The essence of Bordo’s article in simpler terms is that women developed eating disorders as a result of becoming more independent. The ideal body type of a woman used to be a plumper figure. This meant that the women’s body type was made from her man. If you were plump it meant you were well taken care of and rich, your husband took care of you. A thin body typed used to be looked down upon, you were worthless, poor and not taken care of. Today, part of social status is determined by being independent and taking care of one’s own self. Someone with a plump figure is seen as being lazy and reliant on others. As a result, the ideal body type has shifted toward being thin. Taken to extremes, women have begun starving themselves to rebel against being controlled. The choice to be unhealthily thin has been twisted into the desire to be self-sufficient.
The painting above was painted in the 1700’s. The women’s body types in all of the paintings featured in Leppert’s article is a different ideal standard then you would see today. Women have always been fighting for equal rights and power. In today’s culture the ideal body type for a woman is a thin stick figure. So being thin gives a woman confidence and a feeling of superiority and power, as stated in Bordo’s article on page 172.
I have a few very good friends who have battled with eating disorders. One friend in particular will never escape from the strangle hold of needing to be thin. She was one of my peers that I danced with throughout high school. Her eating disorder got so out of hand that I remember her saying once that if she had to choose between dance and not eating, she would choose not eating. She is a very insecure person and very concerned about fitting in. The only time she felt in control of her life was when she chose not to eat.
It is sad that today’s culture promotes an unnaturally thin woman as being what’s “sexy”. Paintings of the 1700’s show how different the standard of a beautiful woman was in the past. It wasn’t an ultra thin stick, it was a healthy woman with some meet on her bones. People are so concerned of what others think of them, they are willing to risk starving to death for it.
I REALLY liked your blog post and i agree with you every step of the way. Women used to be seen as being needy of a man...now they are VERY independent and thus, as you stated, they tend to be more slender. Being plump did mean you were of a higher social status b/c you could afford food and it meant your husband took care of you. I also really liked how you tied your friend's personal story with the fact that being thin means that women have confidence and power. It is an extremely tough thing to get out of, and I hope she is doing better now. In this picture, Leppert is showing that even though these women are a little 'big-boned' it doesn't take away from their quality or personality at all. It is important to note that some pictures of today promote 'sexy' women/men and we instinctively think that to be 'sexy' we must look that way, when in reality we don't. We all must learn to live our lives, healthy lives at that with a diet, but not unhealthy ones where the diet is taken too far and becomes a disease.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post as well, it brought the article to a much more personal level. I too, was noticing that the women in these paintings were healthy and plumper looking than what we typically see today. On a different note, I think its great when celebrities like Tyra Banks stick up to the pressures of being thin. She's doing a great job promoting healthy, curvy women especially with her announcing her weight on her TV show and saying "Kiss my fat ass." She's used to be a thin supermodel and now her body is like the average females and she is embracing it and taking pride in it. Its these small steps that can help lead curvy and healthy to the new sexy.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you mentioned how women back in earlier times were seen as beautiful when they were as you said it "plumper." And now so many years later, that image has basically 180 degrees changed and women want to be thinner. That want is so drastic that some resort to eating disorders, but this raises just a question I have about our culture. I wonder if there were woman back in the day who were naturally just thin individuals, who would binge eat just to try to gain weight? Does female insecurity and the power overeat date back that far? Or is the need to have power over our bodies most recent and just in our modern day culture?
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