Obesity In American Culture Essay

Shaming and Punishing the Obese As a society, Americans hold strict beliefs as to what is the ideal and what is not. However, those who do not fit into the cookie cutter formula are shamed and punished for being different. American culture recognizes obesity as a body type that deviates from the norm and thus rejects the group as a whole. This paper will focus on what obesity represents in modern American culture and the ways in which the obese are shunned and penalized because of their build. When looking back at past icons, one will find that the ideal body type in American culture changes drastically with almost every decade. In the 1950s, Americans idolized Marilyn Monroe’s curves, while just ten years later Twiggy’s straight lines and lack of curves were revered. The ideal body, for women especially, is always changing, and the women of American culture are expected to change their bodies continuously in order to conform with the newest trend. Because of this, in modern American society, the obese are expected to understand the impermanence of their bodies and alter them in order to match the thin ideal (Murray 155). Those who do not alter their bodies and remain obese are ostracized and forced to masquerade as a …show more content…
In Samantha Murray’s article, (Un/Be)Coming Out? Rethinking Fat Politics, she discusses a time when she tried on control top underwear in order to “suck [her] in, flatten [her] out, and shape [her] up” (Murray 154). She describes the experience as horrible and uncomfortable, and yet she considers making the purchase in order to conform to society’s ideal because the alternative is considered ugly (Murray 156). This is considered a form of punishment for not making the effort to change her body to match the American idea of