Asian
women have a reputation for being cute, dainty, and petite. Before I came to
China, most of my friends would make comments like, "People in China are
so short" and "You're going to be the tallest person there" and
I, too, imagined I would be a skyscraper towering over many little people. But
when I actually arrived in China, I was surprised to find that most women were
not significantly tinier than the average-sized American woman.
I
quickly learned, though, that many Chinese women are obsessed with their body
image. Their desire to be small and extremely skinny in an attempt to live up
to this Asiatic stereotype is practically stained on their identity. I've
observed this mentality among many of my female co-workers and other females I
have met as well. "Ugh I'm so fat" is a common phrase that I hear
every day. Everywhere. Even some of my 7 year old first graders and especially
my teen-aged middle school students use the phrase to describe themselves, so
it is definitely learned through socialization at a very young age. The
obsession with being small and skinny seems unhealthy to me and oozes
self-hate. It's especially unfortunate when its being taught to young children
and when most people who consider themselves "fat" are remarkably
thin.
Sometimes
I feel like I am a Tyrannosaurus Rex-sized giant because if these women think
they're fat, I don't even want to know what they think about my size. But I am
a "fat American," so I guess I get a pass this time. I realized how
much the standards for sizing in the US differ from those in China during a
teacher's only (VIP club) party at my school a few months ago. The party was a
celebration for the Chinese New Year and end of the semester, respectively, and
since Chinese people love performances, each office took turns putting on a
small show for the others. My office chose to do a fashion show, and I was
given a Chinese-style costume dress to wear. The dress looked nice and fit me pretty
well, but when I looked at the tag I was surprised to see it was a XXXL! Going
from wearing a size Medium in the US to a size 3XL in China shows the vast
differences in sizing and body image. I couldn't imagine going through life
everyday thinking I'm fat and trying to live up to impossible standards of
beauty.
Needless
to say, I still strutted my stuff in the fashion show, channeling my inner Tyra
Banks with a Mulan touch.
- FBG