True Beauty (Fitria Nugraha)

When you meet up with your friends, especially with your girlfriends, do you often hear this kind of dialogue?

A : “Oh no, I won’t eat the rice! It contains a lot of carbs! It’ll make me look fat!”

B : “No, you look just fine. You are already skinny! Look at me, I am much more fatter than you!”

Or

A : “Let’s go to that restaurant, They have a really delicious chocolate cakes!”

B : “No way! I’m on Diet now”

I think that’s quite a common dialogue that girls usually have when they meet their girlfriends. Women this day are obsessed on being slim, skinny, diet and losing weight. As a matter of fact, lately there is a new diet program called the “OCD Program” which becomes really popular especially in Indonesia. Well, I don’t know about this program really well, but for what I know the OCD program is about changing your eating time. People who do this program have to do fasting within certain time.  Some people who already get used to the program even do a whole day fasting.

So, this kind of phenomenon gets me thinking. Why are people, especially women can get so obsessed on being skinny or slim? Well, to be truthful I have a quite skinny body. And often I think I am too skinny.  So maybe that’s why I can’t really relate to women who desperately wanting to become skinny. Well, in my opinion wanting to become a slim and skinny is not a bad thing. It’s just the same like me wanting to become fatter. But sometimes, social pressure, mass media, advertising, even our family and friends, already have a mindset that “Skinny is Beauty and Fat is Ugly”. This belief is already imprinted in our mind. Every model in the magazine that we read must be tall, skinny, beautiful and have a perfect bodyline like a Barbie doll. This kind of belief that makes women obsessed on being skinny. Being skinny boost their self-esteem and being fat make them think that they are unwanted, worthless, and ugly. Those kinds of mindset that caused a lot of women suffer from eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Lots of women who suffer from anorexia or bulimia, often doesn’t realized that they’re having eating disorder. They worried too much about their body image. For people who suffer from anorexia usually have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight. In some extreme cases, anorexia nervosa can caused death.

So basically what I’m trying to say is let’s be more aware about this phenomenon and try to be more grateful for what you are. Being healthy is more important than being too skinny. Don’t be too obsessed on losing weight. And another thing is don’t try to lose weight because you want to pleased other people. If you want to lose weight do it for yourself. So let’s stay healthy and beautiful girls! 

"What's the point of being pretty on the outside when you're so ugly on the inside?"

-Jess C. Scott, I'm Pretty-

 

7 November 2013