Issue date: 10/5/06 Section: Body & Soul

We have all heard the argument: the media give us images of thin women as beautiful and everyone, therefore, strives to be thin. We've heard this so much that we nod our heads and agree wholeheartedly without thinking about whether this old argument holds true for our current society.
It seems that black people have a completely different idea of beauty. The "ideal" black woman tends to have a little more meat and needs to have especially voluptuous breasts and derrières. There seems to be such an aversion to the old ideal that people who have a slender build have to put up with negativity. People with slender builds are often told that they need to eat more. Recently a black male was commenting to his black slim female friend, "Sure, you're beautiful - by white standards," implying that by black standards she is something else. When a slim girl wants to exercise people look at her funny and ask "What are you exercising for? You should be trying to gain weight not lose it."
There are myths and stereotypes that many thin ladies have to constantly defend themselves against. For example, many people believe that a woman with a slim build must have some sort of eating disorder. Newsflash! Just because a girl is slim does not mean she is anorexic. Many slim people have very good appetites and eat as much as anyone else. They may not appreciate people trying to tell them to eat more. It feels similar to what an overweight girl may feel when people tell her to eat less. Basically, either way, it's none of your business.
As for those who ask why a slim person would exercise - and this concept seems to go over a lot of people's heads - the purpose of an exercise regimen is to maintain good health. A person who is conscious of their health is not essentially trying to lose weight. Many fit and healthy people are not necessarily thin, and many thin people are not necessarily fit and healthy.
What "society" doesn't take into account when it's determining how women should look, is that different people naturally have different builds and bone structures. Even within a particular demographic there is a lot of variation. Not every black girl is going to have a big behind. Not every white girl is going to be pencil thin. So by creating "Black standards" and "White standards", we are alienating many women of every group. Each person, depending on build, bone density, height, age and genetics has his/her ideal weight at which they are healthiest. Even the government standards for calculating Body Mass Index (BMI) doesn't take all these factors into account in determining who is overweight or underweight.

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