“Real Women Have Curves” and “Real Beauty” campaigns have been overwhelming the media, pushing for women to embrace their curvy figure. Yet, does this send the message that women who aren’t curvy aren’t real women or don’t have true beauty?
In the past, women with the aesthetics of Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate sex icon, were classified as “sexy.” Those with her features (larger size, curvy hips and big breasts) were extolled over and above the present construction of beauty that dominates fashion runways (tall and skinny). People often reminisce on this time period for embracing curves as beautiful; but in reality, body-shaming was just as real then as it is now.
Advertisements from the 1950s to the 1970s, which have been republished by the Huffington Post, actually promoted women to add pounds, featuring quotes such as, “Skinny girls aren’t glamour girls!” or “Don’t let them call you skinny!”
Harsh judgments about larger women, which dominate the present era, did not pervade advertisements back then; however, advertisements from the 1950s certainly did not promote a healthy body image absent of body shaming either.
Body-shaming is real; whether it’s too thin, too fat or too fit, weight is an extremely touchy topic.
When fat-shaming is such a central controversy in the media, those who suffer from thin-shaming often bite their tongues and don’t speak up about the problem, making the issue unknown to society.
“Thin-shaming is definitely not understood by many people, which is why I, and a number of others, don’t talk about it,” said Bree Morse, Miss Orange County. “It becomes much easier to brush it off and pretend it didn’t happen. Everyone has their own opinions, but we need to understand that these comments are hurtful no matter what direction they’re directed in.”
In our culture, certain appearances are predisposed to certain stereotypes and health assumptions. Fat is deemed as automatically lazy, unhealthy, bad and out of control, while skinny is automatically productive, confident and healthy.
“It might be surprising to know that weight stigma hurts both thin and fat people,” wrote Deb Burgard of the National Eating Disorder Association on the organization’s website. “In my work with people of all sizes who are struggling with disordered eating, it is clear that a huge factor in their misery is almost always the worry that they will be humiliated and rejected because of their weight – no matter what their weight is.”
How do we change this behavior? It’s imperative that we stop focusing on aesthetics and focus more on health. Everyone is fighting their own struggle and is entitled to be free from judgment in regards to their appearance and body. If we continue to focus on the way we feel instead of the way we look and treat our body with the care and attention we should, it shouldn’t matter what the numbers on the scale say.
