Changing body image problems is a slow process

In the 2012 presidential election, Hillary Clinton was up for the Democratic nomination against Barack Obama.

Regardless of if they agree with her policies or not, many will agree she is an intelligent and competent woman. But the campaign press didn’t cover her as such.
They talked about her love handles and haggard face.

I didn’t think having or not having love handles was a prerequisite to be nominated for candidacy.

This goes to show that beauty isn’t truly in the eye of the beholder — it’s in the eyes of societal standards. And being fat or having love handles is definitely not considered beautiful to society.

Those standards can change, though.

Over time the standards of acceptable weight and size have varied, from Marilyn Monroe of the 1950s to Kate Moss of the 1990s.

So why not change the standards of now to be more encompassing?

We could stop labeling attraction to a plus-size person a fetish, halt the Pinterest posts about obtaining the ever desired thigh gap, break the habit of telling skinny people they have eating disorders and end the body shaming.

By changing, we spur an evolution of greater possibilities.

In the past, judgment solely based on what a person looks like has led to wars. If the purpose of studying history is to not repeat it, we should probably learn that that form of judgment is wrong and move away from it.

We can change as a society, as a mass of people for one cause. Individually. Over time. Through understanding.

If we judge ourselves, we are likely to judge others.

By individually deciding to not hate the body you live in and to accept it as something beautiful and different, you can start to realize the beauty of everyone else.

We can change our thought process, which then can become a collective attitude not to view a certain body type or feature negatively.

This change to encompassing standards will be gradual. There isn’t a quick fix that will make everyone nice and respectful.

But over time attitudes can catch on, just like fashion or technology trends.

The hope is that eventually people will learn to respect one another.

By understanding that each person is the sum of all their parts and not just their body’s outward appearance, society can evolve into ending rash judgments solely on physical appearance and start regarding the individual as a whole.

Standards were meant to be broken. Society was built for change. It might be strange to not think of the girl on the A bus as some skinny body that needs to eat a cheeseburger, but to instead think of her as a person, with thoughts, emotions, a story and a presence that serve a purpose.

I’m sure she’ll be grateful when you stop judging her, and you’ll feel better for not bending to society’s petty standards.

­— andlzimm@indiana.edu