Pressures to Conform to the Cultural Ideal...

A recent headline caught my eye regarding the starlets on the TV show 90210. The article talked about how the women on the show are far too skinny and are suspect of having eating disorders. I have mixed emotions…first when I viewed the pictures of the actresses they were indeed skeletal, even by Hollywood standards. The probability that these women are genetically programmed to look that way despite a healthy lifestyle is very low. However, lightening does strike, people do win the lottery…rare things do occur …so these actresses could actually be living a healthy lifestyle AND look that way. If so I feel sorry for the level of criticism they are drawing and I tuck them into the population I am here to defend. We all…despite our weight and appearance need to work on accepting ourselves, “warts..err.. I mean bulges or boniness and all.” I am a defender of variability. What I mean by that is that we all come in different shapes and sizes and just because our culture has identified one acceptable shape/size for women does not mean that all the variations on that theme are not beautiful and acceptable.

Back to the starlets…another reaction I have is revulsion at the level of hypocrisy I see in our world. Actresses (and all women for that matter) are under immense amount of pressure to conform to an ideal body/appearance. We are in absolute awe of the women who are able to attain and maintain this ideal but the moment they take it an ounce too far (literally) the “awe” turns to attack. It is a tightrope for women to walk… It would not surprise me if these actresses do have some form of an eating disorder. If so, we need not attack them… they are mere “symptoms” of a sick cultural view on what is considered ideal and attractive. Wouldn’t our energy be better spent doing our share to not contribute to this unhealthy view? What would that look like?

You may be thinking that you are only one person and you have very little impact on something as huge and far reaching as the cultural ideal for women. However, I would challenge you on that. You can start by making sure you are modeling acceptance of yourself through your behaviors and words. You can also choose to be VOCAL about it….not obnoxious but proud of your position and confident and excited to share it. You can also be supportive and encouraging to other women in terms of their bodies and appearance. Lastly (but certainly not last on the order of importance), we need to be mindful of how we are raising our daughters. They are not so much influenced by our words in this area but by how we live our lives. They will likely walk a very similar path as yours in terms of your lifestyle and acceptance of your weight/appearance. Ask yourself...would you want your daughter to tread the same steps you have walked in this area? I know…a lot of pressure but if the answer is "no" then this is the time to make some changes...if the answer is "yes" then fantastic...you are doing great and likely better than most of us.

I want to follow up on the last assignment before I say good-bye. How did your “experiment” go? Was it difficult to avoid focusing too much on your weight and appearance for a day? With all the free mental time where did your brain go? What things did you ponder? Do you think you could eventually start living a life that dedicates very little brain power to weight and appearance?

All for now…Lisa