It's ridiculous and irritating. I'm annoyed seeing it written, I mock myself when I think I'm fat, I hate saying it within earshot of anyone else. But it's there and I think I know why.
I, again like many other women, are trapped on a darkened middle ground. On one side is the real world where there are strict guidelines based on medical science and nutrition that dictate whether a woman is "fat" along with walking, running, sitting on their ass typing examples. On the other side is the media world where the guidelines shift between airbrushed photography, loose interpretations of fit in TV and film and "news" articles with no consistent definition of what is attractive and healthy.
In the real world, I am not fat. I'm not even that out of shape. There is muscle definition all over my body, my skin is clear and I have a lovely curve. But in the media world, I am a linebacker. Wide hipped, pouchy stomach and jiggly bits under both my arms.
Now the easy solution is to take media representations with a grain of salt. EVERYBODY (well, most everybody) knows the way celebrities are portrayed is not accurate to real life. There are a slew of females living in the public view who start out at a normal weight and suddenly appear emaciated.
Kiera Knightly,
Scarlett Johansson,
Angelina Jolie (I chose this pic specifically because of the baggy clothing hiding the rest of her body),
Christina Ricci,
The late Brittany Murphy
Hell even Janeane Garofalo suddenly reappeared missing half her body weight and she on a Larry Sander's Show commentary told a story where she had bleached her hair leaving long dark roots (as was the trend at the time) and Sharon Stone told her "I know someone who can fix that" as though Garafalo hadn't INTENDED to do that to her hair.
Then.
Now.
You do a google search on these women and even I look at the photos and think "wow, maybe I don't have a leg to stand on. They all look ok, really. Some even hot," Do the same search but add their names with "thin" and the photos change dramatically. It seems there are two camps in the public eye. The super skinny actresses in glamour shots or placed in perfectly draped clothing and the "fat" people or fat people. I recently read a few articles that hollywood was going fat and isn't that great?! Well, no, because the shows cited were shows geared specifically to the overweight not people at a normal weight. Shows like "The Biggest Loser" and "Mike and Molly and More to Love" aren't as much about empowering people to love their body but either encouraging them to a healthy lifestyle (I'm not making waves against The Biggest Loser) or spinning some bullshit that twenty minutes of making fun of a fat person followed by five minutes of love your body whining is empowering and catering to the "average" person.
And here's a problem... rarely past the first episode is Molly's lifestyle (what the whole damn show is based off of, they met in a freaking weight loss support group) addressed. It's just swept under the rug to make way for her cooing over "I love you"s and getting extravagant gifts. For God's sake the other characters are listed as Molly's slim, drug-addicted sister and her nymphomaniac mother. They paint these people as pathetic. How is this empowering?
But that's all there is. Either you're fat and sad, slim and a wreck or skinny and fabulous. Where do girls like me fit in? Where's my body type? Where's my role model?
She's playing the best friend to one or more of the three types listed. I can't even think of actresses with my body type off the top of my head other than Liza Snyder who played the best friend to Christina Applegate in "Jesse" waaaaaaay back in the 90's. And even she appeared one season having lost half her weight. COMPARE.
Liza Snyder then...
Liza now... ish
Or they have a starring role where they're STILL playing the awkward one.
America Ferrera starred in the movie that empowered me to embrace my body (though I wasn't that into the film) Real Women Have Curves.
What is she best known for currently? Ugly Betty.
Two birds one stone, the same damn pattern. First she was in a movie where her weight was the central point instead of her just existing then she's in a tv show where she plays an awkward young adult. Skinny actresses play awkward as in they're oh so damn cute and then at some point the glasses come off, the hair comes down and everybody realizes GASP she's BEAUTIFUL.
There needs to be a wider representation of women in the media. Less attention on the yo-yo dieting and exercise crazes. You can't even out representation by putting overweight women on the same pedestal as emaciated women. I still feel ugly in the face of media.
BTW disclaimer: The most important part of any woman (and any human for that matter) is what's inside. As a show of faith here is a picture of me.
