"Thin is not in": The cultral Difference in Body Image

"Thin is not in" The Cultural Difference in Body Image

By : Marnita Thomas

Society is always pushing diet pills and ads for losing weight. Shoving the image of skinny models and celebrities down your throat telling you to believe you are supposed to look this way to be hot! What’s sad is that people start to believe it.

Magazine headlines reading "lose weight now" "how to look hot in a bikini in 10 days". No wonder why people are obsessed with body image. The media is setting the agenda! That "Thin is in!"

The media's image of body image greatly influences mainstream (Caucasian) society. Peoples standards of beauty varies across culture. What may be beautiful to one person may not be to the next. White women choose a significant thinner ideal of body size than black women. The end result black woman experience less eating disorders than white women. For instance in my culture being thin was never in! Black women prefer a more voluptuous shape, an hour glass figure. In Africa women on the heavier side would correlate with being wealthy. In America a white women on the thinner side would correlate with being in shape. In my culture a women with hips, butt, and large breast is considered “a brick house” aka beautiful.

There is truly a cultural difference of body image in African Americans . Black men drool over women with curves. Such as Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Amber Rose. Black men like there women with thickness to them and most importantly booty! Whereas white men favor large breasts

For years black men have made music with titles such as “Feeling on your booty (R.kelly), Back that a#$ up ( Juvenile) and “I like big butts! (Sir. Mix A lot). It’s hard not to be influenced by what’s going around you. Black women also feel the need to conform to this ideal beauty. White women may starve themselves thin. Black women may overeat or go as far as surgery illegal to gain a bigger booty.
http://youtu.be/xkLE-GORLVk

Mainstream society is just starting to catch up to the more ethnic- idea of beauty. That real women have curves and... its okay. Its about time people are starting to love their “junk in the trunk.”
http://youtu.be/6mOQh3evqsI
I’am naturally thin and I have people walk up to me all the time to say I would kill to have "your" metabolism. I tell them well… I would kill to "your”matoblism. If I woke up today or tomorrow with a hour glass figure i would feel like i just hit the lottery. Black culture is more accepting of a larger body type. we tend to ignore the media's message of thin is in.  I feel that in my culture you have to find that happy median in between (not to skinny and not to fat)some people may call it “PHAT” (pretty hot and tempting).

Society has to learn how to stop being so easily influenced with body image. I know it’s hard because the world is so superficial. Sometimes people have to stop it with the superficial bull crap! There’s more to women than the way we look. Its what’s on the inside that counts. (and I know that’s just something that ugly people say, but seriously) we have other things going for ourselves. other than our bodies and being a sex toy for men to play with. These are the reasons why so many young girls are suffering from low self-esteem. You have to love yourself first because if you don’t then who will? So the next time my thick, bootylicious friends stick their big butts out to take a picture. they better move over cause the skinny girl is coming through, and in my mind I’m pretty, hot and tempting too!