The Unattainable Pursuit of Beauty: Weight

I apologize to anyone who actually reads this. My lack of updates mostly stems from the belief that my time is better spent reading or doing push-ups these days.

After a pretty eye-opening conversation with my boyfriend, I've been thinking about body image even more than I usually do.

Perhaps a week or two ago, Mike and I decided to spend our day carousing through Barnes and Noble (side note, it's sad times when the closest known bookstore is a large chain the next city over). We ended up in the cafe section of the place, he with a stack of books so large I was impressed by his ability to balance them all and me with the second issue of Sin City and a book of essays called Feed Me!: Writers Dish About Food, Eating, Weight, and Body Image. As far as representation of women goes, these two things are obviously quite different as, if you've never read it, Sin City's depiction of female beauty is pretty stereotypical. Not that I'm necessarily complaining, I'm a huge fan of anything Frank Miller.

So here we were, sitting across one another, reading with no intention of making a purchase. Mike would occasionally read aloud an interesting fact or opinion while I stayed relatively silent, immersed in my graphic novel. When my eyes tired of the monochromatic art, I switched over to Feed Me! and read the first essay entitled "He Called Me Fat; It Set Me Free". A thought rose in my brain, a thought that does so pretty often but I never voice in fear of sounding insensitive or politically incorrect. I considered stifling it for a moment but that would go against my ever increasing practice of radical honesty. So I set my book down and spoke.

"I'm always somewhat torn on how issues of body image are represented. On the one hand, I'm in full support of accepting what a person looks like no matter what and think society's standards are ridiculous. On the other, I feel as though recent portrayal of 'fat' being beautiful in media gives people an excuse to behave gluttonously."

At this point, Mike closed his own book and looked at me quite sternly.

"I don't think you really understand unless you've been big yourself."

I was taken aback by this admission. Unless we are discussing something that directly relates to our relationship or relationships in general, Mike is one of those people who uses cold logic to make his points (which is something I very much like and respect) as opposed to his own emotional experiences. So for him to say something like this, I was totally thrown of balance and forced to see things from a different perspective.

I have not, in fact, ever been "big". The most I've ever weighed is 135lbs and, while this was due to poor diet and inactivity, I have never had a BMI that would be considered overweight for my height. Even so, my weight has fluctuated enough that a number of people have commented upon my recent weight loss. At first, I was thrilled that I suddenly seemed to be more attractive in the general public's eyes. That got old quick. Those making said comments are good people, often people I am close friends with. They mean in it as a compliment but it only serves to slightly devalue my lifestyle change as a superficial matter rather than one based upon health and practicality (for anyone who is unfamiliar, I've been working out and eating better to get in shape for roller derby and parkour). I now have little to no interest in being skinny, I only want to be strong and I don't give a crap how that is reflected in the shape of my body. The point I'm making with this is that it bothered me to know that others apparently noticed a relatively subtle weight change and I can't even imagine what it's like to be judged that way for those who are truly considered to be "big". So no, I really don't understand.

Often times when I think of someone being big and beautiful, I think of my best friend Sabrina. Sabrina and I have been friends since the 8th grade and throughout the years she has gone through too many diets for me to really recall. When you have a body type that is considered to be large, you pretty much have two options for how you portray yourself in our society: You can either be fat with a self-deprecating sense of humor or fat and desperately trying to become skinny. For the first few years I knew her, Sabrina didn't seem to know which one she wanted to be and ended up in some unhealthy middle for a long time. She has always been "loud and obnoxious" and generally considered to be hilarious. She comes off very confident so it was very odd to witness her "eat nothing but Eggo waffles or toast with fake butter spray" phase. During her stint with the South Beach Diet, I was encouraging and even decided to give it ago myself when I thought I could "stand to lose 5 pounds". I'm pretty ashamed of my attitude in the past but alas, that's what being a teenager is all about.

Then, like magic, she didn't care. She didn't care if she was fat. She didn't care if she gained weight or lost it. She still referred to her size in her humor but now it consisted of "I'm fat and I'm hot as shit" jokes. It made me realize that I never really thought of her weight as a flaw, I never considered her to be anything less than beautiful. My concern and encouragement towards her diets came purely from the fear of how she may be perceived by others. Furthermore, if that's where my line of thinking stemmed from, whose to say that's not really how we ALL feel (or at least a strong percentage of us as human beings)? Maybe no one truly finds "fat" unattractive, we just think everyone else does. Her not giving a fuck made me want to not give a fuck. It made me want to accept myself and work towards it everyday. Sabrina unintentionally lead me down the road of healthy body image and as I was teetering over the line of "I still want people to think I'm pretty" and "Who gives a fuck?", Mike gave me that last push.

I am still very much of the opinion that people should treat their bodies well for health issues, but who am I to say what that entails? Perhaps the increase in the our society's average weight is merely human evolution, maybe climate change will soon cause an ice age that will kill off all us skinny bitches leaving the big and beautiful to roam free with no fear of judgement. It doesn't matter how ridiculous that sounds because the point is, it's not my place to decide how a person should live. If I was really as accepting and progressive as I like to think I am, I would never notice what a person was eating or how much exercise they were getting because when it comes down to it, it doesn't affect me in the least (with the exception for someone I cared for that had serious health concerns that were lifestyle related).

These days it makes me genuinely sad to hear my friends discussing dieting or wearing "slimming" clothes. After my conversation with Mike, I notice these things constantly. Men, women, those in between, we are all so image obsessed. Can you imagine what we could get done if we weren't all so busy reading about the benefits pomegranate juice has for your metabolism or cutting carbs? I really wish I could.

If you really want to be healthy, instead of dieting, I suggest you follow this simple guideline from Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

To sum this exceedingly long post up I'd like to share Feed Me!'s I-Love-My-Body Pledge.

"I pledge to speak kindly about my body.

I promise not to talk about the size of my thighs or stomach or butt, or how I have to lose 5 or 15 or 50 pounds. I promise not to call myself a fat pig, gross, or any other self-loathing, trash-talking phrase.

I vow to be kind to myself and my body. I will learn to be thankful for its strength and attractiveness, and be compassionate towards its failings.

I will remind myself that bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and that no matter what shape and size my body is, its worth kindness, compassion, and love."