Diet-wellness culture objectifies women.
Women are aesthetic objects and projects.
Said culture ties a woman’s value, morality, and self-worth to her weight and appearance.
Her body is an object to be constantly scrutinized and transformed.
And in America, little girls are born into this toxic culture.
Many of them are taught from an early age that their bodies are to be constantly monitored—while completely overlooking how they function and feel.
Little girls learn eating can be laced with morality; feeling guilt and shame over the simple act of being hungry and desiring nourishment.
And, dare I say, as these little girls mature, female thinness can even play into patriarchy: men’s desire for power and control over them.
Thinness is normalized and praised.
As women, we need to seriously ask ourselves: have I been pressured by society, or by men to shrink myself?
Am I underfeeding my body in order to achieve unattainable ideals?
Or am I content with respecting my body and appreciating what it can do—rather than how it looks?
Is the most interesting thing about me my size?
Do I get a lot of praise and attention for shrinking myself?
If size is the primary focus of my life, I’ve been heavily indoctrinated into diet-wellness culture. (Wellness culture has the same toxic pressures, except it’s wrapped in a pretty bow. To the inexperienced, it doesn’t appear to be harmful.)
Emily Boller, wife, mother, painter, and author is on a mission to create expressive works of art in her lifetime; and to bring awareness to the potentially harmful traps of diet-wellness culture. In her free time, she loves to chase skyscapes, grow flowers and vegetables, and can homemade soups.