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Size and the media
May. 20th, 2008 10:24 amIt's not often I find myself agreeing with the royal family, or their relatives, but I'm behind Sarah Ferguson on this one.
The press have recently engaged in a bit of slagging off Beatrice, calling her fat. She's a teenager, and, apparently, a UK size 12-14 (a US 10). She certainly doesn't look very big to me, she's got quite a big head, perhaps, but she's certainly no porker. Google for pictures of her, and you'll find a perfectly sized young girl. She's not worryingly thin, like so many 'celebrities', she's not a chubber, she's spot on. In fact, I think she looks rather fabulous here, and it makes me think hey, perhaps I can wear a bikin and look good too.
Yesterday I had a rather long bus journey across London, and so I picked up one of the free London papers.
On one page, it had a picture of Britney Spears in a bikini chilling out on a beach with her manager. She looks perfectly healthy, a darn site better than I'd look in a bikini. The article is all about how she's letting her flab hang out over her bikini bottoms, and how her manager and her have matching bellies, and a close up of her bottom with CELLULITE written underneath it in big letters. She's got considerably less cellulite than I have, and a very nice bottom, actually.
Later on in the paper is an article about Girls Aloud's live show. The main gist of this is that the girls are talented, yes, but OMG PAINFULLY STICK THIN. Yes, the girls have lost a lot of weight since they were first formed, which is a bit of a shame, but they're not exactly stick thin. They're all very healthy looking really. In the photo shown, none of them look any bigger or smaller than Britney in a bikini, or Princes Bea.
So what are we meant to think? Where is that line? Where a perfectly well looking Britney Spears is 'flabby' and 'covered in cellulite', where a size 12 teenager is 'fat', where Girls Aloud are 'stick thin' - and yet to look at the pictures you can barely see a difference.
When I was at Brownie Camp, one of my brownies ate so little of her food I asked her why, and she said 'I don't want to get fat'. This child was 8. 8 Years old and worried about being fat.
What sort of world do these girls see, what sort of world is being portrayed through the media in our celebrity-obsessed, figure-concious society?
This is one of the main reasons I loathe women's magazines, Heat et al - obsessed with the fluctuating weight of celebrities, the circle of shame, SHE'S got cellulite, SHE'S put on a few pounds SHE'S too skinny.
And it's not just the constant re-enforcement that 'fat is bad' these days. It's now 'skinny is bad', and the arbitrary lines between 'too fat' and 'too thin' are being drawn all over the place, even in the space of 5 pages in the same newspaper.
If Bea up there is a fattie, that makes me, at a UK 12-14 an OBESE MONSTER. If I thought that Britney's cellulite was OMG TOO AWFUL to be foisted upon the eyes of the public, well, my god, mine should certainly never see the light of day. Maybe I shouldn't wear that bikini after all. And if Girls Aloud are 'stick thin' and end up putting on a few pounds, what will they be then?
I'm glad to hear Fergie say that her daughter is a tough girl, and not taking the things papers say to heart. Others may not be so lucky to have that inner-confidence to say 'the papers are wrong'. Geri Halliwell famously ended up with an eating disorder after papers called her fat. I have to agree with Fergie when she says that the press have to take some responsibility. They have to be held accountable somehow.
It isn't a new problem though - Karen Carpenter died back in 1983 of Anorexia. A number of films and books about her life lay the blame squarely on the media, who called her 'chubby', beginning a lifelong obsession with her weight which would ultimately kill her.
It aangers me that being flabby is bad, being skinny is bad, but there's no middle ground for the media. There's no 'this person is the 'right' shape' - and if there is, one day it's Amy Winehouse and Charlotte Church is a fat munter, and the next day, Amy is painfully skeletal and Lottie is luscious and perfect. And what exactly IS the 'right' shape anyway? If you're healthy, should anyone give a monkeys?
You know, I've got a few flabby bits here and there, but I have clothes I look good in. I am active, I exercise. I'm pretty fit and healthy. That's what ought to be important.
So what is 'chubby'? It's probably a size 12. But don't worry, wait until tomorrow, when a size 12 will be painfully thin.
The press have recently engaged in a bit of slagging off Beatrice, calling her fat. She's a teenager, and, apparently, a UK size 12-14 (a US 10). She certainly doesn't look very big to me, she's got quite a big head, perhaps, but she's certainly no porker. Google for pictures of her, and you'll find a perfectly sized young girl. She's not worryingly thin, like so many 'celebrities', she's not a chubber, she's spot on. In fact, I think she looks rather fabulous here, and it makes me think hey, perhaps I can wear a bikin and look good too.
Yesterday I had a rather long bus journey across London, and so I picked up one of the free London papers.
On one page, it had a picture of Britney Spears in a bikini chilling out on a beach with her manager. She looks perfectly healthy, a darn site better than I'd look in a bikini. The article is all about how she's letting her flab hang out over her bikini bottoms, and how her manager and her have matching bellies, and a close up of her bottom with CELLULITE written underneath it in big letters. She's got considerably less cellulite than I have, and a very nice bottom, actually.
Later on in the paper is an article about Girls Aloud's live show. The main gist of this is that the girls are talented, yes, but OMG PAINFULLY STICK THIN. Yes, the girls have lost a lot of weight since they were first formed, which is a bit of a shame, but they're not exactly stick thin. They're all very healthy looking really. In the photo shown, none of them look any bigger or smaller than Britney in a bikini, or Princes Bea.
So what are we meant to think? Where is that line? Where a perfectly well looking Britney Spears is 'flabby' and 'covered in cellulite', where a size 12 teenager is 'fat', where Girls Aloud are 'stick thin' - and yet to look at the pictures you can barely see a difference.
When I was at Brownie Camp, one of my brownies ate so little of her food I asked her why, and she said 'I don't want to get fat'. This child was 8. 8 Years old and worried about being fat.
What sort of world do these girls see, what sort of world is being portrayed through the media in our celebrity-obsessed, figure-concious society?
This is one of the main reasons I loathe women's magazines, Heat et al - obsessed with the fluctuating weight of celebrities, the circle of shame, SHE'S got cellulite, SHE'S put on a few pounds SHE'S too skinny.
And it's not just the constant re-enforcement that 'fat is bad' these days. It's now 'skinny is bad', and the arbitrary lines between 'too fat' and 'too thin' are being drawn all over the place, even in the space of 5 pages in the same newspaper.
If Bea up there is a fattie, that makes me, at a UK 12-14 an OBESE MONSTER. If I thought that Britney's cellulite was OMG TOO AWFUL to be foisted upon the eyes of the public, well, my god, mine should certainly never see the light of day. Maybe I shouldn't wear that bikini after all. And if Girls Aloud are 'stick thin' and end up putting on a few pounds, what will they be then?
I'm glad to hear Fergie say that her daughter is a tough girl, and not taking the things papers say to heart. Others may not be so lucky to have that inner-confidence to say 'the papers are wrong'. Geri Halliwell famously ended up with an eating disorder after papers called her fat. I have to agree with Fergie when she says that the press have to take some responsibility. They have to be held accountable somehow.
It isn't a new problem though - Karen Carpenter died back in 1983 of Anorexia. A number of films and books about her life lay the blame squarely on the media, who called her 'chubby', beginning a lifelong obsession with her weight which would ultimately kill her.
It aangers me that being flabby is bad, being skinny is bad, but there's no middle ground for the media. There's no 'this person is the 'right' shape' - and if there is, one day it's Amy Winehouse and Charlotte Church is a fat munter, and the next day, Amy is painfully skeletal and Lottie is luscious and perfect. And what exactly IS the 'right' shape anyway? If you're healthy, should anyone give a monkeys?
You know, I've got a few flabby bits here and there, but I have clothes I look good in. I am active, I exercise. I'm pretty fit and healthy. That's what ought to be important.
So what is 'chubby'? It's probably a size 12. But don't worry, wait until tomorrow, when a size 12 will be painfully thin.
