The size of problems women face......................

Did anyone see the article in the Sunday Express November 13th about Dawn French and her weight loss? Interestingly the article debates "why when it comes to a woman's achievements none is considered greater than dropping a dress size?


Not gaining a degree, or sustaining a successful career in a male dominated world of television comedy or winning an award  as a  best-selling author, not maintaining a successful relationship or finding happiness alone, not raising children or devoting oneself to a successful career". 

The article says, "It's sad but true that in the eyes of the popular press none of the things a lady can do in her life will ever be as impressive as a dramatic weight loss. If a woman was to bring about world peace she would still be derided in the gossip columns for doing it whilst carrying a few extra pounds."

Dawn French received more accolades for turning up for her best author award because she had lost weight than for her award as an author. The focus was turned away from her literary achievements to debate her weight. One columnist even suggesting that Dawn's proclaiming she was 'fat and happy' for many years must be a lie suggesting she has always been a beautiful woman but her weight loss now meant that her beauty is easier for all to see. Even insinuating she must have had a secret gastric band fitted and lied about it.

The article adds, "What is worse is the inference that any woman who has any spare flesh on her must be perpetually miserable which adds to the pressures women feel to conform to a 'thin ideal' ".

Interestingly in the same newspaper several pages earlier there is an article claiming "10% of teens visit anorexia websites". On such websites are pictures of ultra - skinny models and celebrities, such as Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie to boost motivation and encourage young people to follow an anorexic lifestyle. Mary George of eating disorder charity, 'Beat' says, "this encourages young people to follow the trend and is extremely dangerous".

Another article featured Rosario Dawson, who lost weight to portray a drug addict dying of AIDS in Rent, who spoke out on body image in American culture and had some pointed words about expectations on women and their bodies. 

She says, "It's a form of violence in the way that we look at women and the way we expect them to look and be for what sake? Not for health, survival, not for enjoyment of life, but just so you could look pretty,"She  discussed industry-wide pressures to maintain an ideal body type. After losing weight to play a drug addict dying of HIV/AIDS in the film "Rent," she said she was stunned to hear compliments about her figure. “I remember everyone asking what did you do to get so thin? You looked great,” Dawson recalled. “I looked emaciated.”

So it would seem that according to the popular press, for women in particular, size really does matter!!   We are a body conscious society and the pressures on women to meet certain ideals is momentous and anyone in the spotlight who loses or gains weight will be in the news.  My personal interest in this media pressure is how that can affect the female dancer who faces even greater aesthetic demands and how can we ensure within the dance industry we promote healthy and happy dancers.

If anyone has any observations or experiences of how such articles and the pressures of body imagery in the media affects them, please let me know as I gather further data and evidence to inform my inquiry question...............................
 do you feel any pressure from the expectations to conform to a certain body shape or ideal?

On the eve when the press have announced that research reveals that 'British Women Are the Fattest in Europe' - how does that make us Brits feel? And more importantly the psychological effect that has on all women.

 The article reports that "Last month Health Secretary Andrew Lansley launched a new "ambition" to bring down England's obesity levels by 2020 and said people need to be honest with themselves about how much they eat and drink. Overall, Britons should be eating five billion fewer calories a day than at present, he said".

Data agency Eurostat, which looked at 19 countries, found nearly a quarter of UK women - 23.9% - were recorded as being obese in the year 2008 to 2009.The UK's high levels of obesity are in stark contrast to those in countries such as Romania, where just 8% of women were classed as obese along with 7.6% of men.

Interestingly the report on the BBC news website was the 5th most popular news story of the day which would suggest a lot of us are interested in reading about our weight issues and had attracted 717 comments on its blog  page.  What really interested me was that the report also suggested that "the figures suggested that the proportion of women who are obese or overweight falls as the educational level rises". So does this mean in weight matters, education could have a real significant effect?!

Some of the comments left on the web page were also interesting both positive and negative about weight and health issues, but one in particular attracted my attention; "Why does everyone get so obsessed by other peoples weight? Every individual knows if they are overweight or not. Let people live their own lives and stop judging people by their size and eating habits. Everybody big or small has the right to be respected as a human. Look beyond the size and see the person".

It appears size and weight issues are big news ?! Weight  is discussed and documented everywhere.  As I queued to pay for my 5 items in M&S I noticed all the glossies advertising diets and weight loss plans for Christmas and advertisements of how you can drop a couple of dress sizes in time for the party season  - weight is really a social issue and is debated everywhere!!!

 Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery.

It is wonderful for a woman such as Dawn French to drop from a size 22 to a size 16 and especially gratifying to hear that she states she did it to become fitter and healthier for her daughters sake and it would be great if the press reported it as such and  encouraged all women  to be healthy and happy in whatever shape or form that their bodies take.


Obviously we all should pay attention to what we are eating especially when cheap fast food is so readily available and tempting  and there are indeed cases where  women do need to lose weight to be healthy, but there are right and wrong ways to go about it. Giving anyone complexes about their bodies isn't healthy and in a society where size really does matter the young dancer is particularly vulnerable to the pressures and can easily be influenced !!

"Abnormal eating patterns are most likely to develop during the mid- to late teens, a period of considerable physical, psychological, and social change. While the exact events that lead to the evolution of these disorders are unknown, there are two common milestones that can trigger disordered eating, especially in those with a biological predisposition. The first is the occurrence of a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one or a divorce. The other is the adoption of a strict diet, which may be even more pivotal than a personal trauma. In fact, rigorous dieting has been identified again and again as the most common initiating factor in the establishment of an uncontrollable pattern of disordered eating" - extract from an  article 'Eating Disorders (Nutrition and Well-being A to Z) .

 The article continues to state,  "Individuals with eating disorders are obsessed with food, body image, and weight loss. As many as 70 million people worldwide are estimated to suffer from these conditions, with one in five women displaying pathological eating patterns.

Professions, activities, and dietary regimens that emphasize food or thinness may also encourage eating disorders. For example, athletes, dancers, models, actors, diabetics, vegetarians, and food industry and nutrition professionals may have higher rates of disordered eating than the general population.

 Societal influences also contribute to this illness. Increasingly, Westernized culture portrays thinness as a coveted physical ideal associated with happiness, vitality, and well-being, while obesity is perceived as unhealthy and unattractive. This has encouraged a growing sentiment of body dissatisfaction, particularly among young women. Endless images of unrealistically thin models and actors in all forms of media further promote body dissatisfaction—one of the strongest risk factors for the development of disordered eating".

This is further illustrated in my findings through questionnaires and interview with dance practitioners, all said they had body image issues in their training years but had later learned to accept their bodies as they had got older and more experienced. All had experienced body image issues at  some point in their lives. I think this reiterates the importance of my inquiry in that in our education of dancers we need to ensure we promote happy and healthy dancers    -   if dancers are  better informed they can make healthy choices and learn to like what looks back at us in the mirror!

One obstacle is that the slimming industry is big business -  Obesity is a major public health problem affecting increasingly large numbers of people worldwide.  A rise in eating disorders is also accompanied by a rise in obesity in western culture but suprisingly eating disorders and obesity, usually seen as very different problems, actually share many similarities. In fact, eating disorders, obesity, and other weight-related disorders may overlap as girls move from one problem, such as unhealthy dieting, to another, such as obesity.

"Most teens don't suffer from either anorexia or obesity. They are more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors such as bingeing, purging, and dieting. These behaviors are associated with serious physical and emotional health problems. We've got to get back to three square meals a day, healthy meal planning, nutritious snacks, and regular physical activity."
- Richard Kreipe, MD, Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center.

Weight is  certainly big news ! The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry is worth,  in the UK alone, £2bm and anywhere between 40 to 100 billion in the US but on the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.

This focus on beauty and desirability "effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate." (Kilborne).

Once responsibility for our own well-being has been accepted and all the sensible measures to regulate weight have been adopted, loving acceptance of the body is the key to the transformation of suffering.  

References:

Sunday Express - Sunday 13th November 2011. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2058243/Dawn-French-weight-loss-Comedienne-shows-svelte-figure-Galaxy-National-Book-Awards.html

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/british-women-fattest-in-europe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-

15901351http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/27/quote-rosario-dawson-speaks-against-cultural-body-images/

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

Eating Disorders - effects, food, nutrition, body, diet, fat, vitamin, weight, habits, Diagnosis, Prevalence, Risk Factors, Causes, Treatment Modalities, Outcomes http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Diab-Em/Eating-Disorders.html#ixzz1btX48yXW
http://www.athealth.com/consumer/disorders/obesityeatingdis.html

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm