l'autre femme
yesterday in french class we were reviewing this story that we read over the weekend, called "l'autre femme" by Colette. we translated as we went, and at one point the professor asked for the translation of a particular word we had just read.
the class collectively paused, and i said, "doesn't it mean 'to get fat'?"
and the whole class kinda laughed and shook our heads at the silly french, because now the line said something like "oh my dear you have become so fat while we've been on vacation!" it was going to make the story more interesting for us.
but instead of continuing with our story, the professor shook her head and said, "you americans. it's your culture, you know. your culture where putting on weight is bad." and she told us a quote by colette that said something like, "i am sick of all these women who are afraid to eat."
not that i ever felt like i had to look britney spears, et al, but it kind of stuck out to me how bizarre it is that we (i'm talking about girls here, i can't claim to know much about the pressures put on guys about their appearance) are raised, unintentionally thought it may be, to think that a few steps above malnourishment is pretty cool. the professor said something about how to the french wearing your weight well and being full-figured is more appealing than what is the american ideal (which is unavoidably becoming more popular in france as well). these figures of bony legs and ribs with tiny arms are plastered all over everything that is supposed to represent women...reminds of sin city which was interesting if only for all these horrible stereotypes.
in conclusion, and since i have to go to astronomy in a minute, i think some civilization a long time from now will find a whole bunch of our pictures or magazines or something and marvel at how we made this unnatural image the goal. i'm not an expert in evolution or anything, but it seems to me to make more sense that we should be well fed and not bone-thin and just eat and live for health, and not for these bizarre images.
i don't know how i managed to escape wanting to look like that. i always had this "eh, fuck it, i'm hungry" attitude when i gained weight, and when i lost weight. i can feel myself kind of averaging out at this weight as i'm getting older, and i've just accepted it. i have no reason to warp myself.
the end.