Curious Reads: Skinny Minny
Chat: The "heroin chic body” is back?!
Merry XMAS! I’m giving you an early present: free for all discussions through the end of the year. In January and beyond, these chats will go behind a pay wall. So maybe ask for a $21/yearly subscription to the empathy list for the holidays?? Wink wink.
Hello friends, Liz here.
I want to talk about the story that I keep returning to, one from the Cut: “Could Thin be In Again?” by Michelle Santiago Cortes. Apparently, the “heroin chic body” is back in.
#1
“‘When I say thin is in,” says disability advocate Imani Barbarin, a.k.a. @crutches_and_spice on TikTok, ‘what I’m talking about is that the inclusion we’ve achieved over the last ten years with the body-positivity and the body-neutrality movements, it’s going to feel like whiplash in terms of going back. It’s going to feel like a resentment of fat bodies.’ The short-lived efforts to offer inclusive sizing ranges are already losing steam…
“The truth is our society relied on ableism, fatphobia, and racism to justify the preventable deaths of the pandemic. The Los Angeles Times reported last year that medical fat-shaming increased during the pandemic and got in the way of proper care. It almost makes too much sense that eating disorders got worse during this time.
“…If you are thin in 2022, it means you graduated with honors. If you are thin in 2022, it means your body is productive and valuable and fit, in every sense of the word.”
Question
HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE BACK TO THE SAME SKINNY MINNY BODY NORM THAT USED TO PREDOMINATE WHEN I WAS A TEEN?
Or, phrased with less CAPS and hair-pulling, why is “heroin thin” popular again? What makes us culturally attracted to bony babes who look like they could fall over in a strong gust? And why do I find myself wishing to be skinny like them?? I’m a fat lady Christian feminist who believes in body positivity! Why??!!
Tell me all your thoughts.
More Curious Reads
#2
Yes, the midterms are here. Sigh. I guess I can’t ignore politics anymore. (Side note: my husband kept moving my ballot to places I couldn’t ignore it until I FINALLY voted on Tuesday. Hahahah. So, yes, I’m voting and no, I’m not enthusiastic about another election season. UGH.)
However, I did find the NYT’s midterm podcast, “The Run-Up” fascinating, especially these conversations with voters in swing states.
Here’s what Republicans had to say…and here’s what Democrats had to say.—The New York Times
#3
Here’s how to be a good enough home cook, just in time for Thanksgiving. —Vox
#4
The suburbs used to be all white. Now, suddenly, they’re diverse. New data shows that, for the first time, the majority of American neighborhoods are mixed-race. In case you wondered if our demographics were really changing, YES, data supports unequivocally that America really is diverse in every way.—The Washington Post
#5
What’s the point of saving one butterfly species? Well, it’s not just about one species of butterfly. It’s called ecology. ;-) —The Atlantic
Just for Fun
Wellness is important. SO important. “My big thing I’m trying to crack right now is my screen time. I’m up to… 23 1/2 hours a day.”
I’ll repost the question here: Question
HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE BACK TO THE SAME SKINNY MINNY BODY NORM THAT USED TO PREDOMINATE WHEN I WAS A TEEN?
Or, phrased with less CAPS and hair-pulling, why is “heroin thin” popular again? What makes us culturally attracted to bony babes who look like they could fall over in a strong gust? And why do I find myself wishing to be skinny like them?? I’m a fat lady Christian feminist who believes in body positivity! Why??!!
I think the article nailed the reasons for the return to the thin ideal: thinness (especially "pretty" thinness) has always given people more power. Sure, there's been a bit more acceptance in recent years for bigger bodies, but most of them still have snatched waits to go with the curvy hips and big breasts. There's still only a small percentage of the population that can attain even the curvy version of ideal because there's still a nod to thinness.
I think this extreme thinness is back because that's what beauty trends do: they swing in one direction until "too many" people are close-ish to the ideal and then they swing back to something that feels "fresh". Because, guess what, capitalism needs people to keep chasing a new body so they'll buy more. People who've achieved the perfect "snatched waist, big butt, big breasts" look will now invest time and energy into wasting away. And women are products in our society. Objects to be manipulated to whatever is deemed beautiful on the whims of society.
I do fear for the young women (and some older ones) who are more susceptible to buy into the belief that their bodies must visually represent the whims of society in order to be valued. As a fat woman myself (though a decade of near-starvation gave me a taste of the privileges of being thin-adjacent), it's only been in the last couple years that I've been able to work through my fatphobia and accept that my body has value regardless of how it looks. The damage that fatphobia did to my mental health for most of my life, though, lingers. I fear this new trend will raise up a new generation with the same internal hangups I've had.