We know that people of all gender identities deal with body image issues. I wanted to learn a little bit more about how this has to do with our modern age, but also how body image is perceived in the South Asian population. I was surprised at how much I learned. This issue is relevant to everyone, if you have kids you need to know how to talk to your kids about body image; if you don’t then you should be aware of this issue in our community as there is a general lack of awareness about body image issues and eating disorders in the Indo-Canadian community. As you will see below people in the South Asian community do influence the body image of others. Furthermore, this may be something that affects you or your family more than you think… only 4% of women in the world think they are beautiful according to a study conducted by Dove. Sadly more than half of girls and 1/3 of boys from the ages of 6-8 already said their ideal body is thinner than their current one and 25% of kids have already tried some kind of dieting by age 7 (per Hatch Discussion Guide). Eating disorders have serious consequences including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, low self-esteem, malnutrition, alcohol and drug use, and death (Break Binge Eating Statistics).
Just briefly so we are on the same page here are some definitions. Body image is a combination of how you perceive your body, what you think about it, how you feel about it, and your behaviours towards it. Eating disorders are complex psychological conditions- examples include anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Body dysmorphia is a body image disorder where people become see a part of them as flawed and start to obsess about it, where muscle dysmorphia is specifically a fear of not having enough muscle. Having a negative body image has the following risk factors: internalization (buying into the idea that a certain appearance will give you value), self-objectification (becoming an external observer of yourself as an object to be evaluated), comparison, fat talk, people with perfectionistic tendencies, those who are high achievers, people with low self-esteem or have depression, those teased about appearance, those who have family and friends with body image concerns/diet for weight loss, those with a larger body size, those who are more cognitively black and white, as well as homosexual men (source: Break Binge Eating Website). Studies on body image in the South Asian community have mostly focused on women but we will talk about men below as well. Eating disorders present themselves differently than in the western population and are influenced by different factors. Nazia Bhatti writes about this in “The Impact of Beauty, Body Image, and Health Discourses on Eating Disorder Risk in South Asian-Canadian Women.” She describes how South Asian women’s body concerns are influenced by westernization of media, criticism from others, conflict, and the relationship with food. I’ll also share comments from Neha Goel from the states who wrote “Conceptualization Of Body Image And Eating Disorders Among South Asian American Women: A Qualitative Investigation” and finally Manisha Kalidas Kapadia’s dissertation “Body Image in Indian Women as Influenced by the Indian Media.” In Kapadia’s study she interviewed women from India who all reported dissatisfaction with their body shape and size, influenced by family and friends and comparisons to Hollywood and Bollywood actresses. Let’s explore these topics and the ones Bhatti mentioned as contributing to body image issues for South Asian women in the west.
CRITICISM
Because appearance is an important factor in finding and “maintaining” a husband, there is ongoing criticism about topics such as skin tone and weight from “aunties” in the community (Bhatti). (I should take a moment here to say that I was horrified at this thought as a woman being thin as the only thing holding a marriage together and necessary for a woman to keep her husband). Bhatti comments that the idea of fair skin tone come from the background of colonization, when being white meant to be rich and powerful, while being dark skinned meant being working-class, laboring in the sun. Goel notes that fair skin is so important that women continue to use dangerous bleaching products knowing the harms because they also recognize and face colorism in the US/western world. These criticisms from others in the community affect some women so much they are at increased risk of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders (Bhatti). Goel notes that they often are given “pseudo” health tips to “help” with these issues, and they are restricted culturally from advocating for themselves or speaking back. It didn’t matter if the comments were about weight gain or loss- it had a negative effect on the women’s physical and mental health to face this constant judgement about their appearance and led to lower self-esteem (Bhatti). It seems there is a narrow definition of beauty- as Goel described, a woman cannot be seen as too thin or she isn’t “healthy” and she can’t be too fat either. This narrow definition of South Asian beauty sometimes contrasts western ideals of being curvy, tan, and Eurocentric (Goel). Goel specifically comments that in order to make any intervention this older generation of women must be addressed as the younger women will continue to face criticism otherwise. She described that these older women were using their comments to not only surveil food intake, but to enforce a specific standard despite medical illnesses that women had. Here in the western world, discriminatory comments made about a South Asian woman’s ethnic appearance increases the risk of eating disorders because their weight is one of the features they can change about themselves to fit into the westernized ideal (Bhatti).
It is important to note that the focus on a woman’s figure is an important factor in a woman’s marriage prospects because a man’s family wants a woman with good genes and health (Bhatti). Keep in mind here marriage for a woman in this context represents a lot more than just the western idea of marriage, it also has implications for social status, finances, and whole her future. Thus in the past, women who could afford to eat were those of higher socio-economic status and thus had curvier figures, representing the ideal (Bhatti). The documentary “A Brief History of Fat, and Why We Hate It” talks about the reason why evolutionarily people with more fat are selected; caring for children takes energy and those mothers with more fat stores would be more successful in having kids. In addition, people who are too thin don’t menstruate, so more weight also signals fertility. Having more fat stores also allowed more manual labor to be done, but the problem began when machines took over and humans became inactive in the presence of abundant food. They also talked about how our body is adapted to work against dieting as our hunger instincts are about our survival. Bhatti reminds us that for many a woman’s appearance now is still the most important factor in an arranged marriage because of this background in it representing her health status. I think one of the things that we really need to remember is that thin doesn’t necessarily mean healthy- it might also come with clogged arteries, or malnutrition. I also realized that it kind of makes sense for men to be wired to be so focused on breasts and butts because actually parts of fertility to have a pelvis that’s big enough to bear children and breasts that would feed the children.
CONFLICT
In terms of conflict, Bhatti says that women who were experiencing conflicts in values between western ideals and South Asian values- even if they were on unrelated topics like dating, or culture clashes with their parents, experienced an increased risk of eating disorders. In most documentaries on eating disorders you will see the people describing how eating was their way of controlling life, or the one thing they could control. So it makes sense if we are restricting the freedoms of young women, and making them feel powerless in their lives that they are controlling the one thing they can, which is eating (Bhatti). I think that there is another way in which this western values conflict presents it self. I’ve noticed a lot of my cousins talking about not looking too bright, and wearing muted black/white or grey colors of popular brands like Nike. I think that my bright clothing and floral prints makes people uncomfortable sometimes because they tend to wear dark clothing specifically to blend in and not be noticed whereas I find a yellow shirt just brightens up your day and reminds you that life is vibrant and there is a richness to be lived. I don’t think there is anything wrong with either but I do think restricting yourself only to black to hide away, to fit in, or being afraid to wear something of color is different than just choosing subtle colors because you enjoy that.
FOOD IN SOUTH ASIAN CULTURE
Bhatti noted it is culturally inappropriate in many cases to decline food when you are visiting someone and it is offered, or for many people in their own homes; that food is often made in excess; meal preparation is typically done by women; and that the family all eats the same meals. Some women resorted to starving themselves in anticipation of having to go to events where they wouldn’t be able to decline food, or to just not eat altogether. The women studied were specifically changing their eating for weight loss, not for health reasons, and didn’t even consider the effects it would hae on their health (Bhatti). In Kapadia’s study all the women wanted to change their bodies, but felt that lack of resources restricted them such as not having nannies to care for the children, having to work, not having money for surgery or personal trainers, etc. Goel notes that mental illnesses including eating disorders are stigmatized and thus underreported in the South Asian community.
MEDIA
In the media, South Asian women consume both Hollywood and Bollywood media and while in the past media in both used to focus on having a full curvy figure, that has changed over time to a thin ideal(Bhatti). Kapadia similarly noted that women in India consume both types of media, but they draw more of their comparisons based on Hollywood rather than Bollywood which I found to be surprising. The women in her study noted that in the past both Hollywood and Bollywood focused on talent, and women had fuller figures while nowadays Bollywood especially is focused on revealing clothing, western outfits, plastic surgery, and thin actresses. They noted men to be more muscular in the media as well compared to the past, and that movies generally now showed more scenes of a sexual nature which may not be appropriate for children. Women noted that the general population in India had also begun to represent that movie ideal with more revealing westernized clothing.
Most of us have seen Dove’s evolution video, I will link it here in case you haven’t: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U It shows a model getting digitally altered and all the work that goes into how she looks in the final product. There are many ways in which individuals will make efforts to alter their appearance, and we all know that the beauty industry is worth billions for a reason. I learned that a lot of these products are also not regulated the same as the rest of the stuff that we consume and use, hence the emergence of clean beauty products (Toxic Beauty CBC). Some of them can be quite dangerous to us. We will now list off the methods used to alter appearance, many of which I didn’t know about (source for most of this paragraph is the Body Acceptance Class Manual). These methods include makeup, fake tans, surgeries to change eye color, contact lenses to change eyecolor, laser surgery for eyes, fake lashes, fake nails, wigs, dying hair and haircare products to change hair texture such as straightening hair, perfume, skin bleaching agents, plastic surgery, skincare products, hair removal (waxing, laser, shaving), skin rejuvenation procedures, skin tattooing (ex. eyebrows, eyeliner), manicures/pedicures, dietary supplements like steroids, extreme diets, excessive exercise, etc. (source: “what is pretty?” and Australian Center for Clinical Interventions). For the fashion industry, they select young models who are often pre-pubescent or early teens to represent products that are for older women. Then on top of this the fashion industry uses bras and bottoms that are padded, even for making a regular sized model look plus sized- so her face and neck is thin but the rest is padded. If you think about it a woman with a low BMI has no fat, therefore naturally she cannot physically have big breasts or a big butt because she doesn’t have the fat to support it. This has lead to padding or photoshopping those pieces in afterwards and in some cases breast implants. They pin clothes in the back, duct tape breasts, two sets of bras, or girdles to increase cleavage, and skin is taped back to remove wrinkles. Once this process is done, lighting is set up, posesare set up a particular way, and the photo is taken. Then comes the computer manipulation which can range from photoshopping to change body proportions, take off wrinkles, make someone skinny, to completely using just the face of a person and using a computer generated body, or parts of different bodies. This has prompted some models to do talks about how even they don’t look like their version in a magazine. Furthermore if you thought this was just computer, magazines, etc. this is also in live films. Men are also photoshopped and can have body doubles in movies. Moreover, did you know that if those store mannequins were real women, they wouldn’t be able to menstruate? Those are not fit and healthy ideals. Sometimes they have no heads and the back of their body is missing, but it does demonstrate something- if you walk by and see a mannequin wearing something it’ll attract you to walk into the store. As Media Smarts mentions it is important to remind ourselves that consumer culture is built on people feeling like they need to buy things to be happy and successful. Studies found that even when people are aware of all of this manipulation, and counterargue it, they still internalize the thin ideal (source: positive psychology)…it’s not good enough just to know that the picture you are looking at is altered.
The scary part about social media is it can do all the things that I mentioned above. A lot of people are probably like me and didn’t realize it is very common for the average everyday person to digitally alter their pictures on social media! Most studies on social media are correlational at this time and some studies have been conflicting. What we do know is that most men and women compare their bodies to images they see in the media, and social media can influence them to internalize the thinness ideal. Viewing fitspiration (fitness inspiration on Instagram) posts can result in unhealthy eating and exercise in young adults, and women who share their fitspiration photos have higher drive to be thinner and undergo compulsive exercise (source: Mind that Ego). In another study just 10 minutes on Facebook resulted in more appearance related concerns (Source: in-mind). BBC states that studies also show that women feel worse after posting a selfie even if they retouched it. For some young people whose social media lives are more important than real life, this validation from likes is defining their self-worth.
MEN
Eating disorders also affect men, especially athletes as men are pressured to not be too thin as they must be muscular, but also not to be obese. Many have turned to steroid use to build muscle (Center for Clinical interventions). Interestingly, a study from 2008 showed that men became more self-conscious seeing sexualized women in male magazines, because they expected these women would want the same ideal from their bodies as well (Media smarts). There is a huge pressure to be muscular and fit. I suspect there is a diversity of body image issues that aren’t mentioned because men don’t like to talk about these things, but some that are notable are fear of being short and insecurity about genitals. I think in terms of body image a lot of Sikh men in particular struggle with hair, beard, or even chest hair and the ideal of what they should be looking like and what they want to look like. Insecurities is a topic that should be expanded on, for example the portrayal of Sikh men with and without turbans and what kinds of personalities they have in movies and how they are portrayed. I noticed a common stereotype for the hero to be muscular guy, and for turbaned men to often be awkward, insecure stereotypes. How is that affecting men’s views of themselves?
BODY POSTIVITY VS NEUTRALITY
The body positive movement focuses on accepting all marginalized bodies and it’s background comes from the “fat acceptance movement” started to fight fat shaming and fat phobia, whereas body confidence is your personal confidence in your body (source: Cliona Byrne). Positive Psychology writes that people who are overweight are found to often go through a pattern of feeling bad, then further using food or inactivity as comfort, and gaining more weight. Building up self-esteem and being happy about body image is so important that it helps to break this cycle, and allow people to then improve their physical health. Some people have misunderstood it as promoting an unhealthy ideal by thinking that if people accept themselves at an obese weight they are not promoting a healthy lifestyle but that’s not what the body positivity movement is about. There is controversy over weight loss in the body positivity community as sometimes those who set weight loss goals are no longer seen as body positive- it is thought that this is coming from a place of shame, or something bad, rather than as something positive that someone might be motivated to do for their health (discussed by youtuber ObesetoBeast). Yet it could totally be coming from a positive space. Thus some people have promoted the term body neutrality instead, focusing on the idea that we should just stop focusing on the body so much in the first place (source: The Cut). We will revisit this topic. We talked about the Dove evolution ad above. I think one of the important things to mention is that people are upset that Dove also sells fair and lovely which is a skin bleaching agent, and although companies are starting to add in more diversity of models on the runway, they are still selling us a product and that our bodies matter more than ourselves (The Social Media Beauty Cult DW documentary).
IDEAS
Ideas to overcome the effects of media on our self-image are to get away from your phone and go out and have real friendships, to change your feed, stop comparing ourselves and to have positive self-talk (King University, Hatch Discussion Guide). Try to figure out where ideas came from. Think about what your body is able to do and it’s functions- for example your legs are not for looking pretty or being an object, they are for walking (Positive Psychology, Engeln). I liked how Engeln said “your body is your tool for exploring the world.” Some of the ways of supporting children is body positive books, pointing out the talents of people who are of various body sizes and being active together (Huffington post). We know that media literacy, academic achievement, problem-solving skills, high self-esteem, body appreciation, and intuitive eating are protective against eating disorders (Break Binge Eating).
It is notable that 8 out of 10 women opt out of events because they don’t feel beautiful, and that this starts young with girls not putting up their hands to avoid drawing attention to themselves, withdrawing in debates, sports, and other activities (Carrie Hammer; Meaghan Ramsey). In fact, studies show girls and women who are focused on monitoring their body from an outside perspective perform worse on math and reading tests, can’t lift as heavy weights, throw a softball as far, or run as far (Lindsay Kite). Renee Engeln states “Now, psychologist have long told us that we have finite cognitive resources.. you also cannot chronically monitor your body’s appearance and be engaged in the world.” The time spent on appearance and thinking about how they look is at the expense of actually living- of spending time in their bodies and using them for sports, family, hobbies and learning (Ramsey). We need to remind little girls they are more than their appearance. This comes back to the topic of it being important to move past our bodies. Sikhi teaches us that the body is simply a vessel. It helps us achieve the purpose of our life and we are so fortunate after so many reincarnations to have this human life. To be obsessed with the body is not a part of Sikhi. It is not wrong to want to look presentable, but to spend hours on your paag or makeup is not without its consequences. In Sikhi we are taught to move beyond this world and maya and into a different spiritual state. When we are uncomfortable within ourselves, or in our lives, it is often just a consequence of this inner stirring. As the DW documentary describes “society is racked with constant inner unrest.” For us we actually know that in Sikhi this inner unrest comes from something deeper than appearance. It is our journey that we came to this earth for an until that is satisfied we will not feel fulfilled. One makeup artist, DeVirgilis, found that there was a small percent of her clients not apologizing for their looks and those were the ones aware of their mortality. I think that it shouldn’t take that kind of event for us to finally appreciate what our body can do. If you got breast cancer and lost your breasts, you would be so regretful that you spent so much time worrying about how they look, and wished that you had just appreciated your body for what it was. As Sikhs are more aware of our mortality and aware that all of our time spent here is precious.
I’ll end on a personal note about my experiences. I’ve never struggled from an eating disorder or significant body image issues so its unfair of me to ever say that I can speak from that perspective or know what it feels like. What I will say is that don’t fall into the belief that people are spared from this appearance pressure if you change yourself or you had been born differently. Even models in TED talks talk deeply about their insecurities and how much they struggle with appearance. My body is what a lot of people would call the ideal body type, and I have long eyelashes, fair skin, long hair… yet I too have my own insecurities. That is the business of fashion, it is there to make you feel that. I have experienced some of the typical “criticism” category which I don’t think any of us in the Punjabi community are immune from. Within a week of each other, I had a South Asian doctor tell me they thought that I was anorexic because I was so skinny and an aunty tell me that I looked fat (?!). This vast discrepancy obviously comes from people’s own insecurities and their own perceptions and we cannot take that personally. The lady selling me my Hugo boss suit told me I was a perfect sample size, yet all the clothes of the same size in my closet range from labels of XXS to XL; I could be a zero or an eight. The size ranging has nothing to do with the actual size of the clothes. I remember being 13 years old, and I went shopping for a pair of jeans in Toronto. At thirteen I didn’t realize that your pelvis still has some growing to do. I went to the store and picked up my usual size and the lady told me no, I need the size up. I refused, bought the smaller size. What she was actually saying was that the sizes run small, what I interpreted was completely different. The jeans were tight, and they barely fit for a few weeks and I never wore them again. I kept them in my closet for a while not understanding that my pelvis cannot possibly ever get smaller. I learned a lesson that day that I’ll remember forever- don’t judge on the size label, just choose clothes that fit. We are not defined by our sizes. When we are in our teens there is this awkwardness of knowing your body and learning your body. Then our brain itself is growing into its adult version until 25 so it takes its time to learn about what this body feels like, what it can do, and how it functions. For example getting your period doesn't make you a woman overnight. There is a lot of growth in that process. The more simran you do the more outwardly focused you are as well. I noticed even having a focus of visiting Gurdwaras in India and not looking in the mirror made a huge difference to how I felt. I'm not perfect and some days I worry about being thin just like everyone else but I am more confident in myself now and I think I appreciate my body a lot more. I have the perspective to appreciate what my lungs for breathing, and my abdomen for digestion, and to know that it is so much more than what it looks like. Some days your body might not feel right, or maybe even isn't healthy, and I think it is all that much more important to recognize the positive side of what you can do and where your mind can take you that the body can't.
If you need professional help with body image issues or an eating disorder please see your doctor. There is help available.
References (I highly recommend watching Engeln’s and Kite’s videos, the first two):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDowwh0EU4w Body Positivity or Body Obsession? Learning to See More and Be More by Lindsay Kite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63XsokRPV_Y An Epidemic of Beauty Sickness by Renee Engeln
Image Activities and Worksheets
Nazia Bhatti “The Impact of Beauty, Body Image, and Health Discourses on Eating Disorder Risk in South Asian-Canadian Women. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5206/
Neha Goel "Conceptualization Of Body Image And Eating Disorders Among South Asian American Women: A Qualitative Investigation.” https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/6037/
Manisha Kalidas Kapadia “Body Image in Indian Women as Influenced by the Indian Media.” https://twu-ir.tdl.org/handle/11274/3939
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/toxic-beauty/episode-1/38e815a-0124102b12f Toxic Beauty Documentary by CBC
https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au Center for Clinical Interventions, Government of Western Austrailia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBdA0soFx4w Beauty and How We’re Obsessed with the Wrong Idea: Christina Gressinau
https://www.in-mind.org/article/selfie-esteem-the-relationship-between-body-dissatisfaction-and-social-media-in-adolescent The Inquisitive Mind: Selfie-Esteem: The Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction and Social Media in Adolescent and Young Women by Makwana, Lee, Parkin and Farmer
Body Acceptance Class Manual by Stice, Shaw and Rohde http://www.bodyprojectsupport.org/assets/pdf/materials/bp_4sess_script_handouts.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNOIAfwc0WU A Model’s Guide to Perfection Bella Glanville
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PBs7RqPTrI The social media beauty cult DW documentary
https://clionabyrne.com/body-positivity-vs-body-confidence/ Body Positivity Vs. Body Confidence by Cliona Byrne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHht-JAxdUU What is Pretty?
https://online.king.edu/news/social-media-and-body-image/ King University: The Link Between Social Media and Body Image
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190311-how-social-media-affects-body-image The Complicated Truth about Social Media and Body Image (BBC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vinqph-g5QI A Brief History of Fat, and Why We Hate It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMpV0gcq5go Body Positivity has gone TOO Far (I’m Mad) by ObesetoBeast
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/foster-healthy-body-image-child_l_5c86b4a8e4b0d936162add28 Huffington Post: 10 everyday ways to Foster and Healthy Body Image in Your Child
https://www.mindthatego.com/instagram-influence-body-image-part-1/ Instagram’s Influence on Negative Body Image
The Ultimate List of Body Image Statistics Dr. Linardon https://breakbingeeating.com/body-image-statistics/
Hatch Discussion Guide http://media.sheknows.com/article-downloads/HATCHDISCUSSIONBodyImageAndMedia.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWESkMNPams Body Image: Not Just about Your Body: Jessi Kneeland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlIAS-rI4E Why thinking you’re ugly is bad for you by Megahan Ramsey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eAL4JNQQU8 Beauty: Documentary on Societal Beauty Standards
https://www.confidentbody.net/uploads/1/7/0/2/17022536/nedc_body_image_fact_sheet.pdf Confident Body.net Body Image Fact Sheet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gto6w0a13B0 In my Chair- A makeup artists perspective on beauty: Eva DeVirgilis
photos references
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Survival of the fittest is STILL prevalent just like any other time as Rumi observed, most people have not grown up yet. Asians and Punjabis are no different. Soorat(the looks) Seerat(brain) - when they talked about the newly wed couple they would say - at least she has ONE of them( as an asset). I noticed that Scientists in western movies are protrayed as Old men with long white hair and glasses - at least they have Seerat(brain) hence should be respected(implied)
ReplyDeleteSince Globalization, facial and beauty salons have opened in every nook and corner of Punjab and make up companies from the West exploited the need by giving beauty pageant awards to Indian women. So before 1990, there were NO beautiful Indian women? As Indian opened to Western business by Dr Manmohan Singh, all of the sudden India is full of beautiful women winning pageant one after another. - All to SELL make up.
One thing I have observed also - 99.99% bapatized women - even if they are older- they are plucking their brows- I am not saying people shouldn't look clean. Perhaps there is a limit to what people can adhere to...but we humans make up rules as we go
Before Western companies went to India - Fat, plump women were considered "beautiful" - Fat was synonymous with wealth - when Punjabi say someone is rich - they say xyz is "Moto" - oh tan mote ghron - they are from fat home -
Another one Is Fair and lovely is Sold mostly in India. Even before "Black lives matter" - issue came up in other communities - there was a tussle amongst Black men and women - violence, and how successful black men chose WHITE mates over black.
I book marked an article I have to find it