Fascism Of Size-Zero
By Amrita Nandy-Joshi
10 June,
2008
Countercurrents.org
The emphasis on ultra-thinness is about capitalism and power
It seems that some urban Indian women's obsession with fat (or the lack of it) has reached a peak. Ironically, the standard for the 'right' body is now the hollow and slight size zero. Their fervour has consumed a part of our cultural discourse and conscience. This is quite evident from the barrage of TV shows-the camera sits in the salad-and-soymilk kitchens of Page3 stars, while they, trapped to the treadmill, can barely pant, 'I just want to be fit.' The American creation (rather, malaise) of 'size zero' has been an ongoing debate in the West. Now, the massive wave of globalisation has brought skinny size-zero jeans and the debate to our shores and stores. Wonder if the shipment to India this time caused a bit of trouble-did fatty Colas and fat-burning technology, rich Snickers and tiny knickers sit well with each other? This unease was visible elsewhere too. UK's Asda was lampooned by health experts for its hypocritical stance-they sold both size-zero clothes and the messages of healthy eating. The paradoxes of ultra-consumerism!
Since the winds of fashion and beauty aesthetics blow from West to East, international celebrities (Victoria Beckham, to name one) have become the role models for body sizes and hairdos of Bollywood heroines and catwalk queens. Our desi icons are in turn aped by lakhs of awe-struck young girls who loathe their chubby bodies. Since 'fat' spells abjection, they follow extreme diets to lose weight. Experts recommend that women eat 2,000 calories a day, but to be a size-zero and maintain it, one needs to survive on 500 calories per day. Obviously, the young dieters develop severe eating disorders over a brief period of time, and this is not the surprising part. The proportions needed to squeeze into the tiny and controversial size zero clothing are a 31.5-inch bust, 23-inch waist and 34-inch hips. To go back into the waist size of a 10-year-old girl is preposterous by any measuring-tape standards. Surely, the fad has been slammed by doctors and nutritionists. The harmful results of an anorexic body are also well-documented. Yet, these punishing vital statistics are discreetly and happily promoted. Those who do it of course do not accept the blame; they point their fingers at others. On a recent TV debate on India's obsession with thinness, a former model and a fashion designer completely denied the presence of any pressure to be thin. She just said, "I want to be fit." Designers blame model-casting agents, who blame model agencies, who blame fashion stylists, who blame their editors, who blame designers for the thin aesthetic, and it starts all over again. Pass the buck they may, but one does not have to join any dots to see where these norms spring from and who the culprits are.
The dots also lead to a larger point-that the whole fashion and beauty regime armtwists women into consent. If you are not part of the club, you must be a loser. Spas, plastic surgery, botox and tummy tucks and so on are de rigueur for the confident and successful woman. Mind you, it is not for the ones with a thin wallet and fat stomach, but only for those who can open their fat wallets for a flat stomach. Naomi Wolf brilliantly exposed the undercurrents of feminine beauty in her classic polemic The Beauty Myth. She argued that beauty was not about women at all, but about men and power-"behaviour that is essential for economic reasons is transformed into a social virtue." The market defines and judges what good skin, good complexion, good body size, good height, good clothes, good shoes, good cars, good mobiles are. The cosmetics and slimming industry create unrealistic benchmarks for beauty. This makes women feel flawed, insecure and anxious. Soon, solutions appear on TV in the form of lipsticks, fairness creams, wrinkle-removers and so on. It is a vicious cycle-the more you conform to the imaginary fluff, the more you prop up the beauty norm.
Clearly, to be and stay beautiful has always been made to be the ultimate goal for a woman. With time, the goal is made more unachievable, the bar is raised higher so newer, 'improved' products can hit market shelves. It is noteworthy that beauty is demanded not just in appearance, but also in behaviour (femininity). Polite, submissive, innocent are some of the traits that make women feminine, desirable and thus worthy of various kinds of advantages. For all their success, feminists could not kill the beauty culture. Decades after Wolf's revealing insights, millions of mascaraed eyes are still trapped in these 'social blind spots'.
Body and beauty fascism creates narcissistic and self-obsessed young women. If only they could see these fuzzy and irrational norms as fuzzy and irrational. The trouble is that till there is an organised way to challenge the beauty phenomenon, things will not change. If nothing else, one's patience has certainly worn thin.
