Today's topic: Body Image
The world revolves around our body image and how we see ourselves. From the stick thin girls (and guys) that think they are too fat, to the jovial plus sized who decide to enjoy life no matter what their weight, our world is a melting pot of size and colour. Black women who can shake their big booty are prized, yet a white woman of the same proportions is fat. Big, tall, muscled white men are ooh'd and ahh'd over, yet their coloured counterparts are often feared. Why is BBW a sub genre when the majority of women are over a size 12 -- why can't that feisty kick arse heroine in the skin tight leather be a size 16 instead of a size 2 five-foot pocket rocket? Why is it always the women in romance are down on their self image -- guys can be just as uncertain about their appeal, or is that verging on the wimpy hero even if it's realistic imo. I've got lots of questions today, huh?
These are only just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to body image -- lets hear some of your questions and views. Tell us how you'd like to see body image genre tropes turned on their ears...
The world revolves around our body image and how we see ourselves. From the stick thin girls (and guys) that think they are too fat, to the jovial plus sized who decide to enjoy life no matter what their weight, our world is a melting pot of size and colour. Black women who can shake their big booty are prized, yet a white woman of the same proportions is fat. Big, tall, muscled white men are ooh'd and ahh'd over, yet their coloured counterparts are often feared. Why is BBW a sub genre when the majority of women are over a size 12 -- why can't that feisty kick arse heroine in the skin tight leather be a size 16 instead of a size 2 five-foot pocket rocket? Why is it always the women in romance are down on their self image -- guys can be just as uncertain about their appeal, or is that verging on the wimpy hero even if it's realistic imo. I've got lots of questions today, huh?
These are only just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to body image -- lets hear some of your questions and views. Tell us how you'd like to see body image genre tropes turned on their ears...
10 comments:
Body Image is always a hot topic. I love to read a great romance with a BBW heroine. As a woman of size myself, it's much easier to identify with the heroine if she's not rail thin and tiny. I love the fact that more books are coming out with "larger" women and/or men. I definitely think there's a market for more. I have a sexy, alpha male husband and he doesn't have a problem with my size as long as I take care of myself and I'm healthy. I think people need positive role models and books are a good place to find some of them.
Where do I start? First, "the big black women with the big booty are prized" comment really depends on whose doing the looking. As a plus sized black woman with no booty to speak of, I can definitely say that fat is in the eye of whomever is doing the beholding. I believe that black women as a whole tend to be larger because of our culture and traditional eating habits, so black males are a bit more understanding of a woman with some size on her. In their minds, size equates with cooking ability, and I've yet to met a man that didn't prize a woman who knew how to cook.
Since I'm a size 18 myself, I think there's skinny (what we see on tv today held up as the ideal), small (petite women size 6 - 12), big (sizes 14 - 20), and then there's obese. Which category you get placed in all depends upon how you carry yourself, the way that you dress, and how you feel about yourself. After all, according to me, sexy really comes from within.
Since I read a lot of romance, I'd have to say in general, authors are doing a good job of giving a fair representation of women of all sizes, as well as men.
Not all heroes are hulking wrestling type characters, nor are they small and puny. A little bit of muscle is a must, but being able to carry a plus size heroine up the stairs into bed isn't really necessary as long as the hero is so hot for the heroine that he's willing to push her down onto the floor as long as he can have her now!
I personally think heros should balance between being unaware of their effect on the opposite sex and confident of their appeal. Too much of one and they come off a wimpy. Too much the other way and they come across and arrogant and self-absorbed. JMO
I wound up watching the medical channel last night and learned about an amazing woman, Rosemarie Siggens.
She was born with a genetic disorder called sacral agenesis where her spine didn't fuse to her pelvis, her pelvis is undeveloped and her legs were twisted so badly that both her legs were amputated when she was a toddler.
She disliked using the prosthetic legs and discarded them at 11 years old to use a skakeboard and her arms to navigate.
She's a mechanic, met a guy and got married and they have two children.
http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/rosesiggins.html
http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/rosesigginsbaby.html
After seeing Rose's cheerful attitude and willingness to overcome all obstacles, I am humbled by her.
Never again will I feel sorry for myself because I don't have the "perfect" body.
Lois McMaster Bujold wrote a Nebula Award SF story called Falling Free where the humans were genetically engineered to have no legs and their legs were replaced with arms as the ideal body type for low-g and zero-g adaptation.
http://www.baen.com/blurbs/067157812X.htm
A very interesting and educational story.
I love watching shows like Project Runway, a reality show about fashion designers looking to get into the big time. This year in particular was both interesting -- and annoying! The winner was a skinny, 21 year old male, so over the top gay he was a walking stereotype. Victoria Beckham was a guest judge and of course, she wears a size 0 -- she loved the winner's outrageous costumes. His clothes all looked like they could be worn by 14 year old boys. (I think one of our LI authors mentioned elsewhere that that was the preferred body type for "high fashion")
His biggest competition was an older designer whose clothes were exquisite, but it looked like even women with some curves could wear them (if they could afford them, of course ;~D)I know whose clothes I'd love to wear!
I am so tired of seeing skinny young women being pushed as the norm for young girls.
In my LI story, "No One Else on Earth", both the heroine and her friends were all BBW.
I am so glad to see more of these stories coming out.
Speaking of Lois Mcmaster Bujold, her whole Miles series is premised on the hero having major body image issues due to a genetic accident that left him with week, brittle bones. A condition that left him short and physically weak growing up in a society of big, strong warrior males. She really explores the long term results of body image problems.
Body image is a tough subject to tackle for some people. Eighty percent of my heroines are larger. But it's because I'm larger, and I want to identify with what I write.
Plus, in my stories, specifically The Captive One, and a Resplendence title, Wish Me Up, Rub Me Down, I try to deal with self-image, and how negative ideas of oneself can be overcome. I hate that society says a woman, or a man, has to be small to be attractive. I hope that my stories provide a little bit of balance, and help readers know that just because they're larger, doesn't mean they can't love, and be loved in return.
We are a family of not-small people. We are reasonably fit, but we are not small. So none of the characters I write are tiny, at least not without purpose.
I knew our teenage son had a pretty decent grasp on the whole body image thing when we were watching a TV show with one of those wafer-thin actresses and he said, unprovoked, "She has a really pretty face. But she needs to eat a cookie once in a while. Then she'd be beautiful."
This is a tough subject due to personal, practical, and even cultural issues. In some cultures a large woman is a must and a thin woman would be unattractive. For writers this is especially difficult. Romance was once about selling the ideal fantasy figure (sometimes quite literally) and escapism. Nowadays I think we're prepared to accept a little more reality into our romance and still believe love is possible.
I'm not what I would call small or large and I cheerfully like to point out that Marilyn Monroe was a UK size 16. In the 'real' world larger men or women don't automatically have trouble finding a partner. Many times I've seen a larger person, either in size or height, married to a smaller person. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder and as I once pointed out to a friend of mine, if you go for looks alone we all change with age or ill health. That doesn't stop you loving someone if the love was real to begin with. The real issue of weight should be about health and in that it's not always good to be too small OR too large.
What a great topic and comments.
Lyra, what a neat thing for your son to say! How refreshing.
I like reading BBW and really need to write one.
I like the fact that the genre is reflection all shapes and sizes on women. I think that's a good direction to move in.
As long as someone is healthy and happy, I realy don't think it matters what size they are. It's when you're unhealthy or unhappy, that it creates a problem.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
I wish I'd know all those years ago that the models in the magazines and catalogs were airbrushed to perfection. It would have helped my body image immensely.
Caitlyn Willows
www.caitlynwillows.com
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