Perspectives on Body Image for Women

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Living in a world seeks to urbanize and contemporize itself, I still find myself starring at the mirror of my unconscious asking myself “am I fat?”. You can’t find a women whether a single, mother or teenager who haven’t been in the place where she doubted her attractiveness based on her weight. People both men and women scale the female attractiveness on what social media and magazines decide. They started to blame the victims, and point fingers on what we call “a war on obesity”. Many commentators explored the subject that women’s weight is inseparably linked to her physical appealing, were in different societies your weight is a matter of life and it opportunities. Being fat limits your chances for having an equal social environment comparing to what a thin woman can have. Susie Orbach publisher of Fat is a feminist Issue and who worked both as an author and a therapist on women’s weight issue argues how fat is not just lack of will power neither a problem of controlling appetite. She focuses on weight and body images as a women’s issue and not a failure of women themselves. On daily bases I do my best to overcome the criticism and evaluation of my weight that I receive from family and media.

I was born in a society that educates and equips women only for their social role, where it is a wife and a mother with social and sexual duties towards the man. I had two sisters older than me, and they lived in different country. They are characterized by feminine side more than I do. I was more of a rebel to what my community wants me to be. My mother focused on teaching her three daughter how to talk, walk, dance just to impress our future spouse the only problem that our community doesn’t allow women in presence of oth...

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...hysiological and health issue that they started and they can stop too. The article Fat is a Feminism Issue by Susie Obrach just assured to the will- power is in being who I am and fitting to my own standers. As Susie says “my fat says ‘screw you’ to all who want me to be the perfect mom, sweetheart, [and] maid. Take me for who I am, not for who I’m supposed to be. If you really interested in me, you can wade through the layers and find out who I really am.”(452)

Works Cited

Work cited

Susie, Obrach. “Fat is a Feminist Issue.” They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing with Readings. 2nd ed. Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: Norton, 2012.198-210. Print

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