Pop-Culture | Posted by Jamie N on 03/4/2010
The Healthy Aesthetic?
dieting = healthy?
I’ve had a theory brewing in my head recently: if all the women in the United States were a size 2 yet as a society we still struggled with heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers then the “health” argument would be very different. After watching the recent Nightline segment “Is it Okay to be fat” my theory was confirmed. The title should’ve read, “Is it okay for women to be fat?”; and then at least it would have been more honest.
It’s hard to debate health when what you’re really debating aesthetics. A serious debate on health would’ve seen men on the panel, since this issue is a societal problem and not something women should have to shoulder alone (though we often do).
I struggle with body image. I’m in my mid twenties and I haven’t yet found that balance of looking in the mirror and liking what I see. I think others would consider me “healthy”: my body functions properly and I have what the CDC would consider a “correct” BMI number however I got that way eating highly processed “health” foods and the battle of body image rages inside of me all the time. I look in the mirror and dream of my pre-pubescent body when my boobs were higher and my thighs were leaner, when I more closely resembled the 16 year old fashion models that grace every women’s magazine.
I really do want to be truly healthy, so recently I’ve made a serious effort to integrate it into my life(rather than before where being healthy was admittedly, a by-product of wanting to be skinny.) Now I eat with a consciousness of being part of a food chain: eating locally grown whole foods that were raised and farmed sustainably. I cook more and enjoy my food with my husband rather than eating a separate highly processed dinner than him because it only had 400 calories.
As a consequence, I now have a different relationship with food: a relationship dictated by how healthy and happy I feel from eating it-not how skinny it makes me.
For women “healthy” has become interchangeable with “beauty” and a lot of products are marketed and sold to women this way. The blurring of those lines lends itself to misdirected debates like this Nightline one, where we find ourselves dissecting two separate issues the same way. I’m all for a healthy society that has a positive relationship to food… just not at the expense of women’s self esteem.
(12 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
Read other posts about: body image, dieting, feminism and body image, healthy eating, media and body image
Post Your Comment
Loading ...
Jaded16 @ at 11:58 am, March 4th, 2010
Wow. I think it takes a lot of courage to look at yourself in the mirror and accept what you see. And as girls we are fed the notion that THIN is beautiful, flab is unacceptable. We don’t realize when we started equating ‘beautiful’ with ’skinny’. Maybe we stared too much at Barbie in our younger years?
Eryn @ at 12:16 pm, March 4th, 2010
I think it’s great that you pointed out the connection between eating healthy AND locally! If more people focused on what their bodies actually needed and less on what will make them the skinniest, our nation would be much less reliant on other countries resources and we would be doing a lot less polluting! On top of that, I think you are doing your part to inspire women to appreciate their bodies and do more to protect their health and nurture their self esteem! Lovin’ it!
Dia @ at 12:34 pm, March 4th, 2010
I’ve noticed this for a long time. There was even a man on the bus sitting behind talking on his cell phone about how woman should be able to stay fit regardless. That ‘regardless’ including the number of children they’ve had. I would also like to point out that this man wasn’t too thin himself regardless of how he bragged he went to the gym.
And when I look at alot of celebrities you’re more likely to see a male with alot of weight and no negative comments. But if a female celebrity gains a few pounds all you hear is ‘how could she let herself go like that’?
Last time I checked being healthy was not limited to the female gender.
Steph @ at 3:01 pm, March 4th, 2010
Yeah, this is definitely a big issue. Not to forget that you can be bigger than what we consider ‘a healthy size’ and still be healthy, or be a ‘perfect’ size two and still have huge health issues.
Me, I don’t even know what size I am. I go to the gym, play sports and eat a balanced diet. For me, it’s better to be that way, and the rest about numbers ‘n stuff is just distraction. There isn’t a single scale in my house, and I love it that way.
But to be fair, it’s taken me a little while to get to this point.
Roni @ at 3:33 pm, March 4th, 2010
Wonderful post! I would love to talk to you about sharing it on body image blog I contribute to. Please contact me!
Toongrrl @ at 4:11 pm, March 4th, 2010
It seems that in this country you can either be too thin or too fat. Here’s a link from Jezebel:
http://jezebel.com/5485131/oprah-jessica-simpson-on-being-a-fat-size-4/gallery/
Serena @ at 7:11 pm, March 4th, 2010
I have learned something very important: Eat whatever you like in moderation, drink plenty of water (or whatever else you like in moderation), get up and move around everyday, and weight whatever you are supposed to weight. Body weight is different for everyone.
Reply to Dia: Wemenz aren’t supposed to act on their base instincts, we are supposed to have control and suppress everything we have!
And Steph, I don’t have a scale either, and it is wonderful. XD
Jaime N. @ at 8:16 pm, March 4th, 2010
Hi Roni,
I checked out the blog linked to your name and I would love for you to be able to use this!
My email is jaimemnavarro@yahoo.com
please email me so we can talk about this!
PatriarchySlayer @ at 8:56 pm, March 4th, 2010
I’m glad that someone posted this. I just wanted to say that not being a size 2 is not a death sentence.
I have been above a size 18 now for the last 4 years probably and although I struggle a lot with society and what not, it’s not the worst thing that can happen to me.
I can think of a million things worse than being fat. Being healthy can come in all different sizes. And that’s the way we were made. I guess I struggle with the size double standard the most.
They say that men are more visual..and women are more willing to overlook what a guy looks like if he has a good personality.
I find this very disturbing. I am attracted to a lot of different types of men. But I won’t be going out with someone I’m not attracted to…
So basically the world says that good-looking men will never want me because I don’t fit the stereotype of a beautiful woman. Yet “beautiful women” will go out with men who are not beautiful, because they’re not assholes. I guess I don’t understand this whole system.
The Healthy Aesthetic? « Body Image Blog We Are The Real Deal @ at 12:47 pm, March 5th, 2010
[...] vs. them” mentality that is plaguing the nation and to be honest, this blog. When I read The Healthy Aesthetic? it became clear to me that Jamie N “got it.” I asked her permission to repost here [...]
Aimee @ at 12:55 am, March 10th, 2010
“It’s hard to debate health when what you’re really debating aesthetics.” SO TRUE and one of the things that really frustrates me about the health debate. If you’re partially (or mostly) driven by an aesthetic, anti-fat bias, then be up-front about it. And the fact that it’s still women’s bodies being judged, and women’s bodies mostly being used to illustrate articles about weight issues, makes me spit chips.
The Healthy Aesthetic? : We Are the Real Deal @ at 6:20 pm, May 4th, 2010
[...] tired of the “fat vs. fit”, the “us vs. them” mentality. When I read The Healthy Aesthetic? it became clear to me that Jamie N “got it.” I asked her permission to repost here [...]