It has been many years trying to convince us that the beauty canon is just that, a canon. A set of characteristics that, supposedly, bring us closer to the ideal of perfection but that, realistically, are very difficult to achieve. Not to mention that practically all human beings are excluded: those who do not have extra kilos lack muscles, age takes away the smoothness of our skin, and also the curves of our body change with the passage of time.
For some time now, movements like body positive seemed to have had an impact, which encourage you to love your physique as it is. However, the triumph of Ozempic and other medications that have shown great potential to help lose weight have made us aware that the obsession with thinness is still very present in today’s society.
In the first episode of ‘The dilemma of (im)perfect bodies’, the new work of ABC Podcast, you can discover when human beings began to be self-aware of their weight, why they began to give importance to having a slim figure , and you will see how these ideas around kilos have been shaped throughout history.
But how is it possible that centuries go by and we are still so concerned about not gaining weight, and thinking that the good thing is to be thin? The nutritionist Pablo Ojedawho has participated in this podcast, does not mince words: «Society imposes its patterns. It is undoubtedly. And the human being is a social being who needs to feel integrated.. If the canon dictates that beauty is associated with thinness, we already have the explanation. Losing weight is not an easy task, we all know that. But there are people who suffer a lot because of this situation, as Ojeda himself recognizes. Hence many fall into the clutches of questionable methods or miracle products, which “They are very focused on a type of population that is very susceptible, and they need to listen to something that soothes their soul.”
The psychologist Lara Ferreiro agrees with the diagnosis. She points out that “for the survival of the group, the most important thing is social acceptance. Everything revolves around that. So in the end everything works based on rejecting what we consider to be not acceptable”, in this case, fatness. Ferreiro is convinced that we continue anchored to the canon of traditional beautyand understands that we want to achieve it, since we are under what is called the halo effect: «It is an effect that when you see a thin and beautiful person, you attribute a series of qualities that do not have to exist. This has even been seen, for example, when the murderers are thin and young, they have up to two years less sentence in a popular jury for the same crime.
Paul points out that “Feeling accepted and not being criticized logically makes you try to improve your physical condition.” This need is often established in us at excessively early ages, and not by our own choice. The nutritionist points out that many women come to his office every day saying that since they were little they have received criticism about their body within his own family; that they have come to compare them with sisters who were thinner. Lara Ferreiro remembers that the insults that destroy a person the most are related to their weight. She has come to see in consultation how many people have fear of getting fateven to people who are of a standard or thin weight. And, as the psychologist says, our obsessions do not arise from nowhere. Ferreiro is clear: «Fatphobic comments are in society. Fatness is penalized. You have no right to exist, you have no right to sexualize, you have no right to put on makeup, you have no right to anything if you are fat».
‘The dilemma of imperfect bodies’ is an ABC podcast. Every week, a new episode on ABC.es and on all audio platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Ivoox, We could and Amazon Music. Also available in YouTube.
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