More little hitlers
Don't ask me how I got here, but why not do as I did this morning while chronically writer's-blocked and have a look at Glamour magazine's website; specifically, this article under Health & Fitness called 16 Ways I Learned To Love My Body. (You can even look at it as a slideshow. Woo.) This is the thrust of the piece: 16 "body-image and weight-loss bloggers" who have learned to love their own bodies [not pictured, crucially] offer a tip each on how to do the same. What a splendid, inspirational idea in a world of body fascism, low self-esteem, size-sero angst and epidemic dysmorphia. I can't say I'm familiar with Glamour magazine, other than it launched in the UK in a "handbag"-sized edition in 2001, which struck me as rather smart. It is aimed, I am led to believe, at women aged between 18 and 49. Anyway, let's hear a few of these tips:
Step off the scale
"When I stopped letting the scale steal my happiness and be a gauge of my self-worth, I was able to really build a true love relationship with my body. Learning to love your body and be accepting of everything - excellence and flaws - is a process and a journey but one well worth it!" Stephanie Quilao, Back in Skinny Jeans
Realize [sic] that fitness is not about skinny jeans or skinny-girl stereotypes
"I never felt like I fit in, and I struggled with those feelings for years. Eventually I started looking at myself as a whole and realized that I am intelligent, funny, unique, and yes, I am beautiful. True beauty is not about fitting into a cultural stereotype but a quality that shines from within. That doesn’t mean we should stop trying to improve; it just means that our time is better spent focusing on building a strong, healthy body and mind rather than trying to fit into a cookie-cutter mold [sic]."
Diana Swallow, Scale Junkie
Dare to not compare your body.
"If I compare myself with other women, I can create a million reasons why I should hate my body. Comparing myself with others always leaves me feeling inadequate and unhappy about my body, so I choose not to do it. My body might not be perfect compared with a model or even my neighbor, but it is the only body I will ever have. I would rather accept this fact and love my body the way it is than waste my time hating any part of it."
Mary Thompson, A Merry Life
And so it goes. There are 13 further tips, each one empowering, confidence-boosting, positive and dismissive of accepted body-shape tyranny, if a little gooey in sentiment. Either way: you go, girlfriend! Except, what do you imagine the women look like in the photos used to accompany the 17 tips? Lumpy, different, imperfect, odd, off-message, normal? Nope.
Each lady - a model, of course, not the laptop-bound dispenser of the tip - is gym-toned, skinny, muscular, tanned "cookie-cutter mold", Special-K-advert perfect. Indeed, each one could be popped handily into a handbag. There's even one of notorious fat gargoyle Gwyneth Paltrow. Well done, Glamour magazine - I ask you this, in the voice of Alan Parker Urban Warrior: are you part of the solution, or part of the problem?
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:24 PM
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10 Comments:
Ha.....well done Andrew....you go girl.
ALso commiserations on Not Going Out being cancelled. It was gag ridden but brilliant(especially "Winner") and plus that Miranda Hart is fit.
Shyam
I suspect Glamour's stock photo collection doesn't contain any pictures of regular women. They generally don't have any call for them.
I buy into this whole 'You go girl' thing, Glamour magazines just depress me, as I suspect they do many women.
My guilty secret is that I had weight loss surgery some time back, which was flipping brilliant and worked like a dream. But was it so I could fit back into smaller clothes, and therefore decent society? No. It was so I could avoid diabetes, heart disease and other conditons... AND fit into decent society.
The point is, Andrew, that Glamour magazine has very little care for the problem. As a recipient of an annual subscription to the tome from my grandmother, I bear monthly witness to its 'worth', and in trying to strike the balance between 'aspirational' and 'glamorous', they really do make 'reality' a sacrificial lamb.
I meant to say that I don't buy into that 'You Go Girl' thing. Lordy, I don't want to come across as a member of the Loose Women panel.
Obviously I still have fat fingers.
Hey - why is there a new podcast up BEFORE you posted about it?
(Just thought it'd be a nice change to have someone berating you for that.)
Dieting and fitness is such a major industry, it keeps them going.
On a related note, we've just got a new speak your weight machine installed at work.
I'm giving it a wide berth, lest it should say 'no coach parties please' when I step on.
the other depressing thing is, if you look at the text, alot of the women are celebrating exactly the things they suggest they are in fact rejecting. 'Learn to love your weight *loss*' blah blah... I set myself a goal of losing 54 lbs (or something) so now I love my imperfections but also all the weight I lost. D'you hear me? I lost it! Aha! I win!
Hmmm.
Little Hitlers? Do they have little square moustaches? Is THAT the real reason they are not photographed?! You do see fat women in the press from time to time but god forbid you remind anyone that women have facial and body hair as well as men. Even the great Chrissie Hynde once said that you need to remember: 'for god's sake, shave your legs'. Why?! I'm not quite a let it all hang out hippy, but nonetheless, WHY?!
Anna
Hi. I would just like to say as one of the women quoted I agree with some of what you are saying, even if not the tone and perspective you have. I wish the article would have used pictures of us or at least real women instead of their stock photos. When I was contacted to contribute I the article I was not told that this would happen. In my opinion this should not have happened. I think all of the women have in some way learned to accept and love their own bodies. It's a shame that the message we wanted to share with others was still put through the "glamour" industry and distorted with the pictures used. They don't seem to notice or care they are not correctly portraying the message because that doesn't attract readers/viewers. Maybe you don't care, but I figured I would chime in.
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