Children's book encourages little girls to be skinny

A new children's book, Maggie Goes On a Diet, is making headlines. It is about a chubby girl who stands in front of the mirror holding up a too-small pink dress and sees a different version of herself. Her mirror image is, of course....thin. "This book is about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image." - Amazon description

Is the only way to be better, to be skinny? Are young girls supposed to be taught that being chubby is an awful thing? If it is unhealthy, yes of course, but this book is just preposterous!

A skinny success

Crystal Renn is an American fashion model who started modelling high fashion couture at the age of 14. When she started her career she was told to lose a 1/3 of her body weight, if she wanted to be successful in the highly competitive fashion business. After years of  suffering from anorexia, she decided to reassess her lifestyle. She wrote the book: Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, about her experiences in the fashion industry in relation to her several body type transformations.

She went on to become one of the most well-known plus-size models in the world and has since been known as such. Last November she dropped a lot of weight, she says due to yoga and hiking, and is now a US size 8-10.

 

She has received a lot of modelling work as a plus-size model, but has never appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine, the most coveted cover for models. She finally got her cover this month, as she can be seen on the cover of Vogue Mexico. This makes me wonder if a magazine like Vogue, which is basically the fashion holy grail, will ever feature a plus-size model on the cover. Did they suddenly find Crystal appropriate for the cover because she lost all that weight? They never wanted her before. Even though the fashion world is trying to incorporate more plus-sized models into fashion shows and magazine fashion spreads, do the fashion world really believe that plus-sized models are fashion friendly? Or are they just doing it because they feel pressured to do so? Will it be forever, skinny=success?

Riots not Diets

Ok, so no one is saying that being thin and healthy is a bad thing. But how often do people negatively comment on an overweight person's figure? How often do you think about your own body's extra flab? Fat politics is a recent field of interest, and is even taught at several U.S. universities. Fat activists are trying to convice people that any prejudice against overweight individuals need to be stopped. This means focussing on the media and beauty industry to combat the perpetuation of the idea of an ideal body. Let people be thin, let them or yourself be full figured, as long as your health isn't compromised, say by getting anorexia.  

In an earlier post: Is the fat body ever invisible? I talked about Margitte Kristjansson's blog: RIOTS NOT DIETS. (Also on my 'Blogs I love' list.) She doesn't advocate that everyone should be 'fat' or overweight, but that people need to riot against the ill treatment of  yourself and other people who are considered to have a less-than-ideal body. She made a little documentary on this issue:

the fat body (in)visible from Margitte Kristjansson on Vimeo.

Also check out: http://www.fatshionista.com/cms/

Is the 'fat' body ever invisible?

A while back I read about fat politics, something I never really knew existed. There are many fat activists who campaign for non-discrimination against people perceived as fat or obese. I watched an amazing documentary, The fat body in(visible), made by self-proclaimed fat activist and blogger Margitte Kristjansson.

Margitte. 25. PhD student. Fat activist.

She describes herself as follows: 

"When I’m not reading convoluted academic theory until my eyes water, I am working to uncover anti-fat biases in media representations of the fat body and examine the many intersectionalities of fat identity. I am also interested in research on fat activism, the histories of body regulation, and articulating fat culture. I identify as female, mixed race but white privileged, relatively poor, relatively hetero, LGBTQ allied, anti-racist, anti-patriarchy, pro-humanity, pro-choice, proud, happy, beautiful, smart and FAT. I love fashion, the fat-o-sphere, pop culture, and activism. I’ll probably write about all of these things." 

 

The film interviewed several women who are viewed by society as very fat or obese. They are really inspiring, because they are so passionate about their cause. Watching the documentary, I was disgusted when someone shouted to one of the girls walking down the street that she was a PIG because she was fat. Discrimination based on body shape, size or weight is just as bad as being a racist, classist or homophobe. 

Of course, being very overweight is an issue of health, but many overweight individuals have health problems that cause their obesity. You cannot know anything about someone else's life before you have lived it. It is just a matter of how we are taught to think in certain ways about things. Being made aware, like myself in this case, about fat politics, has made me realise that there is a story and a history behind everything. Everything must be investigated and understood before we can say anything about someone else we don't know. 

Check out the documentary @: http://vimeo.com/17785299

Check out her blog @: http://riotsnotdiets.tumblr.com