“You used to be so pretty and thin. What happened?” Ever since high school, I have been asked this question by family members, friends, and acquaintances. Yes, I used to weigh less than 130 pounds in my life, and I used to fit into size 4 dresses. Nowadays, I fit into size 14 dresses and weigh 175 pounds. Like Kate Harding in her article, “How Do You Fuck a Fat Woman?” I struggle with accepting myself. Society teaches women to be ashamed of their bodies. They learn to believe that they aren’t beautiful if they are not skinny. Shaming women for the number of pounds they weigh not only damages their self-esteem, but it also brings about a notion that “fat” people will be “forever alone”. As well, one could argue that being “too skinny” is also
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Although most advertisements are photoshopped to rid of any “imperfections” on the models, the women who work in the industry are often very attractive. Harding’s article claims, “hot is an objective assessment, based on a collection of easily identifiable characteristics” (133). In the modeling world, someone could point out many of the characteristics that most models have. Some of these characteristics include: straight hair, tall statures, big eyes, and the most common characteristic, thin bodies. Models are seen as “ideal” women because they are beautiful, and women and young girls see them as their inspirations. Models are “perfect” human beings because they are thin and thin means beautiful. And in order to be perfect, you must be beautiful. Thus, real women and girls who are not thin gain poor self-esteem because they are told they are not beautiful by society. People who do not have small figures are often picked …show more content…
Models are pressured by the industry to lose so much weight in order to appear thin that they have little to no body fat or muscle to cover their bones. This gives them a “twig-like” appearance, and often editors photoshop their bodies so they look healthy, and their breasts are often enlarged because they have no breast fat. Apparently to be hot, you have to have little body fat, but you must also have breast fat to make your boobs big, as long as you don’t have a big butt to go with it as Harding’s article claims (133). This pressure on women to not have body fat, and to keep their bodies that way, can also lead to some dangerous eating disorders that not only starves the body but also starves the brain. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorders, “anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents” (Eating Disorders Statistics). A study also interviewed a group of 10-year-old children, and 80% of the children reported being afraid of becoming fat (Eating Disorders Statistics). Society is teaching children that is bad to be fat, and this is causing children to feel ashamed of their bodies and stop eating food. They figure that if they don’t eat, they won’t gain weight and thus they will still be beautiful; they won’t turn into some fat “monster” of a woman. The “thigh gap” is also a concern for most girls, and it seems to be a very popular trend. Buzzfeed filmed a video about
Although most advertisements are photoshopped to rid of any “imperfections” on the models, the women who work in the industry are often very attractive. Harding’s article claims, “hot is an objective assessment, based on a collection of easily identifiable characteristics” (133). In the modeling world, someone could point out many of the characteristics that most models have. Some of these characteristics include: straight hair, tall statures, big eyes, and the most common characteristic, thin bodies. Models are seen as “ideal” women because they are beautiful, and women and young girls see them as their inspirations. Models are “perfect” human beings because they are thin and thin means beautiful. And in order to be perfect, you must be beautiful. Thus, real women and girls who are not thin gain poor self-esteem because they are told they are not beautiful by society. People who do not have small figures are often picked …show more content…
Models are pressured by the industry to lose so much weight in order to appear thin that they have little to no body fat or muscle to cover their bones. This gives them a “twig-like” appearance, and often editors photoshop their bodies so they look healthy, and their breasts are often enlarged because they have no breast fat. Apparently to be hot, you have to have little body fat, but you must also have breast fat to make your boobs big, as long as you don’t have a big butt to go with it as Harding’s article claims (133). This pressure on women to not have body fat, and to keep their bodies that way, can also lead to some dangerous eating disorders that not only starves the body but also starves the brain. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorders, “anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents” (Eating Disorders Statistics). A study also interviewed a group of 10-year-old children, and 80% of the children reported being afraid of becoming fat (Eating Disorders Statistics). Society is teaching children that is bad to be fat, and this is causing children to feel ashamed of their bodies and stop eating food. They figure that if they don’t eat, they won’t gain weight and thus they will still be beautiful; they won’t turn into some fat “monster” of a woman. The “thigh gap” is also a concern for most girls, and it seems to be a very popular trend. Buzzfeed filmed a video about