
advertise their clothing. Italian Vogue claims to use “plus size” models when
it’s apparent the women they are photographing are probably around the size 14
mark... THAT IS NOT PLUS SIZE THAT’S NORMAL!! I hate this need for magazines to
feel they are being all gun-hoe and letting the fat girl in by letting in a
normal sized female not a stick... It’s going to take time before the media
will evolve into something which lets in a variation of models of different
sizes, different ethnicities and different ages... There is always a wall, a no
for someone out there who doesn’t mesh into what is “perfect”, it needs to be broken
down.
This
change may not happen straight away, but there is time. Though my generation
has been socialised to believe they have to be thin to be beautiful, there is
hope- if we don’t have a defeatist attitude about our body image and tell
ourselves that we are stunning we can do anything! Say no to Weight Watchers
telling you lose a stone, say “f*** you” to the bitches who think you should
leave the shop; and most of all don’t be deceived by the media making you
believe that size 12 is “plus size”.
You
are healthy and perfect however you are!
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