Fit or Fat?

Yes, that title is a Clueless reference.

In the wake of my last post I have been thinking about femininity and beauty quite a bit. I am definitely one who loves making myself look pretty and I take great pride in the image that I present to the world. I also love fashion. It is one of my favorite forms of art and in the words of the sometimes conniving but always impeccably stylish Blair Waldorf, "fashion is the most powerful art there is. It's movement, design and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we'd like to be". Then she of course immediately insults the always adorable Dan Humphrey, but she wouldn't be Blair Waldorf if she didn't.

The fact of the matter is, however, that the fashion and beauty industries are obsessed with perfection and in today's society that often means being underfed and over-coiffed but acting as though you eat whatever you want and your beauty is effortless. I swear this is my greatest inner-struggle. Do I want only designer things to touch my body or do I want to live a life completely devoid of label? I really can't decide. Maybe that's why I'm an actor, because I like the idea of changing personalities every few months, but I digress.  We are surrounded by television shows and films that show beautiful, thin, desirable women eating whatever they want and not gaining a pound (look at Gilmore Girls or How I Met Your Mother) and it is totally unrealistic. Those women don't eat burgers and drink beer every day without two minutes of exercise and look like that. We're also told in magazines and interviews that celebrities hardly diet or exercise. I remember reading an interview with Renee Zelwegger about how she lost the pounds from playing Bridget Jones (which can I just say she is NOT FAT in those movies) and she said something like "oh I just drank a ton of water and walked my butt off"... BULLSHIT. You may have done those things and they are great ways to stay in shape and healthy, but that is not how you went from a normal Bridget Jones weight to your stick figure emaciated Roxy Hart looks. It really irks me that society tells us to be thin thin thin, but makes it sound as though this can be achieved by lying on a chaise lounge eating whatever we want as long as we walk for 30 minutes 3 times a week and promise to get our daily dose of water.

Recently celebrities have begun talking about their real exercise regimens and I think that's great. Women like Jennifer Lawerence have gained popularity because of their outspoken views on healthy living and their refusal to give up french fries. And while I think J Law is wonderful and I could watch the Hunger Games every day for the rest of my life and be happy, you don't look like her with out some effort. The difference though is that she is clearly strong and healthy and she doesn't deny that she exercises, she just is honest in saying that she hates doing it. She isn't rail thin, however, and she clearly isn't starving herself and that's what we should be striving for. Healthy living. Starvation tactics are no way to live but neither is over indulgence. I think if people really knew what it took to be as thin as Keria Knightly, I think the obsession would stop right there.

As I write all of this, however, I have to feel somewhat hypocritical. In a recent article on independent.co.uk, Sian Boyle (albeit writing about women and the relationship to their "down there" hair and society's weird obsession with it) makes the point that "very overweight over-eaters who say they’re “happy as they are” [are] happy to remain overweight because it’s preferable to denying themselves lots of delicious food. But if people could eat whatever they wanted without gaining weight, they’d do so in a heartbeat." and I think she's absolutely right. If I could be thin but still eat my weight in pizza, I would (which would suck if I were Gumby thin... less weight, less pizza! What a dilemma). But at the same time, if I had the choice of Kate Bosworth's or Christina Hendrick's body you'd better believe I'd choose Christina's. Those of us who claim to be against society's tyrannical view of beauty, still worry about it and therefore propagate it. It is a thought I have every single day. When I don't get a part or it doesn't work out with a guy, a little Eeyore cloud of weight issues looms over my head. Which, I'm sad to say, is an issue that I know all women deal with, regardless of dress size. When I'm old I'm sure I will look back on my life and think that I wasted a lot of time worrying about my waist line. 

In a recent article on Jezebel.com, Lindy West also writes on the topic of a woman's most private hair grooming routines (the article that led me to Boyle's) and how society's UHHHUBSESSION (she puts it) with how a lady chooses to groom herself effects her own personal feminist beliefs. She ultimately comes to the conclusion that: 

     "I participate in HELLA BEAUTY MYTH SHIT. Because it's fun. And if I eschewed every single behavior and pop cultural phenomenon that undermined my feminism, I'd have to just sit in a refrigerator box at the bottom of a well and write my own Judith Butler fanfic. Except even that wouldn't count, because it'd be tainted by my own internalized misogyny, and also wells are phallic and REFRIGERATORS ARE A SYMBOL OF FEMALE SERVITUDE. Instead, you just have to choose which problematic-but-enjoyable stuff is worth it to you, and then swallow it with a long cool glass of critical thinking."

And this I think is the key. If being really thin matters to you... go for it. If you want to get super fat and that makes you happy... the more power to you. If you want to sell all your posessions, retreat to a monastery and take a vow of silence, I reserve the right to think you're crazy... but I'm not going to stop you. I think our problem is our incessant desire to put our noses where they don't belong. If we just let it be, live and let live, and other Beatles related things I think, no I know, the world would be a much happier place.