On October 19th, the popular blog “Humans of New York” re-posted a photo of a young woman. The young woman’s name is Stella, and she is a student from NYU. Instead of posting the street photo “HoNY” had taken (see more at www.humansofnewyork.com), the image sent out to the World Wide Web was Stella’s own self-portrait, and the caption read:
“WARNING: Picture might be considered obscene because subject is not thin. And we all know that only skinny people can show their stomachs and celebrate themselves…”
To date, on HoNY’s facebook page alone, this photo has 607,047 “likes”, 27,301 “shares” and over 76,000 comments. When the photo was posted, mixed reviews flooded in, with opinions ranging from “You’re beautiful…!” to “If I want to see that, I buy a fat magazine”, and more or less everything in between and beyond. The interest that one photo can spark is incredible, but it is clear from the extensive amount of feedback that the body is something almost everyone has an opinion on. This makes sense, as everyone has a body and everyone manipulates one; some are in control of what it does and how it reacts to their environment and some are not, whether this be due to their own doing or not.
Stella Boonshoft’s “brave” self-portrait. © Stella Boonshoft: Humans of New York 2012
Stella was obviously open and wonderfully comfortable about her story. In response to the amount of feedback her self-portrait received, she willed HoNY to post their photo of her alongside a particular background. In this, Stella revealed her life-long struggle with body image, and exposed how she tried to cope by self-medicating. She also informed readers of her diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (or PCOS), a condition she shares with millions of women in the UK.
In Stella’s instance, being healthy meant more than simply dieting and exercising. Rather, it meant overcoming her own issues with body image, and dealing with the unhealthy mechanisms she was using to try and cope with both the emotional effects and the bullying. It also meant monitoring PCOS, a condition which not only has serious major implications but also severe underlying ones, such as the tendency for sufferers to struggle with their weight. Stella stated that her aim was to: “help young women struggling with their body image and expose the hypocrisy and cruelty that is sizeism”. She also declared, ”I know [that] what I am trying to do…is so much more important than whatever feelings I may have about myself”.
Despite this, there were still arguments. So why is health, a universally accepted necessity, so hard to weigh up (excuse the pun) against the concepts of appearance that society, and particularly the media, push? It is true that there are health risks to being overweight, and these should not be ignored. However, as long as Stella isn’t living off three square meals of junk food every day, who’s to say that her management of her own health is wrong? From what I can see, she is taking care of herself in the correct way.
“So why is the concept of healt, a universally accepted necessity, so hard to weigh up (excuse the pun) against the concepts of appearance that society and, in particular, the media push? Picture © Rebekah Cooper 2012.
From the reactions Stella received, it is clear that the two stances cannot simply be summed up as a case of health-conscious rebellion against the rise in cases of obesity and those who are overweight. Moreover, Stella is not simply another curvy woman standing up against the size-0 craze, the photo-shopped magazine models, and Kate Moss‘ notion that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. This is but a small representation of the online explosions of opinionated young women and, quite frankly, online “trolling”. I strongly oppose the active searching of terms such as “pro-ana”, “pro-mia” or “thinspo”. Nonetheless, if you felt inclined to do so, I am certain you would have no problem finding those who don’t just aim for, but actively promote the starvation or purging of the self in order to attain a certain “physical ideal”. The truth is, if we aren’t careful, the opposite may end up being just as extreme. The more we oppose the image of “thin” or “skinny”, the more we become a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Thinner girls deemed “unhealthy” and “unhappy”, are being told to “go and eat a cheeseburger”, but since when were cheeseburgers a healthy way to gain weight? In my opinion, “curves” refers to a body shape, not a body size (obesity is not the same as being a healthy woman who naturally has curves). As this image becomes an increasingly attractive ideal and what apparently constitutes a “real” woman, more and more petite and naturally slim girls are being deemed ugly and unwomanly. That surely isn’t fair, or healthy, either?
Surely it isn’t too hard to see that, as long as you’re healthy – and I mean holistically: attentive to both emotional and physical well-being – there should be no problem. Whether it be a size 6 or a size 16, happiness and health cannot and should not be underestimated as two of the most essential, personal achievements. The sooner we stop judging, and start encouraging these, the better.
© Rebekah Cooper 2012.
Side Note:
If you identify with any of the issues raised in this article, then you are not alone. There are many ways in which you can receive support and help, and the following contacts are to name but a few:
B-eat Eating Disorders Help – http://www.b-eat.co.uk/
Eating Disorders Helpline – http://www.eatingdisorderssupport.co.uk/helpline
FRANK Drugs Misuse Support – http://www.talktofrank.com/
National Bullying Helpline – http://nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/
University of Leeds Nightline – http://www.leedsnightline.co.uk/
University of Leeds Help – http://help.leeds.ac.uk/talk.html
Verity PCOS Support – http://www.verity-pcos.org.uk/