Body Image

I like the readings this week in that they dealt with a subject that everyone can identify with. Body image satisfaction is a hard goal to attain, and I would venture to say dang near impossible. I am especially sensitive to the topic of body fat because I am not thin—not even close. The problem for some members of my family is that at one point I was—115 pounds of Brittney-body-wannbe. Then the years went by and I was no longer that size and it amazed me how much my family would comment on it. To this day I cannot understand why the size of my tush is indicative of who I am as a person. The older I get however I notice how much people’s attitudes towards weight and body image affect how they interact with other people. If you sit and watch people even here at school you’ll see the 19 year old guy hold open a door for a tiny girl in booty shorts and then let it swing closed in front of a larger girl in sweats. Those sort of incidences only reinforce what that girl is having drilled into her head daily on billboards, commercials, television shows, movies, and magazines—that she is less of a person because she weighs more than what that guy thinks she should. I have very good self-esteem and when a 19 year old pipsqueak doesn’t hold the door for me I usually holler THANK YOU! at him just so he knows that I know. J But not everyone has my attitude, and those daily reminders from society that he/she is somehow less important because they weigh more or walk or speak differently are hard to deal with. I love that the The Fat Studies Reader used language as a catalyst for understanding and change. On page 21, “That is, the past can be used to change the present, where we understand our fat bodies outside the terms dictated by the dehumanizing, objective, pathologized categories like “obesity.” Words are so powerful and can be used to inspire the world like Ghandi or rouse hatred like Hitler. Like in my PK presentation this week and as that loony preacher shows, the fear of queer (whether that means sexuality or body image) lurks under the surface. To change that, LANGUAGE MUST BE CHANGED! A new dialogue started that embraces everyone.