Flipping through the post-Super Bowl shows Sunday night, I came across a familiar sight: Carrie Bradshaw talking about sex with her three rambunctious pals. This episode of the much-loved "Sex and the City" consisted of the four friends whining over their physical inferiority to the many models who stampede in herds around Manhattan. I conveniently overlooked the fact that these are probably four of the most beautiful women to set foot on screen, but for its purposes, it worked.
This particular episode struck a cord with me, because it resembled the many nights me and my friends have complained about how much super-skinny girls annoy us, or rather how much boys, who like super-skinny girls, annoy us. I understand that this ritual of self-hatred and body-loathing is common among many different tribes of women within our fair ASU community.
"Does this shirt show any fat rolls when I sit down?" "I'm only eating rice cakes and candy corn this week." These are common phrases among many women on ASU's campus, and to be frank, I would like it to stop … right now.
It is absolutely appalling that women have to go through this daily hatred of something that should be beautiful in their eyes. So I feel that in this month, which is set aside for the celebration of love, we should learn how to love our bodies as well as ourselves. But this change can not come about all on our own. We need our men.
Therefore, I am not making this call to action solely to the women of ASU, but also to the men. It is very true that women receive a great deal of their self-esteem from their relationships with the opposite sex, so it is time for men to start taking part in ending their mate's poor conception of their outer selves.
Now I am not saying that every man should now start saying, "Oh you look so skinny in those jeans, baby," but we all need to start saying that it is OK to be bigger than a size 2. I cannot express how annoyed I get when I hear a size-zero actress referred to as "curvy" simply because she has breasts. Or when I look at television ads for products like "Nutrisystem" or "Jenny Craig" who take these women who were healthy and normal at a size 10, and miraculously shrink them down to a size 2 all for the low, low price of "$20 a week plus the cost of meals." I know that the obesity rate in our country in on the rise, and the American population is getting larger as each new year comes and goes.
However, I would love to see these commercials directed at men. Where are the "Jimmy Craigs" of the weight-watching world? Why are women constantly singled out to be told how fat we are? As eating disorders and exercise addictions become more and more prevalent in our culture and girls begin to suffer from a younger age, it is up to our generation to change the way women look at themselves in the mirror. We have to learn to love ourselves in order to be complete human beings and have meaningful relationships with other people.
As women gain more power in today's world, the smaller we are pressured to become. Therefore, use your power to your own benefit, and when you crowd around your bedroom with three of your closest friends, pull a Samantha, and say "What? I know I'm hot!"
Tell Sarah your thoughts on her column at: sarah.maschoff@asu.edu.
