Nikki Blog

I don’t know about you but I can’t stand Thai women getting labeled as petite and slim as a stereotype. I get bored of the media message that my natural curvy body is unacceptable! I am fed up with hearing ten-year-old girls already upset with their bodies and thinking they need to lose weight. Oh please! Why is the media forcing all these unattainable lightweight versions of beauty on us? Without starvation, bulimia, cancer or plastic surgery, it is impossible for 99.9% of women to achieve such figure.

For one, weight loss products and services are huge businesses. These days, you will find them in all shapes and forms, from herbal tea to spa retreats or that latest diet fad of eating only half-polished rice and grapefruits. And the media machine has succeeded admirably in promoting them, putting beauties like me on a diet. I recently noted that there are 10 times more advertisement and articles promoting weight loss in women’s magazines than men’s magazines does.

Media messages like advertising and celebrity spotlights help our culture define what is beautiful and what is “good”. The media’s power over our development of self-esteem and body image can be incredibly strong. Nature has never intended women to look like teenage boys with large breasts, but the media has persistently depicted it as the ultimate beauty. Based on what I have seen on the hit TV show “American Top Model”, it appears that viewers are also shaped by this media message. Ever wonder why you don’t see real people like you and me on the show?

I was once an overweight Thai teenager, and trust me I was very unhappy. It wasn’t because I was not happy with myself, rather I was unhappy when I was in the middle of Siam Square unable to buy anything that would fit me. I do not care so much nowadays, but IMAGE meant everything during my naïve and fragile teenager years. In those days, the only size that was on sale was minus-4.

The situation in the local market has improved considerably. The shops have gradually taken into account that they were merely serving a “small” portion of Thai customers (or shall I say “thin” portion of Thai customers?). When one of the trendy cloth stores expanded their line to more reasonable sizes, they made huge bucks. It was truly a real revolution in the Thai fashion industry before “T-ra-design” came along. For those of you, who haven’t heard of it, try Google it in.

I believe that something like 80 percent of adult women spend everyday disliking some part of their bodies, and I hate to admit it but I am one of them. I look in the mirror everyday, wishing some part of my body would be slimmer, more toned, or bigger. It doesn’t have to be this way. Women naturally have all sorts of different body shapes and sizes. We don’t need the media to continue defining what the ideal beauty is, and we should certainly not let it ruin countless life in the quest for profits.

The good news is that a portion of the media has recognized this need as well and has made some good gestures. Many of you would remember the Madrid fashion show’s banning of overly-skinny models last year. They turned away 30% of the models for having body mass index (BMI) below 18. (The world health organization’s definition of being underweight) The movement started after a model died of starving herself preparing for the catwalk. I noticed that the recent Bangkok Fashion Show also featured one or two more sumptuous models on the stage, and I have to say they were very eye-catching. There was more to look at than the usual skinny stick in loose hanging clothes.

What should we look for in the advertisement?

• The message or image that intends to make people feel bad about their body shape or size.
• Advertisements which make fun of heavy people or imply that thinness is the only acceptable body size — hmm… I could think of a few!
• Promoting diets or starvation
• Praising razor thin models and actresses as the beauties on idol shows.
• Promoting exercise as a way to get thin rather ways to get fit, healthy and have fun.

There are many watchdog organizations such as the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) which are working to change how the media advertise. This particular organization monitors magazines, television and radio to keep track of the negative messages that advertisements are sending to the consumer. I am not aware of such an organization existence in Thailand, but let me know if you would like to set one up or lead the campaign, and you will get my full support.

We should praise advertisements which feature people of all sizes and shapes in positive ways, and those which promote the natural diversity and real image of people. Encouraging the media to present the true definition of beauty will not eliminate the ingrained culture of dieting, but it would help reduce the pressures many people feel to make their bodies conform to an ideal, and in the process, reduce the feelings of body dissatisfaction.

Modern Thai women are expected to live up to the expectations of their families, employers and society. To add to the list, they ought to stay slim, sexy, attractive, loving, caring and emotionally balanced. That’s a tall order! In their attempts to fulfill these expectations, many women lose their self-esteem, identity, and values. The Thai men, although have been praised for their realistic, practical, efficient and logical, they often ended up experiencing stress. The competitive world expects them to be the pillar of their families. Feeling the pressure, men become workaholics, grow bellies, lose hair and become the ideal candidates for heart attacks. Both men and women are often made to feel they have never quite “cut-it” in a society.

As a result of media shaping how we should be, men “shut down”, and women turn to friends, or medication. The outcome is very unfulfilling and it is questionable whether men or women failed each other, or the media failed us. For people to be happy, we must learn to give up our unrealistic expectations of each other, focus on the feelings inside, and discourage the media screaming that “thin is in”.