Discussions and Taboos: Tara Lynn and body image

A Personal response to Stephanie’s article about a very popular albeit controversial photo/story on Facebook (21000 likes so far) related to weight, body image, whales, mermaids and the french Model Tara Lynn:  http://ichooselove.com/in-the-face-of-real-beauty/

Stephanie –  I really loved this blog post and think it raises important taboo issues – like you I had issues about sharing the orignial Tara Lynn photo and story. Thanks for prodding at your concerns and writing this Blog post.

However I was saddened by some of the comments posted in response to what you wrote. Here is the comment I posted in response to those that felt Tara Lynn was obese and cited the terrible dangers of being overweight/obesity (which are undeniable but are not the whole picture):

Comment posted Tuesday 11th October:

Key Point: It is dangerous to be TOO THIN as well!

Firstly this woman is only on the margins of being overweight and certainly in Africa she would be considered an absolutely perfect weight… read or watch “The No. 1 Ladies Dectective Agency” if you want proof of this! I was brought up in Botswana and I can verify a very healthy attitude to a few extra pounds.

This became personal for me when I lost a great deal of weight very quickly when I had a walking pneumonia about 7 years ago. It was extremely scary how quickly the weight went (it was the main reason I was eventually diagnosed but that is another story)… if I had been thinner who knows what would have happened to me. Probably hospitalised…

Since then I have taken a very different attitude to my body … I eat healthy, exercise but make sure I have a few extra pounds on me… just in case.

Secondly it is also possible to be a thin fat person … they have been discovering this in India where a lot of people suffer from heart diesease and diabetes due to poor diet. They have have a poor body fat ratio equivalent to a very large person. There is a great program about this on the BBC Horizon – The Nine Months that made you:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013ywz4

Here is a scientific paper: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/1/93.full

The point is these people do not “look” fat they just have a high fat content as it were!
 

Thirdly don’t even get me started on anorexia and bluemia .. I have seen too many friends lives ruined by it. We have to stop this focus on image….. as a parent I am petrified. Luckily my daughter seems to be fairly self confident and uninterested in it… but it takes so little to change all that. And I am equally worried for my boys.

We need to shift our focus about health away from how people look and focus much more on what being healthy actually means.

Being healthy includes psychological health, nutritional heath, intellectual health and physical health. I like the focus on wellness but it must be based on medical fact.

Thank you so much for posting this … I too did not share the original facebook post after some deliberation about it… I love what you have done here…. it has been duly shared with all my pals… let the conversation continue …. it has been a Taboo too long!

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