Mirror Mirror on the Wall
So this is my first blog post and let me tell you, when you’ve never done anything like this before, it is hard!!! I have about 800 million ideas running through my head and each time I tried to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, more ideas just kept coming forth! That being said, let me know what you think?
I am almost 44 years old and it is amazing throughout my life’s journey thus far, how much the norm of what a female body is supposed to look like has changed over the last 4 decades! The first female I remember seeing was blonde tanned and toned. A woman by the name of Farrah Fawcett was my first recollection of what a female was supposed to look like. I am pretty sure every teenage boy at that time had the famous poster of Farrah Fawcett with the red one piece bathing suit hanging on their wall. So that was the ideal female body of the 70’s and the 80’s was a wee different but not far from that. The 80’s were a super fun time and I am glad to say that most of my formative youth was from 80’s culture. It was a fun and freaky time with new fashion trends and the fear of not a whole lot. During this years I remember two types of women… the supermodel and also fitness guru. The birth of the supermodels after some research was the 80’s. It gave rise to such models as Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangalista and also the fitness gurus such as Jane Fonda, Racquel Welch and Olivia Newton-John. All these women were super slender with long legs and the models were uber tall. I for one at that time was not interested in those women. I was however interested in the stylings of Cyndi Lauper. She had a style and flair that could be transferred to any body type. Although this fashion and flair for fighting the norm didn’t last it was still something that has stuck with me for the past 30 + years. As we move into the 90’s, which is when I graduated high school and travelled lots I saw several different style and norms of what body image was to be. The norm in media was waif like thin models, pale or made to look pale and almost sickly with no muscle mass. I have always been heavily influenced by music and even the musicians were thin and waif like. Even though I knew that body type was unattainable for me, there was still a part of me that said I could do it. After looking back on it I am glad that I liked and enjoyed food and exercise back then as much as I do now. So now we move on and welcome the 2000’s where the norm has changed but hasn’t? If that makes sense. Society is now changing the way we view norms by writing regulations for models in different countries all over the world, athletic “real” women builds are in media and we have what are labelled “plus size” models. Now I said earlier that the norm has changed but it hasn’t and the reason for that is expectations have changed also. What media considers “plus size” is pretty much a normal BMI (body mass index). Athletic real women are athletes that train hard and don’t really dwell on their appearance so much. The reason we see them more is because the media has had pressure on them for equal rights in the broadcasting of men vs women sporting events. There are also laws in places in several countries that models have to be over a certain age, have a letter from a medical professional that they are of an acceptable weight and BM as well as other regulations to confirm the individual is healthy.
I myself continue to struggle with body image every time I look in the mirror and I know I am not alone. Self image and ones perception of themselves is honestly our own worst enemy. Usually there are two knee jerk reactions, eat for comfort or drink for comfort.