Here is a test: when describing someone to a friend, what are you more likely to say first?
“She’s tall and slender, with red hair and blue eyes”; or
“She laughs a lot. Crazy about her job”.
According to Michael Strober and Meg Schneider (Just A Little Too Thin. Cambridge: De Capo Press, 2005), most of us “introduce” other people by listing physical attributes.
This may not seem a bad thing, but it means we teach our children to prioritise appearance and body shape ahead of the intellectual and spiritual side of an individual. The social costs of this approach are beginning to be recognised.
In her book Do I Look Fat in This? (London: Simon and Schuster, 2007), Jessica Weiner observes that complaining about one’s own appearance and sharing judgements about the shape of others is an increasing part of the way we communicate. She cites the “bathroom encounters” of women—strangers—in front of the mirror. “Isn’t it odd that before I know anything else about you…what you do for a living…or what your favourite colour is, I’m privy to the relationship you have with your body?”
Weiner contends that we live in a “fat-phobic” society, where people consider they have a right to comment on other people’s shape, and “where ‘size’ discrimination is the last bastion of ‘acceptable’ discrimination”.
Popular concern about eating disorders has also had an impact on people who are viewed as too thin. There can be many reasons for being thin, such as metabolic disorders. The Suite 101 article Healthy Weight Gains offers nutritional advice to “hard gainers”, people who simply can’t seem to put on muscle. But often in the popular view, thin people are assumed to have an eating disorder, and may be singled out for others’ weight-focused “communication”.
Personal Costs, Social Costs
The costs to individuals of a social preoccupation with body image have been well documented. These include not only discrimination, but contributing to the incidence of illnesses such as eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder (a disproportionate focus on a perceived physical shortcoming). In her book Coping with Eating Disorders and Body Image (London: Sheldon Press, 2006), Christine Craggs-Hinton notes the role of a “socially preferred body form” in the emergence of these disorders and observes that how people think others see them is an important part of body image.
The social issue arising from preoccupation with appearance is that people have less “psychic space” to contribute to their wider communities. According to Craggs-Hinton, anorexics think constantly about food and may be intolerant of the shortcomings of other people. But the deadweight loss of the appearance culture is more widespread, in her view. Many people care more about their appearance than about their achievements, career success or “growth as thinking people”. With the 21st century world facing many challenges, it may be time to reassess priorities.
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