Why The Perfect Curvy Body is Unattainable
It’s no secret that the word “fat” often registers as a cursed four-letter word in most people’s minds. From a young age, we’re taught that being fat is associated with so many horrible things in life: being unhealthy, being embarrassing, and being unattractive. And honestly, it’s not our fault for thinking this way—when I was growing up, overweight people were used as punchlines on television. Even when they weren’t the butt of the joke, their entire lives revolved around them losing weight. In the media, overweight people are portrayed as one-dimensional, and it spouts that once they lose the weight, happiness will be abound. So, you can imagine the effects that would have on young children—young children that included me.
I have never been slim. I don’t even believe that is a negative quality about myself, though there have been many days in the past – and there probably will be many days in the future – where I will believe it is. No matter how much I work out, try to eat healthy (and let’s be real, sometimes I fail), or attempt to convince myself that a juice cleanse is a great idea, I am someone who isn’t skinny. Up until a couple of years ago, I would look at the models on magazine covers and wonder why I couldn’t be 5’11” with a flat stomach and a thigh gap. However, that societal standard started to vanish during my high school years. Finally, society was starting to embrace being heavier—I thought I was seeing a real shift in people’s mindsets when I first saw praise for being a “thicc” woman. Well, that was until I saw what society’s actual definition of “curves” was.
According to the media, embracing curves means possessing this specific kind of body: a flat stomach, but with big boobs and a big butt. It also means having toned arms, but also having large thighs – but if they touch, unacceptable! Your other features that allow you to be an accepted “larger” woman? Slimmed waist, no cellulite, and an angular face that shows no signs of extra weight. As for men, the accepted weight for being heavyset is that of a completely buff gym nut. I don’t know about you, but neither of these body types seem realistic to me for the average person.
At first, when this new wave of “embrace your curves” hit popular culture, I was incredibly happy because I thought that mass media would finally accept all body types. And though I’m thankful the definition is expanding, I’m disappointed that yet again, there is another impossible standard for people to live up to. There are not only two acceptable body types in this world. There are not only two bodies we should strive towards. For me, I’d eventually like to see positive representation for every type of body. I’d like to see people praising others for working on themselves emotionally and trying to be confident, rather than encouraging them to be skinny or have “perfect curves” in order to achieve happiness. To the magazines and media that claim that there are only a few acceptable body types, I say: I am not one-dimensional. I am more than just my weight.