Queensize!

[goteam]

Next time, on Sick, Sad World, body issues! Maybe you already read the fabulous Chiara (amperlj if you like reminders, or you can subscribe to her handy email notification list) or maybe you saw triath plugging this entry about body issues, but if you don't or you haven't, you totally should. It will make you better appreciate the following lines from a Marie

Comments

[drunkpotato]

Girls are weird. Why can't you just look in the mirror every day and see Hugh Jackman like we do? Well, not Hugh Jackman for girls, cuz, you know, that would be ungood, but you get the idea. There are parts of my body I hate, but parts I love too, and I look in the mirror and say "Hey, my arms are really big. Cool!" My eyes sort of slide over the beer gut I've been fighting for it seems like forever; I only really notice it in supreme moments of self-hatred, which fortunately are rare and far between.

I guess what I'm saying is, wtf mate?

[triath]

Yup.

It's scary how common body issues are among women. I can't count the number of times I've been around someone who's constantly on a diet, and spends much of their spare thought cycles thinking about calories and such. You really can't have much fun if that's the background music in your head.

Many of the stereotypes of women have drastically changed over the years (e.g., what jobs are appropriate, who should cook, etc.). Do you think that stereotypes of how a woman should look will change? Both whether the waif look will fade out of fashion but also whether men will prioritize body lower on the "requirements" list.

[goteam]

I wrote Chiara last night about how I think at least part of the reason I'm so determinedly happy with my body is to rebel against my mom, who seems to always be on a diet or measuring her health purely in terms of "good" or "bad" eating habits or whatever. True. Other contributing factors: I think of constant dieting as girly and I tend to revel in being a non-standard girl, and related to this is I'm a big cheapskate and a lot of girly stuff like makeup and stylish clothes are really expensive... which brings me to the sad fact that I think I brought up when we saw Nomy Lamm at Scripps back in the day (remember? so awesome!) More and more men are developing body issues. Fashion is a growth industry! If the revolution (or the apocalypse) doesn't come, there could be twice as many people buying diet pills and makeup and all the other stuff I listed in response to drunkpotato's comment. Now that is scary.

[triath]

Totally!!! Have I mentioned recently that you're SO much better than Barbie?

[goteam]

I figure it's probably safe to bug you now? My mom is usually obsessing about 10 pounds or less, which may have directly led to my strategy of pretty much only buying clothes that will fit plus or minus ten pounds. Which is what percentage of my body weight again? Damn.

[iainuki]

My depressing speculation on this point is that while the waif look might pass out of fashion, male interest in female appearance is here forever, or at least until humans can change their essential nature. I'm not entirely sure I buy the evolutionary psychologists' reasoning why, but obsession with body type (examine the many depictions of the female form from the Venus of Willendorf on) and the size of certain parts of the body (skulls among the Inca, necks among the Pa Dong Karen, feet among the Chinese, breasts in the contemporary United States), or other aspects of physical appearance (make-up and hair styles in most Mediterranean and European cultures from Egypt and Rome onwards, with it mattering more for women than men) seems to be a strong cultural tendency

[goteam]

Sweetie punkin cousin of mine, fat happy chicks (like me, shh!) don't sell makeup. Or diet products, or fashion magazines that look like Anorexia 101 course readers. (I do harbor a soft spot for the Title 9 sportswear catalog because it is full of awesome athletic babes --- you'd probably dig as well.) I could go on and on, but until we get to the point where being fat costs more than being thin, our beer guts ain't never gonna be in style. Dammit. (I'll rant about that some more in response to triath, below.) The world should worship us like the supremely awesome beings we are, hello and du-uh. Why can't I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks? (Okay, yeah, Allen Ginsberg asked that first.)

[porfinn]

Guys don't dress to impress other guys. But based on the amount of guy-goo becoming available (hair products, etc.) your time is coming-- ha!