Posts Tagged With: Body Image

Hair, Hair and MORE Hair!

(song is: I Am Not My Hair ft. Akon by India.Arie)

Natural v. Styled. Long v. Short. Curly v. Straight. Dyed v. Not Dyed. Hair. It is part of our bodies, but can also be considered an artwork or an entity of its own. However, hair is more noticed by some people than others. Sometimes how kept a person’s hair can determine their personality or how well one dresses. Did you know during the London 2012 Olympics Gabby Douglas was criticized for her hair? Tiya Miles writes an article for CNN titled, Opinion: Why focus on Gabby Douglas’ hair?, which discusses how there was a spotlight on Gabby’s hair while also basking in her win of Gold.

While watching the re-run of the Gymnastic events, I was focused on Team USA’s routine and performance. However, I did unconsciously observe each gymnasts’ hairstyle. What I am having trouble wrapping my head around is the fact that there was a major discussion on Gabby Douglas’ hair at the time she is also receiving her Olympic medals. I know that haircare is important, however, do women truly need to mutilate their hair to adhere to a standard that the hegemonic society has set?

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Weight Issue: What is “Just Right”?

“This one is too hard. This one is too soft. This one is just right.” These well known three short sentences are from the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and I feel that they describe body image perfectly. Being too hard could possibly refer to being just all skin and bones, which is the thought of being too skinny. Too soft could be the ideal of being obese, similar to the batman shown below. However, what is the “just right” weight? How are we to deem others and ourselves as “just right” weight-wise?

Taken From

Societal norms place shackles on everyone as it dictates what the ideal weight and image of a person’s body. Topics of female celebrities on tabloids and magazines tends to focus on their looks and fashion. However, the attention focused on female celebrities often include their weight and including [media’s] opinions of them being “too skinny” or “getting fat.” Jessica Simpson and her post-pregnancy weight is a prime example of the limelight celebrities are thrusted into regarding their weight. According to Dodai Stewart on, after giving birth to her daughter there has been 109 articles all solely written about Jessica and her weight. An article called, Fat Camp, was written by my fellow blogger, Elizabeth, who believes that the reason there is a widespread following about celebrities and their weight is due to the widespread coverage of celebrities by the media. Which is true, as celebrities are watched under a microscope similar to that of a bird-watcher watching exotic birds.

Apparently Jessica Simpson signed a contract with Weight Watchers that required her to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date. If she was successful then Weight Watchers would pay her $1 million dollars as their spokesperson. It is quite interesting as Jessica is essentially being paid to lose weight, while everyone else pays to lose weight. Celebrity advantages? Tracie Egan Morrissey writes about her struggle with losing post-baby weight. She has already spent $7800 dollars on trying to lose her pregnancy weight!

During her lecture this past thursday, Melissa Campbell (@pluralisms) mentions:

Fat is a manifestation of societal pressures on women’s bodies and emotions—caused exclusively by emotional overeating, etc.

I believe that there are many different factors that results to fat and gaining weight for women. Melissa’s statement regarding fat being a manifestation of societal pressure as a product of emotional overeating. However, emotional strain on one’s body can also cause one to start overeating. Therefore, is The Biggest Loser productive or counter-productive when it comes to losing weight? Also, why put yourself under so much emotional and physical pressure?

Society pressures everyone to lose weight and be healthy, however, is it healthy to dramatically lose a ton of weight? How do we determine that we are okay the way we are weight-wise? When will we decrease our expectations and judgment on celebrities and their body image?

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