purple.light

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Be a real woman. 

I have never understood women's obsession with their weight and body figure. Sure, some would say that given my figure (or the lack of), I wouldn't have to worry about anything. But I would counter and say that that is not the point. There are women as thin as I am who believe that they could be thinner.

To me, as long as I am healthy and lead a healthy lifestyle, I should be happy. You are who you are and not what you look like. I don't give a freaking damn what people think of my body because I know that I eat regularly and normally and I exercise. My body type is genetic - I did not become what I am today through starving or overloading on the exercise. There really is nothing I could do to change how I look and everything is dependent on the inner mechanisms that govern my physical appearance. I have done whatever I can do to maintain my health. And I am happy.

And so, it is with disgust that I read today's Life!, page two. The headline is Battlefield Girth #3 - Beyonce eats only veg to keep slim. The column goes on to say,

Pop singer Beyonce Knowles sits down to a lunch of just six slices of tomato and four slices of cucumber.

And I can bet that it's not because she eats a heavy breakfast (or two, in my case sometimes).

The article then quoted her as saying,

"I am not naturally skinny. I am a real woman, I've got curves."

Honey, if you are a real woman, you wouldn't be doing this to yourself. And as mentioned in the article, Beyonce is a popular singer and idolised by thousands of fans. What she says can have an impact on people who admire her. Young girls might be led to believe that being thin is the way to go and deliberately starve themselves in order to keep their figure.

A real woman is confident of how she looks without resorting to eating scraps of veggie. A real woman eats. A real woman lives healthily and does not give a f*** to what the media tells her is the best figure she should be.

Speaking of body figures, I have never understood men's preoccupation with the female anatomy. Or, to be more specific, certain parts of a woman's anatomy. Is it any wonder that the modern woman suffers from an inferiority complex when it comes to her physical appearance?

Perhaps it is the course that I took in university a couple of semesters ago. In it, we discussed the media's focus on women's body parts. Many ads that we were shown and subsequently found, had only pictures of a woman's breasts, legs, butt, waist etc but NEVER her face. The woman has been deconstructed and dismembered. Modern culture has evolved such that the physical anatomy of a woman becomes her identity, rather than her as a human being. And with it, a society sees a woman only as a physical entity rather than an equal being. She's being admired and desired for her body and only for her body.

I remember being extremely disgusted with the proliferation of advertisements that featured only certain parts of a woman's body. Sure, if the product called for only a certain part to be shown, like shoes, then that's acceptable. But when the ad is for a bag and a pair of plastic boobs are the main focus, it seems quite ridiculous. And since then, I have never liked seeing a pair of boobs or a toned butt flashing out at me without a face. It feels like an insult, a slap to the face.

Be happy with who you are and what you are. A contented size 16 with a proportionately big personality is more beautiful than a miserable size 6 who is forever dissatisfied with how she looks.

yAnn at 9/02/2003 11:35:00 PM