Discrimination Against Heavy Women Women all over the world are living up to the pressure of looking like the typical magazine or billboard model, where larger women are rarely seen as the center point. In recent years, it has been questioned if the way people perceive larger women should be changed by putting more of these women in the media. W. Charisse Goodman’s excerpted chapter titled “One Picture is Worth a Thousand Diets,” from his book The Invisible Women: Confronting Weight Prejudice in America and Meghan Daum’s article titled “Those Unnerving ads using “Real” Women,” published in the Los Angeles Times, both gave me insight to this debate. Although both Goodman and Daum identify the problems of how women are portrayed in media, Goodman believes it to have a positive influence, whereas Daum sees it as a public indecency. Both articles made me question how we portray women and how we should portray women and persuaded me to believe there is a lack of larger women in the media. In his excerpted chapter “One Picture is Worth a Thousand Diets,” from his book The Invisible Woman: Confronting Weight Prejudice in America W. Charisse Goodman debates the hardship of being a heavy woman in America, where everywhere you look women are persuaded that thin is the only beauty and the key to happiness. Goodman starts off by telling the many ratios of thin women to heavy women in the media, with thin women always at a much larger number than heavy women. He then goes on to explain that in television and movies, larger women are very rarely seen as romantic figures or even as the central characters. Goodman suggests in his chapter that when it comes down to it, most men care more about a woman’s body and figure rather than who they are as a person. He then describes how in newspaper articles, women are still described through their size and weight, even if the topic isn’t about diet or weight, whereas a man’s weight is rarely used to describe himself, even if he is large. It is then summed up in his chapter that in media thin women are valuable whereas heavy women are only neglected. Although both Goodman and Daum believe it’s tough being a large woman in society, they disagree in how much these larger women should be displayed in the media. To convince his audience Goodman uses logic and statistics to prove that there is a lack of larger women in the media and to boost the confidence in these women, there needs to be increase of these women in television, magazines, and billboards. He also believes that most large women in media are shown in a discriminating way. He says they are shown as the “peripheral, asexual mother or “buddy,” and rarely, if ever, the central romantic character.” (607 Goodman) He talks about how even when we’re not trying to be prejudice, we still can be just by the way we portray other women. Goodman believes that we have spent too much time praising thin women, while we have left heavier women in the dark. The article “Those Unnerving Ads Using “Real” Women” by Meghan Daum explains the use of normal women in ads and how they are seen as public exposure. She starts off her article by explaining the ad campaign by Dove, which shows six “real” women who are posing in their bras and panties. Daum says that Dove’s leading product in this ad is cellulite-firming cream while its purpose is for women to be able to feel comfortable in their own bodies. She then goes on in her article to suggest that these ads should “seem arcane or middlebrow,” (619) or only understood by few and of average intellectual. Duam then describes how she only sees these ads as an invasion of privacy, as if these billboards only show “an enormous picture of one’s bedroom on display to anyone who drives by.” (619) She explains that these “real” models cannot represent the same things that professional models do. Daum then wraps up her article by saying, “Leave this work to the pros, girls. Real women have better things to do.” In contrast Duam believes that the use of “real” women in Dove’s ads cause an “unnerving” feeling. (618 Daum) She believes that these models display more intimacy, “as if you’re looking into their bedroom,” (619 Daum) making you feel uneasy. Daum also contributes to the idea that we have professional models for a reason; to “throw themselves in front of traffic so that [real women] don’t have to.” (620 Daum) In this article she gives her opinion through humor to display how women should be portrayed in media. After reading these articles I realized that when it comes to media, living up to the praises of the thin life has made women self-conscious wrecks. Daum made me realize that not every woman needs be an underwear model due to the uneasy feeling we get that we might be invading her privacy. In contrast, Goodman made me realize that just because they can’t be shown half naked, doesn’t mean they can’t be displayed in media at all. If when we see a larger woman in the media and we see it as unusual, does that mean we have discriminated against a part of our population? Asking this question made me realize the not all women are thin, so we shouldn’t display them as if they are. Reading these articles made me strongly believe that large women need to be displayed in media more to provide acceptance to a population that has been neglected. Goodman points out that even in newspaper articles women are described by their appearance and weight, this led me believe that media only perceives women to be good for their looks. As a part of the female race, I found this very untrue. Not every woman has those super model looks, but every woman has the ability to be something great, no matter the size. Goodman’s ideas made me believe that media has become a shallow place that needs to be changed to perceive what women really are. Goodman and Duam suggest that we should change the way we look at women, whether it’s an increase or decrease in larger women. I think we should look at all women as if they could be that beautiful model on that billboard. How we perceive women in media has become a shallow pit that should be turned around to fit who “real” women are.
Word Count: 1,090
Works Cited
Daum, Meghan. "Those Unnerving Ads Using "Real" Women. Everything's an Arguement. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2007. 618-20. Print.
Goodman, W. Charisse. One Picture Is Worth a Thousand Diets. Everything's an Arguement. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2007. 605-10. Print.