Ugly Betty’s “Weight Statement”

April 13, 2007 in America Ferrera, TV, Ugly Betty, curvaceousness, female perfection, full-figuring, weight statements | 1 comment

America Ferrera
(I just like to see her face w/o all the crazy bettiness.)

CNN.com has this article on Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera, about her feelings on her own body image.

It’s a little bit of a non-story, which is why I find it interesting.

I’m sure Measuring Beauty, Beauty as Power, Celebodies, and Celebrities and Paprazzi might have more context on this, but it seems to me that, as stories on every pound gained and lost by celebrities grow more ridiculously ubiquitous every day, there is also this impulse to publish these little tiny non-stories– let’s call them “weight statements.”

On the one hand, weight statements make opportunities for celebrities to assure us that everything is all right, despite what you might have heard about other girls and women. On the other, something about them also speaks in uncomfortable ways to the intensity of our looking at these women. There’s a weird touch of “Be Yourself and Be Perfect Too” in this–or maybe it is the other way around?

And of course we should ask, what does it mean that Ferrera has to say anything at all?

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  1. <![CDATA[mehass]]>’s avatar

    on April 13, 2007 at 11:05 pm

    It’s interesting that Ferrera says that, “And honestly, even if I wanted to be anorexic, I just don’t have what it takes. After four hours of being anorexic, I’d be like, ‘It’s been four whole hours! Feed me!’ ” Even when female stars are making their “weight statements” to say they’re ok with how they look, it still seems that their decision is tied to a lack of willpower or self-control. There is a sort of weird admiration for eating disorders that promote extreme limitation of the self (bulimia, anorexia), while overeating is still seen as “letting yourself go,” when, in fact, all eating disorders indicate a similar surrender of control to the disorder.

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