Seeing Through Society's Eyes

Living in the Valley of the Sun, as I do, I have heard a lot about Jordin Sparks. She was on the front page of the newspaper after she won American Idol. Hometown girl makes good, and all that. I'll admit, I didn't really follow this season of AI. I did, however, watch enough to be familiar with Jordin.

There has been a lot of hometown support for Jordin, from all over - TV news, radio, newspaper. So you can see why, on Wednesday morning, I was reading the "Arizona Living" section of the Arizona Republic, and I was disappointed by what I found there.

There was a feature on the front page of the section entitled "Jordin vs. Blake: Why s/he will win," written by Randy Cordova. It gave two lists of ten reasons why Jordin/Blake would win American Idol. The article itself was fine; it actually favored Jordin rather blatantly. It was a comment within the article that I found disturbing.

Number 4 on the list of why Jordin would win: "Jordin is showing America that being zaftig is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, here is a full-figured girl who has no problem going sleeveless on national TV. That confidence only makes her more attractive, not to mention a great role model."

Now, I think it's great that Mr. Cordova is pointing out a critical flaw in our society: the idolization of an unrealistic female figure. My problem with his statement is that rather than dispelling such a notion, Mr. Cordova has fed into it. See, the thing is, Jordin Sparks is hardly zaftig.

Let's take a look.



"Full-figured?" Are you kidding me? This girl isn't "full-figured" (which, face it, is just a euphamism for FAT). She's curvy and voluptuous and exactly what a woman is supposed to look like. I would kill to have that girl's curves, I bet most women would, and I bet men find them pretty freakin' attractive. But instead of just pointing out that she's gorgeous, Mr. Cordova felt the need to refer to her as "zaftig."

Well, screw you, Mr. Cordova.

Here's the truth, as I see it. It's true that we are fighting a battle against obesity in this country. Heaven knows, I could stand to shed a few pounds. It's also true that millions of women worry about constantly worry unnecessarily about their weight because our society has developed an unhealthy image of what is "attractive."

There was a time that "full-figured" women were more considered to be more attractive than skinny women; there are cultures where that is still true today. Women are curvy for a reason. They carry more weight around the hips to protect a child that might grow inside them, and to bear that child. They are soft so that they can comfort that child when he's tired, hungry or scared. The fact is, you're not supposed to be able to see a woman's ribs.

So let's review:


REAL WOMAN


STARVING AND PROBABLY CRANKY WOMAN

We clear?