This past week video footage from the 2013 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational at Barnard College has got the young women of the world pondering the scathing reality that coincides with gender roles and body image. The poem, ‘Shrinking Women’ written and performed by Lily Meyers of Wesleyan University was awarded the Best Love Poem at the tournament.
In her performance, Meyers articulates the severity of an issue that is often overlooked by our society. ‘Shrinking Women’ embodies the epidemic of body image issues that plague women across the United States. The moving performance is extremely thought provoking, prompting questions about gender roles and expectations. Women have continually constrained themselves both socially and physically. The pressure to uphold the ideal body type is wearing women down. Why must women be forced into weakness to fulfill an idealized, and unhealthy expectation? Meyers addresses these issues with her beautiful spoken performance.
Gender studies have proved that a prominent aspect of feminine styled communication is to take up as little space as possible. Women will fade into the background to make space for men, they will squeeze themselves into corners, hug their arms to their sides to provide the proper place for a man to occupy. As I sat on the subway train this past summer I crossed my legs, folding myself inward to make space for two strange men who sat on either side of me, blissfully unaware of my discomfort for their own regard. When will women cease their shrinking to accommodate this expectation?
Even the most powerful women are powerless to the pressures of body image. Talented women are forced to become famished to fit the forms set by society. Oscar nominated actresses such as Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence have suffered from public ridicule regarding their dress size. According to Huffington Post Hathaway dropped twenty-five pounds for her role in Les Miserables, and since then has maintained the frail figure she was forced to obtain.
Lawrence, a beautiful, healthy young woman of just 22 was criticized for her weight when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. When confronted with the issue of her body type last year, Lawrence remained strong. According to E!News she stated in an interview, “In Hollywood, I’m obese”, “I’m considered a fat actress” she continued, "I'm never going to starve myself for a part...I don't want little girls to be like, 'Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I'm going to skip dinner'...I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong—not thin and underfed."
More recently, in an interview with Cosmopolitan for Latinas, Jennifer Lopez spoke out about the pressure she was under to change her shape when she first came to Hollywood. The curvaceous star stated that she learned to defend herself, “But you have to stand up and say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with me or my shape, or who I am. You’re the one with the problem!’ And when you can really believe that, all of a sudden other people start believing, too.” The Celebrity Cafe reports.
The expectations that are placed on women, particularly celebrities, translate into the general population. When female role models are sporting skeletal shapes society manages to mirror these standards, molding women into malnourished mannequins.
What women today need is positive reinforcement like that of Lopez and Lawrence. Models, actresses, and musicians can not continue to mock the female body with their minuscule waistlines. Contrary to popular belief it’s not our weight that needs to drop, the staggering number of women suffering from eating disorders, and unhealthy food relationships is what needs to be downsized.
Watch courageous college student Lily Meyers stand up for all women below: