Our author talks to scientist Elisabeth Lechner about self-love. It explains why the ideal of beauty is still present today.
BRIGITTE: Why do we still revolve around ourselves and our bodies so much? Shouldn’t there be consensus in 2021 that each of us is beautiful, no matter what we look like?
Elisabeth Lechner: Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The ideal of beauty has definitely changed, it has not disappeared. Today a “beautiful” woman no longer has to be slim, but well-trained, fit and curvy in the “right” places. She is white or “exotic”, has long hair, smooth and acne-free skin, and is shaved and made up all over her body.
What if I deviate from this norm? I’m not making hooks everywhere now.
Many studies show that people who are perceived as attractive get better health care, find partners and jobs more easily, and are more likely to be promoted. Even “beautiful” students get better grades. When it comes to weight, there are clear “thin privileges”. Our society, the public space, is still oriented towards norm bodies. Everyone else must reckon with obstacles.
But a lot has happened, in recent years the “Body Positivity” movement has been proclaimed. Everywhere, not just in my Instagram account, the message “All bodies are beautiful” suddenly popped up.
In fact, the movement has its roots in the 1960s, in the American “Fat Acceptance” movement. Overweight people defended themselves creatively and radically against structural discrimination.
And today?
“Body positivity” has arrived in the mainstream mainly through social media and pop culture. On the one hand, you naturally reach a lot of people, on the other hand, companies also notice that there is an opportunity here to make profit with a new topic and to win new consumers.
Now please feel good! In essence, that’s a positive message, but it also puts pressure on me.
You’re not the only one. As I said, “Body Positivity” didn’t originally say that we should love ourselves all 24 hours a day. Rather, it was about ending the structural discrimination against fat people and making other, “unruly” bodies, as I call them, visible. Do you remember “Girls”?
The series about girlfriends in New York? I liked to look, yes.
Lena Dunham, inventor and leading actress, showed her body there, which did not correspond to the usual Hollywood norm – soft stomach, untrained arms, small breasts. In 2012 it was quite a break with our viewing habits. Although today we also have to say that, as a white woman who is only “a little fatter”, it is still relatively safe for her to exceed the limits of beauty standards. For people who are more out of the norm, it is not.
What do you mean?
Anyone who is considered “ugly” or even “disgusting” very quickly becomes an object and no longer a person – and thus also threatened by violence. If, for example, “plus-size model” Anna O’Brian shows herself as she is, overweight and without a perfect hourglass silhouette, in a bikini, she receives death threats. Not only is a confident, thick woman’s body visible, but unfortunately also a lot of hatred.
Where does it come from?
Obesity is still often associated with “unhealthy”, with laziness, loss of control and irresponsibility. Of course these are stereotypes, but they last so long because they fit so well with our competitive society. And we have not yet spoken of people with different skin colors, disabilities or aging bodies. At the latest then it becomes clear that beauty is by no means a superficial, but a political issue.
But that doesn’t explain why it evokes such strong emotions.
A psychologist can certainly answer that better. What is certain is that an incredible number of people struggle every day to keep control of their bodies. One in three Germans constantly worries about putting too much weight on the scales.
I feel the same way: my head knows that there are more important things, but then I stand in front of the mirror again and am annoyed that my upper arms are drooping. Isn’t that absurd?
I know that well too, and I’ve been really into body images a lot. Obviously, this self-criticism is so deep within us and is all too often triggered from the outside. Love yourself? Some days it’s hard enough not to hate yourself.
Unfortunately, what doesn’t help me at all is women who look extremely great, but hold the tiniest dents or folds of fat in the camera and celebrate themselves as body activists on the Internet.
I don’t want to judge that, even thin women can suffer from beauty pressure. From my point of view, however, they should not stage themselves as the center of a movement that originally wanted to protect and celebrate excluded bodies. In fact, as a reaction to the growing commercialization of “body positivity”, the “body neutrality” movement emerged.
What is that now again?
The message is: I am grateful to my body because it carries me through life, but I am much more than it. It is right and important that we do not derive our self-worth from our looks, but from our beliefs, skills, relationships. The British television presenter Jameela Jamil has shown this impressively with her “I weigh” initiative. She had women write on photos of what really sets them apart, what they are proud of – apart from their looks: to be a loyal friend, a creative mind, a hopeless optimist …
Then we will all just become body-neutral now.
Unfortunately we are not that far. Most waist pants are still sold in size 36/38. As long as we live in a lookistic society, that is, in a society that evaluates people extremely based on their appearance, that is still utopia.
But maybe it’s not that far away? Many young women seem to have fewer problems with their bodies and like to show them off.
On the one hand, 70 percent of girls today describe themselves as too fat in surveys, the pressure to be beautiful is increasing, on the other hand, the boys in particular are also very media-competent, i.e. well connected and informed on social media. They learn from role models to classify the pressure, to position themselves critically and to deal confidently with their bodies.
Because they grew up with these new body images?
Yes, and maybe because we talk to them more openly about our own body struggles. And we can’t tell them and ourselves often enough: It’s the job of bloggers or influencers to constantly optimize themselves and to present themselves perfectly. What we see there is not the everyday reality of most women, but the result of hours of beauty work.
But we don’t have to feel guilty about every manicure or pedicure, do we?
No, of course we can “make ourselves beautiful” if we like it and do us good. But we should also fight to ensure that beauty is understood in a much more inclusive way – so that more and more people get access to this category that is beneficial to them.
How can we move this forward?
The first thing we could do is clean up our social media feed. Away with all profiles or postings that ask us to compare the duration. Bodyshaming out, empowerment in. Bring on people who look, think and feel very different from us. It’s a small first step that can change a lot.
And then?
It is high time we stopped shaming ourselves and others because of pounds, dents or body hair. We should no longer direct our anger and anger against ourselves and our bodies, but together against a system that harms us all.
How can that look in concrete terms?
Stop judging others. Make compliments that have nothing to do with looks. Comment on hatred of thickness on the Internet. Leave the cream for firmer armpits on the shelf. Sign petitions, start your own projects … There are enough construction sites, ideas too, to network with others and to be active together. Why should we patiently practice self-love when we can start a beauty revolution instead?
Dr. Elisabeth Lechner is a cultural scientist and has to “Body Positivity” PhD at the University of Vienna. She gives workshops on feminism, bodyshaming and lookism.
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Fight for diversity
In her new book “Riot, Don’t Diet” demands Elisabeth Lechner “Revolt of the unruly bodies”. (240 p., 22 euros, Kremayr & Scheriau)
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