CAMPOS: The weight of a cruel culture
By Paul Campos, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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A friend of mine committed suicide earlier this month. That's one way of describing what happened.
Another way of describing the event would be to say she died from anorexia nervosa.
Yet another description would be to say she was killed by a culture that, from the time she was a little girl, tormented her constantly about her body.
Here's an e-mail a 14-year-old girl sent recently to Monique van den Berg, an English professor whose blog is dedicated to, among other things, encouraging people to stop hating their bodies:
"It's really hard not to judge yourself when the image of beauty is a size 0. I know I'm talented, but that doesn't make the girl in the mirror look any better. And every time my mom tells me I look pretty I just can't believe her! Is this just a '14-year old phase?' What'll it take for me to love my reflection? Because every time I say to myself 'You're beautiful' it feels like a lie."
This girl has already learned two ignoble truths about appearance in our culture: That, as a woman, nothing she accomplishes will ever be considered as important as how she looks, and that the conventional definition of feminine beauty in our culture is both extraordinarily narrow and radically different from what most women look like.
Consider Hollywood's current It Girl, Keira Knightley. Knightley has a body mass that places her in the second percentile of the population. If her weight were to deviate as radically in the other direction - in other words if she were in the 98th percentile of body mass - she would weigh approximately 300 pounds.
Yet Knightley is presented by our media-industrial complex as a completely natural object of male desire, while men attracted to 300-pound women are considered to be in the grip of a bizarre fetish. (Meanwhile the archetypal male sex symbol Brad Pitt has a BMI of 27, which also happens to be the average BMI of middle-aged American men).
All this is reflected by a diet culture that tells girls and women to starve themselves, but not to the point where they actually have to be hospitalized (that would qualify as an "eating disorder").
As disturbing as so-called "pro-ana" Web sites are (such sites offer cyberspaces where people with eating disorders reinforce each others' behavior, by, for example, posting photographs of their emaciated bodies as a form of what posters call "thinspiration"), I have a lot of sympathy for the adolescent girls who dominate these sites.
These girls deal every day with the bottomless hypocrisy of a culture that screams at them that extreme thinness is synonymous with beauty, and that being fat, or rather "fat" - i.e., of average size - is a catastrophe, and then recoils in horror from the skeletal images - i.e., just slightly thinner than Keira Knightley - those messages inevitably produce.
Those messages killed my friend, just as surely as they killed and are killing countless others (anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental illness, with perhaps half the deaths from the disease being suicides).
They nearly killed Diane Israel. Israel was an elite triathlete, who lost her career and almost her life to the all-too-common combination of disordered eating and compulsive exercise.
Israel has spent the last four years making a film called Beauty Mark, which uses her own experiences as a starting point to explore our culture's obsession with a narrow definition of beauty, and the self-destructive things people do to pursue it.
It's a powerful, important and often moving document (I appear in the film, but have no financial interest in the project). I wish my friend had lived to see it.
(An advance screening of Beauty Mark will take place Thursday at 7 p.m. in Room 1B5O of the Humanities Building on the University of Colorado's Boulder campus. It's free and open to the public.)
Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu.
Comments
Posted by SASQUATCH on February 27, 2008 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This 1960s brain-fry seems to work 24/7 on finding something wrong with America; walking proof that affirmative action has failed. Just maybe PC's beluga should have taken some personal responsibility and simply lost her knife, fork and spoon.
Posted by rickg19611 on February 27, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah.... sure thing. According to Campos, eating disorders are non-existent in other cultures. Blame America first.... as usual from the lunatic left crowd.
Posted by irisman on February 27, 2008 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Paul Campos is right on this one. I think that really skinny women are very unsexy. Historically, women were expected to have curves. The current nonsense has been foisted on young girls by the movie industry, the fan magazines, and gay fashion designers. Young girls whose bodies haven't fully developed, often have relatively low body mass ratios, but mature women of the same weight tend to look rather gaunt. A small minority of women are naturally tall and slender, and some of them become models. Men are not immune to body image problems, and that's one reason some take drugs to bulk up.
Posted by Spencer on February 27, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hard to imagine how anyone would take offense to this column but leave it up to the Hairy Ass Hillbilly to figure out a way.
Posted by HolierThanThou on February 27, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What's wrong with America is demonstrated by the two posts above this one.
They just can't handle it when someone questions one of the most pathetic aspects of our marketing-centric culture.
Posted by HolierThanThou on February 27, 2008 at 8:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I meant to pick on the first two posts.
Campos is a good man to target the sick marketing put on young women in this country. Personally, I find average women to be much more attractive and pleasing to my eyes then those who look starved.
I'll share a little secret about men with the ladies here: just by making the attempt to look attractive to us, you look attractive. I know this contradicts all the crap you hear from advertisers and glossy magazine articles written by marketing experts. But it's generally true, at least if you're wanting to attract the kind of man who's worth being with.
Posted by HolierThanThou on February 27, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Here are a couple of poetic and romantic thoughts for you ladies to ponder.
If I wanted you to get thinner then why would I take you out for dinner?
If I found to you be overweight then it's more likely that our first date would be at the gym.
Posted by stuckiniowa on February 27, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Odd that the majority of magazines targeted to men, dont have photos of women in this "2nd" percentile. Most of them are thin, sure, but they have curves and are not underweight. The photos in magazines targeted to women however . .
Posted by peterpi on February 27, 2008 at 10:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Regarding the first two posts, it sounds like if anyone anywhere comments negatively on any aspect of American culture, then they are trsitors, ... unless they are Republicans accusing liberals of treason. Then they are patriots.
To Campos' column: I say right on! There's a beauty/fashion/diet industrial complex out there committed to extracting the maximum wealth out of women by presenting unrealisticly thin images of women as ideal. Fashion models have been known to starve themselves to death. Karen Carpenter's death was a symptom. But we don't do anything because there's way too much money to be made.
Several months ago, a non-profit foundation, run by a soap company I believe, had an ad where woman after woman (perfectly healthy looking women) said things like "I'm too fat, I'm too thin, my skin isn't light enough, my skin isn't dark enough, I'm ugly because I'm blonde, I'm ugly because I'm brunette, I'm too big, I'm too small, ...", then at the end it urged women to like their body the way it was. That message needs to be put out way more often. Unfortunately any positive images get drown out.
Thank you Paul Campos!
Posted by PatBallard on February 27, 2008 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Paul,
As usual, you hit the nail on the head. Reading the 14 year old girl's account could have been something I wrote at that age. And a few yeas later, I was almost dead because I thought I could beat the "odds" and be skinny. It took me many years to learn to love this body that I have. A body just like my mom's. But I do love it, now, and that is an empowering, freeing experience that I wish all women (and men) could have.
Thanks, Paul.
Posted by Elwood on February 27, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe her parents should have worked harder, or is it society's job to fix everyone's thinking.
Posted by SASQUATCH on February 27, 2008 at 1:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What will PC have to say when his libs pals write laws that will ban FAT people from resturants, as is now being considered? What a hoot. Here come the FAT NAZIS--no soup for you!
Posted by oatis on February 27, 2008 at 1:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The silly remarks from the neo-cons merit no comment (so I won't),but I will move to beg a question:
Is there or is there not an obesity epidemic? Anorexia is a grave disorder, and is certainly connected to the artificiality of the fashionable "body culture", which is a global, and not specifically American malaise. But the medical profession, (concerned not with superficial fashion, but with health) tells us that fat-related injury, disability and disease are now epidemic, and the cause for great alarm--especially as it pertains to to those who are obese in childhood. What is the relationship between these two extremes of the eating-disorder spectrum?
Posted by 4gColoNative on February 27, 2008 at 4:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr. Campos, sorry for the loss of your friend.
And I'm sorry that you're tilting at the cultural windmill.
Strangely enough, I can go months without seeing a photo of Keira Knightley. I might have seen one movie she's been in. I just am not exposed to these people because my interests aren't so superficial.
Young girls obsessing about the celebrities and making comparisons to themselves seem to be seeking out this media ... seeking out the message you consider "killing." What is this, Clockwork Orange?--are we chaining young girls down, pinning their eyelids open and making them watch hours upon hours of the shows, videos and movies? Making them look at the fashion magazines?
I agree with other posters that significant people in a girl's life (i.e., parent(s)) need to better teach their children more important values, teach them what "marketing" is all about, and direct their free time to more productive interests and activities.
Posted by Monotone on February 27, 2008 at 10:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I love it how Sasquatch is always the first to post. And always an attack on Campos. I didn't see any mention of this being strictly an American problem in the article. The fact that you would post a personal attack about Campos after he shares his loss, and is writing about a real problem within the media (not American Media, all media) raises serious questions about you.
Sasquatch, you need to either admit that you are an ass that has no logical basis for anything that you say or admit to everyone that you harbor a secret man-crush on Campos and are compensating by trying to show how much you hate him.
I for one think its a man-crush.
PS- let us know when you lose someone close to you so that we can launch personal attacks at you.
Posted by DivaJean on February 28, 2008 at 6:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My story is a sad indictment of our times. My nine year old daughter wanted to go to the mall for her birthday. One item we shopped for were dresses for church. Now, my daughter is a head taller than anyone else in her 3rd grade class- and not fat- but going thru that getting a little chunk to prepare for changing into a young lady. Anyhow, she told me to not say the size she wore out loud so no one would know. And it wasn't anything super large either. She already carries the stigma of weight worry AT NINE. And you can believe she gets NONE of this from me- I work hard to NOT pressure about looks or size. This is all cultural crap pushed on her.
Posted by mytwosense on February 28, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No one is more critical of vapid pop culture trends than I am.
But, I have come to the conclusion that anorexia is a narcissistic condition. Anyone I've ever known who had it was fiercely competitive, obsessed with approval, and, to an extent, had an unusual need for attention.
I simply can't lay all the blame for these mindsets on our culture. I also can't devote as much sympathy as I would like to this condition.
There are people starving to death all over this world, and there is something very obscene about deliberately starving yourself when you have a bountiful table in front of you that the former does not.
In general, this country is way too fixated on food.
Posted by kbrigan on February 28, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Re. anorexic (and other eating disorders?) and narcissism. I agree that there is a level of narcissism in the disorders (judging from what I've seen in others), but this factor is taken into account by professionals fighting that suite of diseases. Certainly, this culture encourages a bizarre, half-baked version of 24/7 female narcissism in several ways. First, with the idea that all ideas are valid, that analysis never counts more than feelings, that asking anyone to make their case or prove their point is being "mean". In other words, women and girls are continually encouraged, by the culture and by each other, to think of thinking as socially unacceptable. Second, narcissism is the only perk that chic, fashionable, cool, good girls and women get. It is only through vapid, ridiculous, self-destructive acts (starving to death, having weight loss surgery, having plastic surgery, or more everyday acts like wearing uncomfortable shoes, wearing miniskirts in the middle of winter, dieting) that women and girls get to prove that they are OK, i.e. stupid and obedient enough to not threaten the status quo. That narcissicm -- the rule that says dieters always get to monopolize the conversation, that women who does the dumbest things (i.e. dating abusers, screwing up their finances, being all around flakes) get emotional support and encouragement, while women who can handle money, who are too smart to diet or have weight loss surgery, who refuse to date abusive men, who refuse to waste their lives worrying about shoes, get dissed, generally and especially by threatened women and girls, as bitches or dykes or "mean" or "insensitive". Women and girls who are still enslaved by that mind set will fight hard to monopolize attention and do all or most of the talking -- it's the only reward they get for being agreeable and obedient and killing themselves on cue.
Posted by BetterEducated on March 1, 2008 at 11:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Dear DivaJean,
My own two girls were exactly the same way at that age. Their own grandfather remarked to our older daughter, "When are you going to stop getting tall?" and I just about killed him. (His big beef was that she was a girl in the first place.)
At about 15 or so, after looming over the other girls (and boys) in school all their lives, both girls magically slowed down and ended up about 5'8". At 20 and 23, respectively, they are now both very lanky, even willowy, young women.
Posted by John_II on March 3, 2008 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It is not entirely a cultural problem. A lot of these girls have serious mental disorders that are triggered by their environment but not caused by it. If it wasn't anorexia, it would be some other kind of compulsion. It is not uncommon to find that the parents also had some kind of obsessive compulsion.
Posted by outrider on March 3, 2008 at 11:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I feel for people with problems so that includes all of us in one way or another. Life and life styles are ever changing.
Consider this women in other parts of the world, were and are still forced into life styles in which they have no say.
These people have choice and someone to turn to what I'm saying is they have an option. We as a society are so wet-nursed "BOO"
Posted by Jimminy on March 5, 2008 at 1:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Okay,if thin is less sexy than "curvy",as several of the guys on this thread have said,then just maybe the girls going for the anorexic look are reacting AGAINST being or becoming persons whose chief perceived value is their fertility.
Posted by camposfan on March 12, 2008 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Another fine article by one of my favorite writers.
I'm a recovered anorexic, and very much was the victim of the mindset Campos tells of us here. I probably would have naturally been a size 12 (US) most of my life, except my mother panicked at my powerful size and began "dieting" me -- starving me -- and feeding me amphetamines when I was only 8 or 9. I took over this abuse myself at age 19, and was a fullblown anorexic for years. Every time I stood up during my 20's, I blacked out...and yet I got the rewards for being "pretty." (I.e, got sex with shallow men so stupid as to be brainwashed by this stuff, too.) Forget that I was a terrific natural athlete, musician, had an IQ of 170. Forget everything about women but whether they match the current sick standard of beauty. My youth was wasted, as I could not summon the energy to do much of anything. My talents and genius were wasted--not only for me, but for the society that did this to me. What could I have done with my life, how might I have helped the world if I hadn't wasted my life like this? We'll never know. I do know, now, as a size 18 woman (what dieting "gained" me was, of course, a permanently lowered metabolic rate and so a larger, not smaller, body), I could not give a hoot about my society--may you sizeists all rot from your sick insides out. May the government that calls people of my size "a worse threat than terrorism" fall, violently and soon.
So, I could have died young, too, Paul--I could have been like your friend, whose loss is tragic for you and emblematic for us all. Somehow, I survived long enough to see my hateful sizeist mother die and got the eating disorders therapy that saved me. I'll probably die young not from being fat but from the harm dieting did to me...but since no one gives a damn about fat people, I'm about the only one who finds that tragic.
Posted by MsValeriah on March 23, 2008 at 2:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with everyone who says that we need a cultural readjustment relating to body size, from both sides. I'm an obese person working on reclaiming my health. At this point, looks are secondary. I'm in my early 50's, had a stent put in last July and was diagnosed with type II diabetes in November. It was at that point I decided enough was enough, and started making very serious changes in my attitude and practices with food and exercise. I've dropped 25 lbs. since November, taken off 45 1/2 inches, eat healthy food in amounts that allow for gradual weight loss (1-2 lbs. weekly), do cardio workouts five days a week and tai chi on Sundays. So far, my body fat has dropped from 39.1% to 33.9. I have a long way to go, yet, but I'm on my way, and have reaped some great health benefits already. I was an obese child, have lost (and regained) large amounts of weight several times in my life and can personally attest to the esteem issues involved. I've spent most of my life hating my body. Most of the weight I lost over the course of my life I lost in hopes of becoming more attractive.
It's made a big difference approaching the issue from a standpoint of reclaiming my health instead. I don't believe I'm being "sizeist" in wanting to shed my excess fat now, although in the past, I certainly would have been.
We need to shift our values to accept all body types as attractive so long as they are genuinely healthy, and extremes on either end as undesireable. Attractive should simply equal healthy.
Just my two cents.
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