As the guest body image blogger for today’s End Fat Talk campaign for Fat Talk Free Week, I really got to thinking about the power of that little size zero in the lives of so many girls and women these days. Such a round number, and yet such a strong dictator of straight lines for all. Positive body image can’t exist among the masses if we are only celebrating one size. For the good of our children– for the good of those we love– for the good of ourselves, let’s throw the fat talk where it belongs…in the trash.
The Power of Zero: The Quest for The Perfect Straight Line
Am I fat? Do you see these rolls? Can you believe how fat my butt looks in these jeans? My goodness; where do we get this stuff? Fat Talk has become so prevalent that it has become more normal to have a conversation about bumps, bulges, and unsightly cellulite to well, not.
I guess this must be our quest for perfect, isn’t it? The perfect zero. I can’t believe I’m even saying that. It used to be a bad thing to be thought of as a zero, now it’s reached godly status. And the more the better. If 0 wasn’t small enough someone invented the double zero. The triple zero. What’s next? Do we need to start using sizes like 0 to the power of 10? It’s enough to drive a person crazy.
And remember when a 10 was the magic number? Now, that little straight line in front of that zero is scoffed at—berated—and coupled with rolled eyes and an inner body slam—ouch!– on how we could let ourselves go.
A zero—perfectly round and yet demanding of only straight lines. Yes. The quintessential shape for a woman…is the non-shape.
Now I don’t want to sound like being a zero is bad. It’s not. But I would like to put back on the table that it is only 1 little number. It is neither inherently bad or good—it just is. And the other numbers we agonize over? They’re fine too.
But it is quite obvious that we play math games with ourselves while in the privacy of our own head or publicly hanging with other women. We subtract points off our self worth as our size and weight go up. We add them back in as those numbers go down. Somehow, all the work we do—all the people we touch in our lives—all of our achievements, our successes, our triumphs are trumped by any extra pound, inch, or rising size. Sadly, our self worth becomes the casualty.
And you know what? The only ones that can stop the power of zero is us. Yes, there are men telling women that nobody wants to see curvy women on the catwalk and that Barbie needs lipo on her supposed cankles —but at the end of the day, it is us, girls, women, and yes, those who love them that have to stand up and say “enough!”
Yes. Enough.
I have heard enough.
I have seen enough.
I am enough.
It is Thursday of Fat Talk Free Week. If you have been successful at stifling the inner critic in your head or the body basher in your life—congratulations—keep going. Not just this week but every week. This is a life long commitment to body esteem.
And to those of you who haven’t gotten there yet—can I just say it now? You are enough. You are powerful. You are amazing—straight and tall to bodaciously curvy. It’s time for you to say it. Say it out loud. To your friends. To your family. To the girls and women who study with you—work with you- laugh with you. Say it. Say it now.
And then, listen. After all, you need to hear it too.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Brava, Robyn! Exc commentary..sending it into FB stream pronto! Hope the Tyra bit is going well…conflicted views there on some of these issues, would love an offline chat abt. same! Ping me when you can breathe, ttys, A.
Hi Robyn,
Thanks for promoting this terrific campaign! I’ve been putting word out myself and think it is a fantastic thing. Hopefully it takes wind throughout the country and becomes a hugely powerful wave of change — and a needed one.
Terrific blog as well…I wish you all the best!
Kind regards,
August McLaughlin
http://www.healthynutritiontalk.com (my blog)
On behalf of body image activists everywhere: thank you for leveraging your visibility on this issue, presenting the approach that you have! Rather than saying “you’re great as you are”, which is true, of course (-; let’s get to the core of the toxin: let’s move toward subverting that abusive paradigm that so many people in our culture have fallen victim to. We shouldn’t even have to ask if we’re acceptable, we get to KNOW that we are!
Nancy Rogers
Thank you so much for putting the spotlight on this “less is more” problem about body size. Americans see 250,000 ads by the time they are 17, so it’s no wonder we are sucked into a tsunami of feeling bad about our bodies. When women and girls look at beauty/fashion magazines, they feel much more depressed. It is time to work to stamp out the army of negative messages and replace them with truth. Check out my blog for more information about how to do laugh your way to a better body image: http://www.cherriemac.wordpress.com.