For as long as I can remember there has always been an association with beauty and skinniness. Now I’m not overweight by any stretch of the imagination but in the modeling realm, I am classified as plus sized. This categorization doesn’t bother me; however a friend of mine took some extreme measures after being denied a gig because she was “too heavy.” This aspiring model, already a borderline anorexic claimed that “it sucks to constantly worry about a number. But that number? It keeps me sane. I’m losing my mind over everything else.”
Dissatisfied with her flawless reflection, my friend began a drastic diet consisting of basically nothing but continuous exercise. As I tried to pry into her thought process she shut me out insisting that her survival depended on her secrets. But there is a point where secrets become an incurable epidemic. Once divulged they have the potential to spread like wildfire, but if released in moderation they give the opportunity to build immunity to their toxins.
“Survival of the fittest,” she would say. Thinking about the physical world, I brought Darwin into my argument. Whether we’re speaking physically of mentally, this girl is loitering near the back of the survival pack. Taken in a literal sense, animals have adapted over time, evolving to fit their surroundings. Those incapable of doing so died. Apply this to present day and while it may seem as though she is adapting to the accepted idea of beauty, she has surpassed his standard and is taking it to the very edge of the extreme.
Imagine if you will a pact of various people fleeing some unfortunate fate. My troubled friend would be weighed down by her voluptuous bosom, panting from malnutrition and stumbling over her incompetent body structure. The only variation is that this is hardly a matter of survival as it is of “beauty.”
My intervention has proven to be unsuccessful. The most distressing argument she confers to me now is silence.
I honestly just don’t see the appeal of having your skin stretched over your ribs like silly putty. It’s not attractive, it’s not healthy, and it’s definitely not worth losing your life over.
I agree, this is a common thing to see these days and I have actually had a similar experience with a friend of mine myself. Things are not as bad as they were, but she still does not eat the way that she should. I will admit that I have even gone through some trouble with this, even became anemic at one point because of it. With the pressure to look a certain way, it is to be expected and shows like Bridalplasty does not help much either.
ReplyDeleteAs for the blog itself, maybe if we had more information about what sizes and weight are considered 'plus sized' we could analyze your point further.
I agree with your general message that our society's obsession with skinniness is dangerous and unhealthy, but what distresses me the most is that people, particularly women, want to be thin instead of fit. I try to be fit. I exercise regularly and, most importantly, I eat plenty of the right foods. Most women resort to "dieting," which is usually more like "starvation," to lose weight. They just want to be as thin as possible. This is dangerous: popular weight loss techniques generally end up burning muscle along with fat. As a species, we're not meant to have too much fat, but we're not meant to be walking skeletons either.
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