The Personal is Political
As a Chinese, I grew up living in a society where food as a culture, plays a significant role in. However, I had never considered how closely food culture and eating habits are related to female identities until recently. When studying here in the UK, I have also noticed how food and eating are related to female body images and expectations in Western culture. These experiences have made me reconsider my body image and female identity.
It might sound horrifying however women are being forced to control their appetites and daily intakes due to the commercially idealised images of the female bodies today. And, these restrictions may prevent women from achieving their self-identities and subjectivity (Li, 2010). I still remember in my primary school, teachers expected girls to eat less than boys, and those girls with better appetites were sometimes mentioned or even scolded by teachers. In Chinese culture, girls are “weaker”, not only physically but also their voices and their sense of presence. Those girls with bigger sizes and larger figures were always being laughed at and have fewer friends.
(King, 2018)
The three images above are from the Instagram posts made by a fitness blogger named Chessie King. The society and its economy are setting the standards of “good” food along with “prudent” diet and promoting the “perfect” body non-stop (Mennell, Murcott and Otterloo, 1992, as cited in Chesters, 1994).
According to some structuralist feminists, the social structure of gender and family are affecting women’s food consumption, dietary practices and even more, the construction of femininity. Women especially suffer from these idealised body images and social expectations about food and diet. They are then deprived of food consumption just in favour of men’s preferences, and it is causing many issues like eating disorder (Chesters, 1994).
Just as the fitness blogger has revealed, Instagram is not completely real, while it still possesses the power to influence people and their life choices, to pursue the so-called “perfect” body. Perfect, being a new social norm, is not the truth or reality. The beauty standards that are all over the Internet are making lots of women lose their identities. Women on diet will always think that it is the way for them to take control of their life, but instead, they are losing the real control of their identities (Brazaitytė,2018; Chesters, 1994).
I gained weight during my first year of university here, I became more and more conscious of how much I weighed and how my body looked, and it is primarily attributed to my use of social media. Using Instagram was not making me happy with my body or my life. On the contrary, it was making me depressed and unconfident, or even ashamed of my own body. The images I saw on Instagram were so perfect and unachievable at the same time. I had an unhealthy relationship with food since then. When I was on a strict diet due to my slight increase in weight, I felt that I have control of my life again, not realising I lost my identity instead. While luckily, now I live a happier and healthier life knowing that my body is unique and need not be “perfect”.
References:
Li, J. (2010). Food, Body and Female Subjectivity: Reading between Western and Chinese Perspectives. In Gender, Discourse and the Self in the Literature: Issues in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. SHA TIN, N.T., HONG KONG: The Chinese University Press, p. 53.
Brazaitytė, M. (2018). Woman Sick Of How Fake Everything On Instagram Is Reveals The Truth In The Most Epic Way. [online] Bored Panda. Available at: https://www.boredpanda.com/personal-trainer-shows-reality-vs-instagram-pictures-differences-chessie-king/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
King, C. (2018), ‘This is to all my gals & guys who’ve grown more confident in their bodies this year. […]’, Instagram post, 30 December, viewed 29 January 2019, <https://www.instagram.com/p/BsBX630FdXL/>.
King, C. (2018), ‘GOALS – a term we see errrryday on this Instagram thaang. […]’, Instagram post, 20 Febuary, viewed 29 January 2019, <https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfbp94EAFYe/>.
Chesters, L., (1994). III. Women’s Talk: Food, Weight and Body Image. Feminism & Psychology, 4(3), pp.449–457.