A few months ago headlines were made when a Brazilian beauty, Ana Caroline Reston, died as a result of complications from anorexia. This young girl, a model, had walked catwalks across Europe and Japan. She was tall, slender and seemed to be on the brink of a lucrative career in modeling. She succumbed to the pressure, as many women do, to be ultra thin to fit into a certain ideal; to have that sex appeal the consumers crave. Unfortunately her death was not an isolated incident. Last August another model, Luisel Ramos of Uruguay, collapsed while on a runway and subsequently died of heart failure.
The fallout from these deaths caused Spain’s fashion houses to require that the models in their shows have a certain body mass index (BMI) of at least 18 before being allowed down the runway. Prime time news stories reported on the dangers of how the fashion industry as well as Hollywood showcases extremely thin women as what it means to be beautiful. The covers of tabloids were splashed with wafer thin actresses and celebutants criticizing them for their dangerous physique and for being poor role models for young women.
While it is nice that the issue has been getting attention, there is still a gravely fine line between what is considered “beautiful” and what is fatally thin. It is easy to see how many women who strive to transform themselves into the mainstream ideal can end up spiraling out of control, ultimately putting their lives at risk.
Sadly this drive for ideal beauty is not just a Westernized concept. I recently came across a BBC article by Pascale Harter about women from Mauritania, a country halfway across the globe, with a completely different concept of beauty, but all the while just as risky. These women are not starving themselves to be beautiful; they are eating…a lot.
The traditional standard of beauty amongst Mauritanian nomadic people is a large robust woman. These large women are considered healthy and desirable. The belief that heavy equals healthy is certainly a foreign concept to us in the West, but for this region of the world it makes sense. This is a country where HIV and AIDS are rampant and being extremely thin is often linked with the disease. So naturally women want to disassociate themselves with this illness as much as possible. However, just like in the West were we have a fine line between beautiful and starvation, Mauritania has a fine line between desirable and morbidly obese.
How is it that these women become so large? Well in order for young girls to develop the robust ideal they are often force fed gallons of milk and pounds of couscous each day. In this culture the women are proud of their stretch marks and the flaps of skin that hang down from their upper arms.
Parts of this might sound somewhat appealing to us in the West, no more skipping on desserts or passing up that fully loaded soda, this is just another extreme of feminine beauty being based on unrealistic standards. Mauritanian women believe that they are helping their daughters by fattening them up in order to have their pick of eligible men. Unfortunately this motherly help is creating a lifetime of hardships. These women are facing problems associated with the morbidly obese such as joint trouble, early onset diabetes, heart disease and a low mortality rate.
While many still believe that the Mauritanian men are only attracted to the pleasantly plump variety of the opposite sex, some views are changing. As a result of the shifting climate and a dwindling food supply, many nomadic people are being forced to move into the cities where they are being exposed to different ideals of beauty. Thin celebrities on television are creating new standards for how woman should look. Even though this change is promising, I can’t help but wonder if the transition from fat to fit will lead them from one extreme to another?
After discussing two extremes of feminine beauty, I have to keep asking myself why in any part of the world are women killing themselves to be considered beautiful? And if we achieve this standard of beauty will we be happy? The answer is a resounding, NO! It does not matter if we starve ourselves or stuff ourselves women should never put their lives at risk to fit into someone else’s standard of beauty.
The only ideal that any woman should ever strive for is one that is healthy based on her own body type. There are some women that no matter what will always be very slender or very voluptuous, but regardless of size, the only thing that really matters is that you are healthy.
I was pleasantly surprised when Dove recently launched its new ad campaign celebrating real beauty. Their commercials showcased women of all shapes and sizes as beautiful. Again I was thrilled when several actresses such as Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, and America Ferrera spoke proudly about not giving in to the pressure of the ultra thin ideal.
Now I can push the idea all day that women should celebrate their healthy bodies, but living this daily celebration can be a real struggle. Certain standards of beauty have become so engrained into our lives that is seems impossible to break away from them.
I personally find this to be quite challenging. I want to have a fit body, one that will aid me in athletic endeavors and a long healthy life. There are times when I still can’t help but compare myself to other women. For example, I have a very dear friend who has always been very slender. I know that I could never be the same size as she is, but I have moments when I see myself beside her in a mirror and I feel like a cow. I have to remind myself that as women we come in all different shapes and sizes and I should be proud of who I am. I know that I eat fairly well and I run regularly, but those moments of doubt about my physical size still creep up from time to time. And it just keeps getting harder as I get older, my metabolism is slowing, things are not as perky as they once were and dimples are showing up in places other than my face. I just have to keep reminding myself that someone else’s standard of beauty is not a healthy fit for me (or any woman really).
I am happy to say that I had a break though moment a few weeks ago. My slender friend and I were out at a restaurant and we were both doing the typical quick clothing check in the restaurant's bathroom mirror. I looked at myself and I looked at my friend and I thought, you know I’m really not too shabby. It was the first time in as long as I can remember where I was not comparing myself to any one else and it felt really great! When you break it all down, what really is beautiful is a woman who is happy, healthy and confident with herself no matter what size.
The fallout from these deaths caused Spain’s fashion houses to require that the models in their shows have a certain body mass index (BMI) of at least 18 before being allowed down the runway. Prime time news stories reported on the dangers of how the fashion industry as well as Hollywood showcases extremely thin women as what it means to be beautiful. The covers of tabloids were splashed with wafer thin actresses and celebutants criticizing them for their dangerous physique and for being poor role models for young women.
While it is nice that the issue has been getting attention, there is still a gravely fine line between what is considered “beautiful” and what is fatally thin. It is easy to see how many women who strive to transform themselves into the mainstream ideal can end up spiraling out of control, ultimately putting their lives at risk.
Sadly this drive for ideal beauty is not just a Westernized concept. I recently came across a BBC article by Pascale Harter about women from Mauritania, a country halfway across the globe, with a completely different concept of beauty, but all the while just as risky. These women are not starving themselves to be beautiful; they are eating…a lot.
The traditional standard of beauty amongst Mauritanian nomadic people is a large robust woman. These large women are considered healthy and desirable. The belief that heavy equals healthy is certainly a foreign concept to us in the West, but for this region of the world it makes sense. This is a country where HIV and AIDS are rampant and being extremely thin is often linked with the disease. So naturally women want to disassociate themselves with this illness as much as possible. However, just like in the West were we have a fine line between beautiful and starvation, Mauritania has a fine line between desirable and morbidly obese.
How is it that these women become so large? Well in order for young girls to develop the robust ideal they are often force fed gallons of milk and pounds of couscous each day. In this culture the women are proud of their stretch marks and the flaps of skin that hang down from their upper arms.
Parts of this might sound somewhat appealing to us in the West, no more skipping on desserts or passing up that fully loaded soda, this is just another extreme of feminine beauty being based on unrealistic standards. Mauritanian women believe that they are helping their daughters by fattening them up in order to have their pick of eligible men. Unfortunately this motherly help is creating a lifetime of hardships. These women are facing problems associated with the morbidly obese such as joint trouble, early onset diabetes, heart disease and a low mortality rate.
While many still believe that the Mauritanian men are only attracted to the pleasantly plump variety of the opposite sex, some views are changing. As a result of the shifting climate and a dwindling food supply, many nomadic people are being forced to move into the cities where they are being exposed to different ideals of beauty. Thin celebrities on television are creating new standards for how woman should look. Even though this change is promising, I can’t help but wonder if the transition from fat to fit will lead them from one extreme to another?
After discussing two extremes of feminine beauty, I have to keep asking myself why in any part of the world are women killing themselves to be considered beautiful? And if we achieve this standard of beauty will we be happy? The answer is a resounding, NO! It does not matter if we starve ourselves or stuff ourselves women should never put their lives at risk to fit into someone else’s standard of beauty.
The only ideal that any woman should ever strive for is one that is healthy based on her own body type. There are some women that no matter what will always be very slender or very voluptuous, but regardless of size, the only thing that really matters is that you are healthy.
I was pleasantly surprised when Dove recently launched its new ad campaign celebrating real beauty. Their commercials showcased women of all shapes and sizes as beautiful. Again I was thrilled when several actresses such as Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, and America Ferrera spoke proudly about not giving in to the pressure of the ultra thin ideal.
Now I can push the idea all day that women should celebrate their healthy bodies, but living this daily celebration can be a real struggle. Certain standards of beauty have become so engrained into our lives that is seems impossible to break away from them.
I personally find this to be quite challenging. I want to have a fit body, one that will aid me in athletic endeavors and a long healthy life. There are times when I still can’t help but compare myself to other women. For example, I have a very dear friend who has always been very slender. I know that I could never be the same size as she is, but I have moments when I see myself beside her in a mirror and I feel like a cow. I have to remind myself that as women we come in all different shapes and sizes and I should be proud of who I am. I know that I eat fairly well and I run regularly, but those moments of doubt about my physical size still creep up from time to time. And it just keeps getting harder as I get older, my metabolism is slowing, things are not as perky as they once were and dimples are showing up in places other than my face. I just have to keep reminding myself that someone else’s standard of beauty is not a healthy fit for me (or any woman really).
I am happy to say that I had a break though moment a few weeks ago. My slender friend and I were out at a restaurant and we were both doing the typical quick clothing check in the restaurant's bathroom mirror. I looked at myself and I looked at my friend and I thought, you know I’m really not too shabby. It was the first time in as long as I can remember where I was not comparing myself to any one else and it felt really great! When you break it all down, what really is beautiful is a woman who is happy, healthy and confident with herself no matter what size.
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