I first encountered the label of “skinny-fat” last summer. I had recently come out of stressful relationship which as a result had caused me to lose quite a bit of weight in a short space of time. Now don’t get me wrong, I was carrying weight that I could afford to lose. I was not underweight. However I was a comfortable size 8 and was certainly the skinniest I had been for a long time. Close friends had noticed I was a lot smaller and one day one of them commented:
“Do you look skinny underneath though, or is it still a bit ‘skinny-fat’?”
I had to admit I had no idea what she meant. The term “skinny-fat” refers to girls who look very slim in clothes, but when seen without their clothes on, their bodies are not as toned and lean as previously appeared. Urban Dictionary suggests it refers to “someone who is thin and looks great in clothes, but is all flabby underneath”. Therefore I, at a size 8, was potentially being labelled as some form of “fat”. Those girls we used to envy for being able to eat whatever they wanted, not go to the gym and still maintain a slender figure were now being labelled as “fat”. Body image is a constant problem and potential danger for young female adults in particular and in living in such a heavily media documented world it can become very easy to feel your body is inadequate. But at what point did bodies we used to envy suddenly become a target for body shaming?
The “ideal” body image has certainly changed a great deal over time. The 1990s saw the success of models like Kate Moss and Jodie Kidd who idealised the thin, waif-like figures. Then came women like Beyonce, Nicki Minaj and most recently Kim Kardashian; who “broke the internet” with her bum; who urged us to embrace our larger, curvier figures. Now, however, it is extremely toned, enviably lean, 6-pack baring buff beauties that have set the bar for the “ideal” body image.
This figure, achieved through a combination of extremely strict dieting and high intensity body workouts is the admitted body image pin-up amongst many female students. Apps like Instagram have had a great deal to play in the publicising of this body image; fitness trainers and dieticians can upload recipes, work out programs and post enviable before and after shots achieved through such diet and exercise plans. I am not condemning these body types in anyway- they promote highly nutritious diets and very healthy lifestyles. However committing to such a lifestyle can be incredibly time consuming, not to mention very strict on diet choices which for many of us can be difficult to maintain. We all want to be healthy, but with terms like “skinny-fat” now emerging, is the pressure on more than ever to achieve the “ideal” body image?
When speaking to my close group of friends about it, I was surprised to find that 3 of them had committed to paying over £60 for Kayla Itsines’ The Bikini Body Guide, a pack that offers a 12 week workout program as well as a diet plan. As soon as word was out that they had it, the rest of us quickly scrambled to get copies of the diet and exercise plans from so we might attempt similar results. One friend admitted “the skinny fat struggle is so real” and admitted to having a picture of incredibly toned model Steph Claire Smith as her phone background for “thinspiration”. All of them admitted they thought these stronger body images were much better than promoting very thin figures, but also admitted they found the strict regimes hard to maintain.
It’s great that there are so many people out there promoting extremely healthy body images, but what comes with that is the potential for shaming of those who do not choose to conform to that body type. Terms like “skinny-fat” pose an increasing danger to an already fragile mind set among young girls when in theory, body confidence should be achievable at any size. However, the body image struggle is still so real and it may only be a matter of time before such trends change and what is expected of our bodies becomes a different ongoing battle.
Edited by Amelia Bauer
Image Sources:
Instagram- kayla_itsines
Instagram- stephclairesmith
http://kissthechaos.com/beyonces-fitness-tips/
http://unitedpoleartists.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/sexy-then-and-sexy-nowho…