A brief reminder about Western body image weirdness
I was visiting my "little sisters," the Sambola girls, yesterday.
And, because of a sort of random confluence of circumstances (weather, outfit choices, recent schedule), this was the probably the first time I've been with them that it's been physically obvious that I'm pregnant.
Here's how it went:
I took off my denim jacket and Jariatu broke into a big smile when she saw my very curvy profile. "Your body is so beautiful!" she said with delight. She didn't immediately get that the belly (along with the other curves) was baby-related, but it didn't matter. Because she's been taught that a little roundness on a woman is a fine thing.
That's pretty cool.
(Of course, she also later told me that her family had previously discussed the issue and decided I was "too skinny" and very lucky to have landed a husband. Oh well.)
Comments
What a wonderful little tidbit! It is so important to people to realize that we, here in North America, don't have the only view on body image. Cultures all over the world have very different values than us and that's beautiful. I'm half Chinese and when I went to China to visit my family, they all touched my skin because it was so white, whereas in North America, people always joke that I need more sun!
http://eatingdisorders.suite101.com
Posted by: Lori | May 24, 2006 11:03 AM
First of all, congratulations on your pregnancy! My wife if due in a month (and I’m starting to freak out about it), and I’m looking forward to reading what you have to say about the process.
I’m writing because I have a little bit of an issue with this entry. It would be fine if it weren’t for the word “weirdness� in the title. What exactly is weird? All cultures have some form of the body that is considered ideal and beautiful and ours happens to be one that is thin (although not everyone agrees). Other cultures have an ideal of the body that is a little more “curvy� which is no more or less weird.
What is common in all these cultures (whether the ideal body is thin, fat, or with bound feet) is that this ideal type is often associated with high status and wealth. In cultures where plumpness is desirable, the weight often shows that you do not have to do manual labor or that you are wealthy. An ethnography of a Puerto Rican community in Philadelphia, for example, discusses how “a woman’s weight increase upon marriage serves as a visible sign, particularly to her family, that (the husband) is adequately providing for her.�
Often, this desire to show that you are wealthy through increased weight has very detrimental effects; the rate of obesity-related hypertension in Africa among the middle-class is wealthy is extremely high. In many parts of the third world, gaining weight is not an automatic process (as it is here) and takes resources that many don’t have.
I think it is likely that the ideal of thinness in this country shows to others that you have the time and the resources to go to the gym and maintain a healthy diet. In a complete reversal of many parts of the third world, the natural tendency here in the U.S. is to gain weight (a result of our godawful diet). Only those with time and money can afford to stay thin. A recent study just showed that poor teens are more likely to be obese than others.
We’re all prisoners of the cultural ideal of the perfect and beautiful body; neither one is better than the other (although some are healthier than others), and they are usually restricted to those with greater resources.
Posted by: Andrew Wyatt | May 24, 2006 09:16 PM