What Size Should Be Promoted?

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"Judge a man by the content of his character rather than the colour of his skin."

~ Martin Luther King Jr

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". These are words from MLK's infamous speech, "I have a dream". The main point Dr. King was making here was that society has a very artificial way of looking at things. To what extent his dream has come to reality, that is debatable. But considering that the leader of 'the free world' is mixed race, I suppose it is only fair to argue that society has made some progress. As we slowly break away from racial divides, a different basis of judgement, amongst many, has emerged. Women are now, more than ever, being judged by the size of their bodies, rather than the content of their characters.

Yesterday this photo was posted by a friend on Facebook(with part of the caption under it) and it was my trigger to writing this post.

I had this to say;

Definition of beauty: "The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit." (Merriam-webster online dictionary) My personal take on beauty is that substance and the mind matters the most because lack of character taints one's beauty. This blog post however, shall look at this definition from it's most superficial point i.e looks.

This definition suggests that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and that it is simply a matter of preference. In contemporary society where skinny is the ultimate definition of beauty, can we truly say this is our own preference or what has been fed to us as a result of media representations? 

In the 1900's, it was less fashionable to be skinny(Or at least that's what the adverts suggest).

 

Today however, women are constantly reminded they are not skinny enough.

This is a clear illustration that the media and our environment influence our perception significantly. Just as putting on weight was being celebrated in the past, loosing weight is now celebrated. And so we find women in both era's struggling to fit into a certain "size". It is a constant struggle of losing or putting on weight, rather than being fit and staying healthy. Whatever your size, if you can't fit into that set standard presented as the norm, then you need "help".

Today big women are shunned and called names and the slim women glorified. It is fashionable to be skinny and if your waist can't fit into the pants of the women you see on your TV screens on the runways or on the billboards on the highways, then beautiful is not a term to define you. The modelling industry(which is personally not my cup of tea due to it's misrepresentation and distortion of beauty, viewing women as commodities and it's superficiality in nature) claims to represent 'beauty' and sometimes tries to overcome criticisms by having "plus size models". These "plus size" models even get the consideration of gracing magazine pages. But just like most things, this is a double edged sword; It's a "plus size photo-shoot" where the magician always appears to photoshop all the "plus size" away.

If we are trying to change that perception of beauty, the question that should be asked is not what size should be promoted. That is the wrong question because it simply goes back to the same issue of stereotypes, with a certain size being made acceptable and the other unacceptable. As long as we keep talking about sizes, we remain in a struggle of stereotypes. The question therefore should be, WHY CAN'T HEALTH BE PROMOTED? PERIOD!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. I do not own the images used in this blog post.

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