Do You Agree That Fat Is a Feminist Issue - Assignment Example

Do You Agree That Fat Is a Feminist Issue? Besides the captivating title that led to the book being a best seller, Sussie Orbach’s book Fat is a feminist issueis truly is a classic. In the book, she throws in the general idea that fat is as a result of gender inequality. At the same time, she rubbishes the idea that fat is as a consequence of laziness and greed. Some of her reasons for leaning toward such ideas include women using compulsive eating that leads to being fat as a way to protect them from being considered as ideal women. This, she states, is a rebellion against powerlessness of a woman. Women indulge in food so that they can be taken more serious in their areas of work, especially by their male colleagues. Losing weight leads to them being overlooked by their male counterparts. Other women have different reasons for being fat. While some opt to grow fat to avoid competition from other women, others do go this direction to de-sexualize themselves, yet others do it because of their mothers’ crazy relationship with food. Women who are fat usually think they are in desperate need of weight loss, yet subconsciously they hold on to the desire to stay fat. They seem to enjoy the advantages that come with being fat. They keep overlooking the very activities that lead them to being fat such as compulsive eating. Orbach shares her experience with trying to lose weight as she opens a window into her life with obesity. Although she had suffered dieting, bingeing and selfhatred for ten years, she got renewed within six months after enrolling for a course on compulsive eating (Wilson par. 5). Women do crazy things in the name of growing thin; some vomit food until it even comes out of the nostrils, some do laxatives, others exercise twice a day for two and a half hour sessions per session, while others try diets such as atkins diet, cabbage soup, south beach and the zone and the long list of despair and self hatred continues. Women count calories, measure grams offat, drink very bitter tasting juices for weeks just to look good on the beach. After doing all this, they realize they feel a lot happier being size 16 than trying to be size 8 (Gordon par. 4). Throughout a lot of exaggeration can be see, images have become sexier in an unattainable manner. These are just the consequences of a social system in which those who wield power take advantage both at home and at the workplace. Some, like Duchess Windsor, believe that a woman cannot be too thin, a sentiment echoed by all fashion and beauty magazines, every television commercial, weight loss centers and worse of all family, friends and even doctors. The fashion industry believes that fat unlike thinness cannot bring happiness even as skinny cheeks and skeleton bodies are pushed to the extreme. While women suffer physical and mental health matters the fashion, cosmetic, and plastic surgery industries bring home profits in billions of dollars made off women’s misery. The billions are strategically made by creating a physical dissatisfaction by women in relation to their bodies designed in a way that the gap between the ideal body and the real one keeps widening. Though the influence by the media has exhibited a great effect, these images are constantly being reinforced in day-to-day living. So common and accepted has become comments on women’s appearance that their effects on how women view themselves has been ignored. Description on women is more towards what they look like and not what they do or think,as compared to men. Common phrases for instance include: “Mr. Mark and his gorgeous wife” (Stephen par. 6). Changes such as weight loss are commented strongly on by people close to the women such as family and friends, ‘you look beautiful, you have lost weight’ (Stephen par. 6). Opinions that show approval for certain qualities have a great impact on women such as approval for being thin and disapproval for being fat, especially if it comes from someone whose opinion matters. There seems to be a paradigm shift in relation to matters weight of late. As a matter of fact, it is no longer just ladies who are concerned about their weight but men are consistently wading into the pool towards the deep end. Men in great Britain are becoming more aware of their looks and are breaking the silence. The past three years have seen men in UK join slimming clubs in their thousands. Two of the top slim clubs have experienced a rush to enroll men desperate to cut down the unnecessary pound. Weight watcher has experienced over 100% of sign up within the past three years (Manning par. 3). Slim world has seen its numbers increase to 44,000 by 2010 and even doubling to 88,000 in recent days. These figures make up to a quarter of total membership in the past five years from what used to be rarity. Two reasons could explain this influx of figures as explained by James Stubbs (an obesity research specialist for slim world). The first is that men are more concerned about their looks now as compared to the past. This could be due to the rise in men’s magazines and fashion. The other reason is due to the prevalence of obesity that more men are even willing to deal with it. According to recent findings by department of health (UK) percentage of men considered to be healthy in terms of weight went south from 41% in 1993 to 33.9% in 2010. Further statistics show that out of every adult in Britain 60% are overweight (Manning par. 3). with such trends could it be the time to call on ladies to move over because fat is no longer a feminist issue? Again in recent times things are changing for the ladies as more and more ladies are starting to be bold and defy what the world thinks. They are standing tall against the notion that ladies should have breasts like Barbie dolls, and waists the size of Kate Moss, with skin like a magazine advert. Their diet books are burning, and some of them are not ordinary people but celebrities. A few of them include American TV series writer Lena Dunham staring in girls. She is neither a supermodel nor a supersize. Since there are not much of acting roles for her size she went ahead to create one for herself when writing girls. Lady Gaga posted some of her photos showing her to be shapelier, captioned ‘Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15.’ She later quoted that when she eats she feels healthier and better, she will not be worried about scrutiny as she is proud of whom she is. Other defiants include Salma Hayek, Adele and the ordinary Linda Marie-Nilsson who is a size 18 yet was bold enough to post her photo on Facebook (Gordon par. 7). Though fat women would want to lose weight they still subconsciously hold on to their status. A few reasons have been cited as to why they do this by Sussie Orbach, the author of fat is a feminist issue. Women want to remain fat so as to be considered more serious in their areas of work especially with the opposite gender. Other reasons would be to avoid competition from fellow women and even desexualize themselves. The media has hugely influence ladies in matters of weight, to a greater extent in an exaggerated manner. It has pushed it’s a gender by saying beauty is achieved through being thin. It has managed to widen the gap between what is realistic and ideal in manners related to body size. This has lead to women taking up torturous measures to achieve what seems ideal. The world has experienced a change in how things appear. There seem to be more men enrolling for sliming clubs in recent times. Men have become more aware of their appearances. Other ladies have also stood up to defy the trends that dictate how they look by putting up a bold stand about their medium sized or big bodies. The trends still show that fat is still a feminist issue. However, it also must be noted that there is a slow but constant paradigm shift and soon it will not be if these trends continue. Works Cited Gordon, Bryony. Why fat is still a feminist issue. The Telegraph. 25th Nov 2012. Web. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/9695796/Bryony-Gordon-why-fat-is-still-a-feminist-issue.html Manning, Sanchez. Move over, ladies: Fat is no longer a feminist issue. The Independent. Feb 17, 2013. Web. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/move-over-ladies-fat-is-no-longer-a-feminist-issue-8498153.html Orbach, Susie. Fat is a Feminist Issue Stephen, Sarah. Fat is (still) a feminist issuethird world network. 11 March 1998. Web. http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/fat-cn.htm Wilson, Emily. A quick reminder ... Fat is a Feminist Issue, Author Susie Orbach (1978). The Guardian. Oct. 11, 2005. Web. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/oct/11/gender.society Read More