The Great Weight Debate, Part II: Alternative Attitudes from Abroad

To claim that only American women suffer from body-image obsession would be untrue, but let's face it: compared with the rest of the world, the American lifestyle is characterized by material excess and the worship of the body--in its least spiritual sense. In modern, upper-middle class society, the female body has been commodified to within an inch of its life; we are inundated with the message that physical perfection must be sought after at any cost and, more often than not, a wallet-busting one. The media graciously informs us of flaws we never even knew we had: Oversized pores! Unhighlighted hair! Dry cuticles! Bulky calves! and each with its twinned product or procedure promising to hide these hideous deformities, to make us into the shiny, happy people we ought to be.

By the Numbers

Of all bodily 'imperfections,' women obsess over weight and weight loss the most, and are the primary contributors to the roughly $50 billion/year diet industry (Simmons Market Research Bureau). The most recent CDC survey found that while 13.9 percent of female college students are actually overweight, 48.8 percent believed themselves to be overweight. Unsurprisingly, a recent study by Dove found that, of the ten nationalities under scrutiny, American women are most dissatisfied with their bodies.

But enough with the fatalistic statistics. Despite all this gloomy evidence for the inevitability of our own self-loathing, we must remember first and foremost that body ideals and thus body image are culturally manufactured and thus, to an extent, rectifiable.

Pizza and Dim-Sum and Pad Thai, Oh My!

While spending time abroad this summer (in some of the culinary capitals of the world, no less), I was struck by the 'alternative' relationships that other women had with food and their bodies. Their perspectives were refreshing and edifying, and most important of all, made clear that the American standard of image obsession and ambivalence towards food is not the only way to live. Here are a few observations I made while overseas:

Bangkok, Thailand: In the city often referred to as the "Playground of the East," there is no shortage of tempting treats. Walk down a bustling sidewalk and breathe in the sultry air, tinged with the scent of simmering noodle bowls, freshly sliced tropical fruits, or savory grilled saté. Bewilderingly, though, there seem to be no overweight people under the age of sixty, and even then there is no suggestion of the obesity that plagues the U.S. Thai women are not without their irrational image hang-ups, however: As in many modern Asian cultures, the women strive for disconcertingly an ivory-skinned ideal, and their drugstore shelves and makeup counters are lined with face-bleaching creams and potions. Sigh. Are women's self-image issues as inevitable as death and taxes?

Cheng-Du, China: Despite being the third-largest city in China, there is an almost eerie feeling of isolation in Cheng-Du. The city is highly modern, and yet severed from the influence of Western culture; though I'm no stranger to foreign travel, I usually take for granted that 'city people' will speak English and have some knowledge of American pop culture, and for the first time this is not the case. There is a sense that women here live quietly and contented within their own spheres, rather than striving for the glamorous lifestyles endorsed by the Western media. Eating mostly home-cooked rather than processed foods, the women here are usually quite slender though, I note a bit smugly, lacking the muscle-tone that we so covet in the U.S.

Rome, Italy: Ah, Rome! and a diversely-shaped population that I am more used to. Finally, a place where yummy indulgences actually affect the female population's hip sizes. Down cobbled streets strut Italian women of all bodily forms, from the impossibly taut to the sumptuously fleshy, and nearly all of them endowed with a forbidding pair of bosoms this, perhaps, being the key to la donna italiana's positive body image. An Italian woman knows that she is a woman, and that fat or thin, she owns her own sexuality and isn't afraid to use it! Consequently, excesses of pizza and gelato in one's diet aren't compensated for by a deficiency in one's sex life. In a culture that suppresses few vulgarities, sensual self-denial is the real original sin.

Paris, France: Long ago, the French kindly informed us all that they were the world's superior race, and so I shall let one of their own kind do the talking while I dig into my café and croissant. Mireille Guiliano, successful French businesswoman and author of the notoriously popular French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, writes that "extremism has never been the French way. America, however, gravitates toward different philosophies, quick fixes, and extreme measures… French women take pleasure in staying thin by eating well, while Americans typically see it as a conflict and obsess over it…(French women) eat with their heads, and they do not leave the table feeling stuffed or guilty. Learning that less can be more and discovering how one can eat everything in moderation are keys." Fair enough. The most endearing part of the book, however, is where Guiliano describes her experience of studying in the States as a teenager, when she inadvertently packed on twenty pounds a testament to the challenging diet culture that American women face.

Coming Soon:

The Bright Side: Positive Developments in American Diet Culture

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