Jennifer Allen
By Jennifer Allen
“You just have to accept your body. You may not love it all the way, but you just have to be comfortable with it. You just want something else that someone else has, but that doesn’t mean what you have isn’t beautiful.” ~ Rihanna
At the beginning of yet another year in our complicated little lives, many think about what changes they may attempt in order to achieve a more fulfilling life. Often described as ‘New Year’s Resolutions’, these revisions to one’s lifestyle can be easy to conjure, but difficult to maintain. Generally, after 60-90 days, quite a few of these choices are dropped and old mannerisms take their place… probably because the shift was so extreme that a person’s mental and physical wellbeing can’t fully accept it.
There are exceptions to this, of course, and those with the self-discipline to continue down the long, winding path required to achieve their goals are a cause for celebration.
Some of the more popular resolutions involve either dropping a bad habit or, alternatively, starting up a good one. For example, cutting down on caffeine or, instead, adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet. Nothing is stopping you from attempting both, but more often than not, it’s easier to focus on one potential benefit as a building block toward others later on.
One peculiar fad, shall we say, that crops up every New Year is the desire to lose weight. The caveat is that this doesn’t always mean shifting to a healthier lifestyle, but instead becoming more attractive (according to societal standards) by any means necessary. This elevated obsession with physical appearance has ballooned with the implementation of social media; a topic I’ve already discussed in past articles.
To be fair… nitpicking about people’s bodies, especially our own, feels regressive, as we’ve bounced back and forth for millennia when it comes to acceptable standards of beauty. One minute an either curvy or slender body type is perfectly fine and the next this particular shape is deemed unhealthy. It can be dizzying to keep up with, especially as a young person who comes across examples of said standards and wonders what they can do to look similar.
It was absolutely exhausting, especially for those growing up in the ‘90s and 2000s, as contradictory sentiments perpetrated pop culture at the time. Girls and young women were told to let go of old-fashioned ideals of beauty by embracing liberation and power, but still within the confines of accepted perceptions regarding femininity. Periodical racks were flooded with ‘ideal’ women on their covers surrounded by a plethora of article titles citing some issue the reader should worry about correcting (cellulite, wrinkles, blemishes, stretch marks, etc.) while other titles prompted us to let go of unattainable beauty goals.
These seemingly helpful articles never considered the undeniable truth that genetics, race, climate, social standing, and income are all factors when it comes to someone’s appearance. While concepts of beauty will shift over time, a definitive baseline for ‘perfection’ never completely disappears. If you can’t achieve this paradigm, it’s not because your existing body cannot achieve it. It becomes your failure to not at least attempt to correct those flaws by means of an overabundance of accessible products, programs, and surgery options on the market to make that much more possible.
The disorientation of body image is further exemplified by how celebrities represent themselves to the media. Even today, celebrity looks are highly scrutinized to the point of using them as fodder for body-shaming gossip. I’ve especially noticed this in regard to South Asian Cinema… where the standards for most female actresses tend to be very strict in terms of their looks. Very rarely do you see a popular Desi actress with a darker skin tone, and the booming market for skin lightening products and procedures within the South Asian community is an eye-opening result of this. Similarly, many of these women have long hair, softer faces with full lips, and stereotypically hourglass body shapes.
For the men, the standard shift depending on the region. Younger North Indian actors also tend to be light skinned with chiseled features and immaculately muscled physiques. South Indian and surrounding territory artists more often than not exhibit dusky complexions with bulkier, yet still robust body proportions. More mature performers are given a little more leeway in terms of their stature, but they often still maintain a similar visage as in their youth.
I can only imagine what each of these celebrities must go through in order to maintain this level of physical faultlessness, especially with the added expectation to do intense action scenes and intricate dance sequences alike.
In more recent memory, celebrities and influencers from all over the world are even more visible online. Many who had been seen as heroes for more diversified body types, are now becoming just as slender as their contemporaries. Fans and haters alike love a good body transformation to transfix on, especially if said change is unexplained by the person in question. And while we shouldn’t focus on strangers’ bodies, what’s clear from hushed whispers all across the internet is that when someone famous suddenly drops a significant amount of weight, it’s impossible not to notice.
It’s even harder not to speculate about why they’ve chosen to do so. Three people I particularly idolized for their supportive attitude surrounding body positivity have recently chosen to slim down… and I have mixed feelings about each of them: Adele, America Ferrera, and Mindy Kaling. Each of these talented women burst onto the scene, noted for not only their individual talent but also their ‘curvier’ figures. I highly respected their choices not to conform, and instead be an example to others who also didn’t fit within an ‘acceptable’ beauty criterion.
Yet within the last several years, all three have slimmed down for various reasons. Ferrera (via her Instagram, which I follow) said she started running as a hobby and which, in turn, helped her body become more toned (she’s now an accomplished triathlete, which is equally as inspiring). The other two I haven’t heard clear motivations for their transformations. Did they ‘sell out’? Were they pressured by others to lose weight? Only Adele and Mindy themselves can provide those answers… if they so choose.
Whatever lessons we’ve been told over the last few decades about respecting body autonomy seem to be falling away… again. Blame “anti-woke” backlash, blame the popularity of Ozempic, or blame our perceptive scrutiny due to being on camera more than ever. Regardless, individuals are now more comfortable judging other people’s appearances, for good or bad, especially when dramatic weight-loss or gain is involved. We especially have gained a parasocial relationship with celebrities due to the now more accessible windows into their lives via social media. While they (or their staff) often control what is exposed in these posts, they do greatly impact every other person who sees them.
Even today, many young men and women are incredibly susceptible to understanding what the ‘ideal’ should be, and eager for any and all advice on how to achieve it. Also keep in mind that not everyone has friends or family for which they can turn to discuss such matters, and it’s become increasingly difficult to completely insulate yourself from online opinions.
If you still wish to accomplish a shared New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, just be willing to accomplish such a goal for your own reasons. A constant need to maintain a form which is slender (but not too skinny), petite, toned but not muscular may be the ideal for now… but in a few years that could change. Your true intention should be to feel comfortable in your own skin, despite any and all tiny imperfections you may have.
Jennifer Allen works at Saathee and is also a Podcaster, Blogger, Photographer, Graphic Artist, Gamer, Martial Arts Practitioner, and all around Pop Culture Geek. You can reach her at [email protected].
