The New Female Ideal?

According to a recent British study men prefer a curvier, healthier woman. Their ideal? A size 10. This begs the question, why are we so out of touch with reality? Women long to fit into a tiny size meanwhile men find a woman with some meat on her bones more appealing than a tiny skeleton with bones protruding everywhere. I myself have heard this sentiment repeated from male friends and boyfriends. I think I always thought that they were being kind since they didn’t want me to feel badly about my body.

This study isn’t the first. I know I have heard this “official” data several times in my life. So again this begs the question, why are we so out of touch with reality? Why do magazines and tv shows shove down our throats the fact that we aren’t worthwhile if we aren’t a teeny tiny size. Why do magazines continually tell us that we need to lose weight? Where has the idea of body acceptance gone? I believe the fashion and magazine industry wants to keep us on a perpetual treadmill never able to reach what they have deemed the ultimate figure. Women resort to starvation, plastic surgery and severe dieting in order to shrink their frames.

My question to them is has it really helped you feel better? Do you feel happier? Are you getting more dates? My guess is no. No one likes a cranky, starved woman with the body of a twelve year old boy. Women are supposed to have curves. We are supposed to have breasts, butts and hips. Yes we are supposed to have a little pooch on our bellies because our bodies are built to support life. Everything we have is for a biologically purpose which is why when you starve yourself to a size 0 you stop your period. Biology knows that you are screwing your body out of its purpose. The fat and width of our bodies is purposeful. I think if women remembered that fact they may embrace who they are. I personally am sick and tired of being told to be thinner.

This study found that women are blatantly dissatisfied with their bodies in every way shape and form. All the women studied wished they were thinner, had smaller waists and thighs and hips. The men studied felt that their women were perfect they way they were and all prefer some meat. Are women ready to buy into this more healthy way of thinking? Are we ready to accept that our bodies are “right” the way they are?

It seems to me that studies like this get buried and that it’s not something that is reported in a mainstream way. I recognize that these kinds of studies don’t support the traditional viewpoint which may very well be why they are not widely publicized. I just feel so frustrated. I believe that if stories like this were reported on with some consistency maybe women would be more apt to believe them. Instead they get treated as a one off type of story, an anomaly of sorts. Kind of like “hey wow this crazy study says women don’t need to starve themselves. Isn’t that funny?”

Think about what it does to us as a group that so many women feel terrible about themselves based on how celebrities look. This is so silly. It’s a celebrity’s job to be thin. The average woman is busy with her life and doesn’t have the amount of time to devote to her appearance that a celebrity does. We have jobs, families, social lives and we do it all on our own. Sure, celebrities have children but they also have a team of nannies, secretaries, housekeepers, etc to insure that they have all the free time in the work to devote to themselves. Keep that in mind the next time you are beating yourself up over your inability to shrink yourself to some abnormal size.