Kaling or Lena Dunham. They are representative of diverse types of body that are rare in our standardised media industry. The simple fact that averaged sized bodies require a label and stand out from the crowed of perfectly photoshoped figures, just goes to show how much the perception of body in our society is ignorant and shallow. According to Rivkie Baum, Editor of Slink magazine, a plus size magazine for women, the media industry has a big input in the way we perceive our bodies.“ I think the media historically has treated body size and shape as a trend, suggesting X is in or X is how we should now look. Therefor we assume a particular size is right. Anything else is outside the norm. The skewed discussion about equating health to body size and the representation of characteristics of a larger body in the media has also contributed to negative connotations”. Intolerance towards body diversity is largely related to the meaning that size and shape have in our culture. According to The Health Promotion Department at Brown University in the United States,“ being thin or muscular has become associated with being‘ hard-working, successful, popular, beautiful, strong, and self-disciplined’. Being‘ fat’ is associated with being‘ lazy, ignorant, hated, ugly, weak, and lacking in will-power’. As a result,‘ fat’ isn’ t a description like tall or redhead- it’ s an indication of moral character: fat is bad. Size prejudice is absorbed at a very young age; children as young as five have ascribed negative characteristics to silhouettes of fatter children. In part, this is because size prejudice is also widely reinforced; media, friends, family, and even well-respected health professionals can echo the message that fatness is inherently wrong and dangerous, thereby exacerbating the pressure to control our bodies.” Who controls our bodies then? If our need for self-perfection comes from a society input external to ourselves, why do we internalize the perfect body as a need? The answer probably lays in the generalised beauty standard, something considered by general consent as an approved model. Also, self-love, an attribute that should come naturally to us, becomes addicted to a general sense of belonging and fitting to the norm.“ Usually it’ s a vicious cycle: the more a person focusses on their body the worse they feel about their appearance:
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