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Abstract
Fat oppression
doesn't just affect fat people or fat women. It really works to keep
everyone in line. Fear of fat is rampant in our society and is
responsible for the current masochistic race toward a slender body
image. We are a culture nearly addicted to individual control and
the notion seems to exist in our society that fatness means a loss
of self-control - which is considered the ultimate moral failure in
our culture, and perhaps the most frightening of all
fears.
Statement of the Problem
Everyone is born
into a culture - a set of shared ideas about the nature of reality,
the nature of right and wrong, evaluation of what is good and
desirable, and the nature of good and desirable versus the bad and
non-desirable. (Richardson, Taylor, 1983)
The
definition of desirable, with regard to body image, has spanned
rotund to emaciated, with various ideals in-between. And, the
methods for achieving the desirable, idealized image of the times
have been equally as varied.
Today
we live in a society obsessed with thinness and youth. The emphasis
on thinness in our culture not only oppresses overweight women, it
also serves as a form of social and psychological control for all
women:
"Fat
oppression doesn't just affect fat people or fat women. It
really works to keep everyone in line. It's a whole system of
social control that keeps thin women absolutely terrified of
being fat or thinking they are fat, and a whole lot of energy
goes into dealing with fat. It keeps women who are medium-sized
absolutely panic-stricken because they are right on the border.
Those of us who are fat are over that border into some state
of evil, basically, very much outside of what is
permissible within white American culture. If you are fat, then
what you are supposed to do is strive desperately to get
non-fat..." (Judith Stein, Fat Liberation Movement, Mitchell,
Newmark, 1981)
The
achievement and maintenance of thinness and beauty is a major female
pastime, as reflected by all of the magazines, newspaper articles,
T.V. shows, commercials, idealized role models, and books that are
aimed at the female audience. This endeavor consumes an enormous
portion of the females' time, energy and money, leaving her little
time for other activities and/or important life issues. But, we as
women play a major role in perpetuating our culture's ridiculous
ideals by buying into the image with the purchase of the magazines,
diet books, beauty books and designer clothes thrust upon us, rather
than developing an acceptable, personal idealized image of our own.
By refusing to take that responsibility, we indeed perpetuate our
own lives of dissatisfaction and self-hatred, and this need not be
so.
Review of
Literature
Idealized Body Image - Historical Perspective
There
are always underlying reasons for the idealized female body image -
these reasons appearing to stem from political and economic
sources.
In 18th
Century America the "idealized" Colonial women were tough, big,
muscular, strong and very fertile. (Valentine, 1984) This was a
period of time in the history of our country in which size and
strength were important assets for a woman to possess, for her own
survival as well as her desirability as a wife, mother and worker of
the land. Her fertility was important because the more children she
could produce, the more free labor or helpers the family would have
to work the land.
By the
19th Century the idealized female body image had changed
drastically. It was now necessary for the ideal woman to be sickly,
frail, pale, wan and prone to fainting alot. (Valentine, 1984) The
underlying reason for this new ideal was political. Women had to be
made frail in order to support or justify slavery in the 1800's.
Actually, what this ideal succeeded in doing was to make slaves of
the women too. Womens' bondage was not in physical labor, but in the
restrictive clothing they were encouraged to wear and the
restrictive lifestyle they were allowed to live.
The
corset came into fashion in the early 1800's and remained in fashion
until the 1920's. With the idealized hourglass figure in fashion,
the corsets were designed and constructed more and more narrowly
through the middle area. This inhibited movement as well as
breathing. But, the women were desirous of meeting the
ideal.
Some
women of the time had ribs surgically removed that kept them from
corseting themselves into a small enough waist size, which was the
desired image. There was strong competition for men and marriage,
since women generally had no means of supporting
themselves.
This
was a time when the family unit was everything and it was a women's
duty to bear lots of children, obey her husband (and men in general)
and keep her mouth shut.(Todd, 1984)
Femininity was synonymous with weakness, frailty, grace and
romanticism. Beauty was defined as pallor of skin, tiny waist and a
large bustle. (Todd, 1984) Women were less than second-class
citizens. They were denied the right to an enjoyable
life.
Men
reflected a lot of status by having a wife who fit the ideal of that
time. That fact still seems to hold true. Admiring glances fell upon
the fragile waist that could be hand-spanned and lifted by a pair of
strong male hands. (Brownmiller, 1984) For the women who resorted to
those extreme physical measures in order to effectively compete for
prized men, the removal of their lower ribs actually succeeded in
dislocating their kidneys, liver and other organs, as well as
causing other medical problems. (Hynowitz, Weissman,
1978)
Another
manner in which women could demonstrate and confirm their frailty
was by fainting. Charm schools were opened to teach women the fine
art of fainting -how to position oneself, who should be present in
the room, etc. ( Valentine, 1984) The charms of the fainting female
so exquisitely demonstrated the need for masculine protection.
(Brownmiller, 1984) Women assumed the position in society of
goddesses and were a demonstration of "the poetry of dependency."
(Stanton, 1851)
The
beginning of the women's movement in the mid 1800's had a major
effect on body image. The corset was specifically attacked for its
restrictiveness - both in breathing and in movement. "If all women
should decide not to wear corsets, nothing would be thought of it."
(Connally, 1903) There is alot of power on reserve for women as a
group that they have yet to utilize. However, many women did band
together during this time period and converted to a corset-free
figure. It seems that when women agitate for equality and start
gaining independence, body types and fashions reflect
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