Your Body is a Miracle (Part I)

According to a 1997 study of 3,452 women, 89% of women want to lose weight. In addition, the relentless pursuit of "thinness" is considered normal female behavior in Western society as "thinness" has come to represent attractiveness, self-control, and even success. It seems unlikely that we are born with the belief that being thin is a requirement for beauty. For most of human history, being thin (and by thin, I mean emaciated) was simply the only option and being heavier was a sign of affluence.

If we're not born with it, when do we learn this mentality?

Marie C. claims here that 53 percent of girls say they are unhappy with their bodies by the time they reach 13. Unfortunately, she does not say where this statistic comes from, and I was unable to confirm it. Whether or not the percentage is accurate, however, it inspired a really interesting project. Marie interviewed and photographed children under the ages of 10, asking them a simple question: 

"What do you like about your body?"

The responses are childlike, funny, and generally adorable. Just read what six-year-old Bayan wrote: "I like that eyelashes are long. I like that my skin is half white and half brown. I like that my hair can shake." But they are also incredibly practical. Nine-year-old Lana likes how fast she can run and how healthy she is while six-year-old Laila likes her hands because they help her draw.

Eight-year-old Jeniah lists the amazing things her body lets her do

The whole experiment is summed up by five-year-old Lola who wrote, "I like my body because it's magic." Sure, it's another one of those cute things kids say, but it's also true. I'm a John Mayer fan, but he got it wrong when he said "Your body is a wonderland." Our bodies are, at the very least, incredibly complex pieces of machinery and, at the most, downright miraculous.

As I type this, I can't help but think about a ten-year-old boy that I babysat for once. Thomas had a much-needed kidney transplant in January, but his family just learned that his rare kidney disease has returned and is attacking the new organ. As I think of gangly, grinning, beautiful Thomas I am ashamed that I ever considered my body anything less than perfect.

What happens? Why do we stop thinking of our bodies as the miracles that they are?

It seems logical that girls first learn to love or hate their bodies from their mothers. In fact, I started this blog in response to Kacey Edwards' open letter to her mother, found here. To recap briefly, Edwards wrote that she learned to have a poor self-image from hearing her mother talk negatively about her own body. She calls on her mother to help show her three-year-old daughter that beauty will not be her most important attribute. It is a wonderful goal, but one I fear they cannot accomplish alone. Because, eventually, girls are old enough to read books, watch television and movies, play video games, and go shopping with friends, and they learn, based on these media portrayals, that girls and women "should" look and act a certain way.

women in video games

About Face is a nonprofit organization focused on media literacy. Their goal is to educate girls and women so they can resist media messages that affect their self-esteem and body image. According to About Face, high exposure to mainstream media in young women is associated with a stronger emphasis on physical appearance. In addition, girls and young women who consumed more mainstream media also more readily accepted the stereotype of women as sexual objects. This affects women more than simply physically. In a 1998 study, college students were asked to try on either a swimsuit or a sweater. While wearing the garment, they took a short math test, and the women wearing swimsuits scored significantly lower. There were no differences in the men's scores. The creators of the study suggest that thinking more about one's body - and comparing it to sexualized cultural ideals - disrupted these young women's mental capacity.



Hattie Hooker Wilkins

I just finished typing the Encyclopedia of Alabama entry on Hattie Hooker Wilkins, the first woman elected to the Alabama Legislature in 1922. When asked why she ran for office, Wilkins explained that, because the population consisted of men and women, it should be represented by both genders. Surely, the same is true of media. In fact, male protagonists in television and film are much more common. Of the female characters who do appear in sitcoms, three-quarters are underweight. Similarly, in the film industry, body doubles are often used for actresses who don't meet the requirements of an idealized female body. Young adult fiction revolving around a female character usually incorporates a romantic interest, often a love triangle. Of course, romance is an important part of a girl's coming of age, but surely the same is true of boys.

Even within "nerd" and "geek" culture, which claims to have the strong female characters that popular culture ignores, women are still often marginalized. Women are often considered less "legitimate" nerds than their male counterparts. The reason is not entirely clear to me though I think it is linked to a (false)assumption that women don't read comic books or play video games. My personal "geekery" tends to stay in the domain of fantasy, science fiction, and history books and the BBC. However, many women obviously do enjoy these activities, and some of them put together this great message:

The CEO of Yahoo, Inc.! defined geeks as "people who love something so much that all the details matter." We wear the title like a badge of honor, but the women who develop in-depth theories about how Sherlock survived Reichenbach are summarily dubbed "fangirls". Then, of course, there's the issue of sexualization and body image. Apparently, women prefer to save the world in a bathing suit or, occasionally, in their sexiest underwear. It's not easy for a self-conscious girl to cosplay as her favorite character.

 

If media (popular and geeky) teaches both men and women that we're supposed to look and behave based on a sexualized stereotype, what are we supposed to do? Should I refuse to let my future daughters (and sons while we're at it) consume certain books, shows, and movies, some of which I deeply love, for fear they'll have a negative self-image?

 

Of course not! Fortunately, for me and them, there happen to be some excellent role models in the media, from fictional characters to authors to talk show hosts. I am currently working on a post devoted solely to a list of these role models, and I plan to have it up in a couple of days. As you tell your daughters about Bella and Wonder Woman, I hope they'll also meet Hermione, Katniss, and Anne Shirley.