Social: 6. Allure of the zero

Women around the world avidly pursue the glamour quotient, for which thinness is an important criterion.  Many women that obsesses over appearance in terror of being perceived dumpy, suffer extreme health issues. However, society more than the women themselves seems caught with the visual effect, signalling at large that the intellectual quality of the feminine gender is unimportant even today.

 

Ostler writes:

…the fact is that when a woman is feted for her fashion sense, the more pressure she will feel to show off those dresses to their best advantage — which means being super-slim. Fashion doesn’t favour natural curves or, indeed, shapeliness of any kind …

Hounded by the social expectations, style icons seem to ride merry-go-rounds they cannot get off of. Beauty salons cash in on the style craze to offer programmes that recreate their attractive body parts in those women not so favoured. Increases in fashion sense  are generally concommitant with their decreasing body weights.

Women in show-business starve themselves to appear more appealing.  They may not eat most foods because weight gains could result in contract terminations. Hence they must hit the gym regularly, and depend on a diet pills to deaden hunger pangs. Other women do their best to emulate them in looks, dress and lifestyle.

Over the last century or so, romantic novels have encouraged escapism their vast feminine readership. Women begin to identify with their heroines and behave in like manner. The push is to choose romanticism over rationality. Medical journals have recently implicated these literature as causing marital breakdowns, adulterous affairs and unwanted pregnancies. In the conscious or unconscious idealization of men, women may abandon their own moral codes, sexual health and competition at work.

The corporate industry realizes that sex sells. Various billboards and glossy publications bombard consumers with stylized feminine perfection. Their aggressive marketing glamourizes sexuality in product advertisements that may otherwise look mundane. The association with the words hot and sexy for women is that more beautiful, more thin, and more revealing in dress attract more popular attention.

Toys and clothes for children under-10 sexualize gender, like with Lolita beds and playboy logos on t-shirts, creating unrealistic aspirations in impressionable minds.  They are surrounded by the imagery of standards that may be personally unachievable – thin, beautiful, and popular. Thus the body dissatisfaction takes root from childhood.

A young teenager, Milly, for example, was a confident, happy-go-lucky child in her parents’ eyes. She was abducted, and only afterwards did they realize that she in fact, hated herself for her looks and yearned for cosmetic surgery.

Carey reports:

… it now transpires Milly had already had a go at slicing into her wrists with a dinner knife because she’d been teased at school…At the age of just 13, Milly was already counting herself a loser in the popularity and beauty contests of life. For girls today, the two are inextricably linked … looks also determine whether or not you belong.

The youthful feminine gender thence begins to associate popularity with the size zero waistline, and gargantuan breasts – just like Barbie, the stylish, iconic doll. The assumption is that otherwise they must fail in society. And society in the minds of the women probably represents the men they have been brought up to look up to for approval.

Barbie dolls that have been beloved companions for girl children for decades, have now been made multicultural. They however, probably perpetrate the social learning of gender stereotypes. Girl children in cultures around the world learn by association to feel disadvantaged to be growing up different from the hot and sexy ideals.

A life-sized model constructed along the famous doll’s proportions showed how dangerous for women’s health the dimensions are in real life. Abraham writes:

Galia Slayen, who made the model, revealed that a real woman with the same dimensions would weigh just 110lb, giving her a BMI of 16.24 - a figure associated with eating disorders … 'If Barbie were an actual woman, she would be 5ft 9in tall, have a 39in bust, an 18in waist, 33in hips and a size 3 shoe.  She likely would not menstruate... she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.'

Women further away from the stereotypical ideal tend to become sensitive about appearance. An email sent to the sales team of a company by their manager may say: If you have a FAT FAT face then you do not need to read this. Now, this jibe could be directed at anybody in the organization, but the feminine gender would quickly assume being singled out for indignity. Men also learn to push the buttons of low self-esteem.

Perhaps a part of the preoccupation with appearance stems from the fear of loneliness in later life, since ageing men reputedly prefer trophy wives decades younger. A survey conducted on online dating patterns, showed that the majority of mature women believe that men of their own or older age groups are uninterested in them, because they are no longer svelte.

McVeigh writes:

…eight out of 10 women over 50 think they have become invisible to men. Seven out of 10 women in the study felt overlooked by the fashion industry, while three-quarters of women in their 60s believed they had lost their identity by being labelled as a "mum"… Because of its 'anything is possible', 'sweet-shop' appeal, online dating just encourages men to cherry-pick their ideal – usually younger – mate.

Male suitors on a dating reality show, for example, joked that the bachelorette in question was an ugly duckling, and needed boob fund contributions.  Similar taunts about puppy fat at school drive many young girls into unhealthy lifestyles that continue in later life. Women are not born with body issues, but develop them over time following unrealistic goals of social desirability. 

Anorexia and bulimia are eating disorders commonly associated with them. In both cases, the very thought of putting on weight repels to the extent that life itself becomes a burden. Essentially, the health consequences of these disorders are severe organ failure and death. Anorexics minimize food intake to almost stop eating altogether. Bulimics alternate between bingeing and forced vomiting. They develop because of the women’s inability to confront reality. 

These disease conditions have been linked to female style-consciousness. Fashion institutions have begun to realize the dangers to social health with underweight models. Some retailers are banning marketing excesses in their stores. Some clothes houses also have now started a new trend of healthier models as a campaign against the potentially fatal eating disorders that generally afflict women, including a host of celebrity role-models. 

However, researchers at the University of Bologna, Italy argue that introducing plus sizes as the ideal would tip the balance the other way. In the industrialized nations, the average already is overweight. In changing the policy on thinness, the average eating habits would also reset towards obesity.

On the other hand, health reform advocates say that the issue of concern is not whether people are fat or thin, but the political incorrectness of both media and industry on the subject. The media blitz of corporate advertising that glamourizes unhealthy standards of beauty and sexuality, sets stage for the exploitation of gender. 

I should think women themselves need to develop a stable identity to make responsible choices, resisting the allure of the zero. Fact is women have been swayed by aggressive marketing tactics, forgetting that there is a lot more to them than just their bodies. They have been unable to identify the strong strand of patriarchal beliefs entrenched in social attitudes that accord mere lip service to gender equality. 

Women demean their own intellectual capabilities, basing social approval on visual appearances. Despite modernity, the age-old patterns persist, of submitting to dominance and awaiting rescue. They need to rethink their concepts, because in narrow definitions of belongingness they set themselves up as no more than receptacles of masculine favours. Women need to wake up to the reality that self-esteem depends not on the external world, but on their own identity.

References for this post:

1. Abraham, Tamara “Former anorexic’s life-sized Barbie reveals doll’s dangerous proportions” dailymail.com. Mail Online. 22nd April 2011. 
2. Abraham, Tamara. “'I wanted to be no one, to not be recognised': Allegra Versace on shunning the limelight after battle with anorexia” 7th June 2011. 
3. Carey, Tanith. “The secret self-hatred of confident Milly shows how little we know of our children's inner lives” thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online.  26th May 2011. 
4. De Rossi, Portia. “Hollywood actress Portia de Rossi on the disorder that drove her to the edge” thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online.   8th July 2011.  
5. Hickman, Martin. “Retailers ban 'sexy' underwear for children under 12” independent.co.uk.  Home News. The Independent. 6 June 2011. 
6. “'I'm a great catch!': The Bachelorette's Ashley Hebert puts cruel body taunts behind her for bikini shoot”. Daily Mail Reporter thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online.  23rd June 2011.  
7. McVeigh, Tracy. “Online dating leaves middle-aged women in 'single wilderness'” guardian.co.uk. The Guardian. 10 July 2011.  
8. Ostler, Catherine. “A waist that made Nicole Kidman look dumpy and why Kate      deserves to be more than just a clothes horse” thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online.  12th July 2011. 
9.  Rawi, Maya. “Vogue uses three plus-size models for cover in bid to 'battle against anorexia'” thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online.   3^rd  June 2011. 
10. “Sales manager 'put female colleague over his knee and spanked her' A sales manager chased a female colleague around the office before he put her across his knee and spanked her, a tribunal heard.” Retail and consumer news telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. 21 Jun 2011. 
11. Singh, Anita. “Mills and Boon 'cause marital breakdown'” telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. 07 Jul 2011 
12. Smith-Squire, Alison. “I was a secret bulimic for 15 years” mirror.co.uk. Daily Mirror. 6/07/2011. 
13. Whitelocks, Sadie. “Forget chubby, keep it slim! Says a new controversial report supporting size zero” thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online.   21^st April 2011.  
14. Whittaker, Marianne. “The agony of having an anorexic mother” thedailymail.co.uk. Mail Online. 12th May 2011.

Social: 5. The spirit of recovery

In March this year, Japan reeled under devastating blows from the environment. The country’s economic ascendency seemed to dissolve away in an instant before Nature’s fury, causing widespread trauma. Some authors say, however, that Japan’s economic decline began much earlier.

Familiar surroundings disappeared in the earthquake and tsunami.  The toll was at least 5,000 lives along with major infrastructure, leaving people lost and literally cold in the pre-spring weather.  Survivors of the destruction were left to grapple with shock and sudden adversity. Everywhere, writes a friend, almost no electivity, no water, no gas nor gasoline.

The worst environmental calamity in 140 years of that nation’s history has wiped out all traces of development. Even months later, the emotional distress persists, the friend writes:

It passed 3 months since that terrible earthquake attacked us. Since then until now I have been, somehow lethargic and do not want to do anything. But it was beginning of March and still cold and after March, April and May, now we are in June … and seems no changes happen … Northern Part of Japan, focus of the earthquake are still desert. So many people died and still so many missing, so many suffered a lot. On the other hand we are alive and so we have to live, exist…

Lethargy is but a natural reaction, a defence against trauma most unexpected. Many wonder why they have been left alive at all when all they hold dear in life is gone. In addition, looms the threat of a nuclear fallout that could affect generations. But not everything should be blamed on Nature – the lacks of foresight and openness to change are the human contributions to disaster.

Japan became the Asian superpower on the shoulders of its manufacturing prowess over the later half of the twentieth century, while China and India still grappled with burgeoning populations and poverty. Since globalization, however, these other countries appear to have picked up their pace of development, and they are being termed ‘the new economic frontier’.

Globalization showed up the cultural stagnation. The reason for it, as Japanese retail business leader Yanai perceives, is the people’s getting stuck into change-resistant ways. Ethnocentric preferences turn them inwards celebrating sameness, and in the process, gradually they lose adaptability to the outside world that is meanwhile changing differently.  

The business practices, Yanai writes, have also become introspective:

One problem is that we look down on developing countries… we lack the willingness to learn because we have been so successful before…  we are under the illusion that we are rich and superior … in Japan, income has stagnated for many people for a decade or more. Japan is still very comfortable to live in, if you are Japanese. But there’s a difference between being comfortable and being viable.

In the global forum, crucial business decisions rest on cultural awareness. Yet many Japanese company representatives are unwilling to accept that they can and do make mistakes. Similar people issues may have underlain Toyota’s automobile debacle overseas. Their chairman, summoned before a US Congressional hearing last year on the accident involvements of their cars, hung his attribution on employee confusion between sales and quality. Disgruntled consumers however, complained that repeated problem feedbacks to the company fell on deaf ears. 

The general organizational pattern is bureaucratic, built upon traditional ideals of the Japanese culture including dignity, honour, discipline, and strength.  But expectations of social respect in the collectivistic society, often prevents bottom-up feedback and the sharing of information.  The need to preserve hierarchy may then encourage cover-ups, and thus face-saving of the decision-making structure becomes paramount.  The attenuation of creativity may naturally follow, as may the corruption of power and resources. 

Yanai points out:

Most ordinary Japanese industries are bound up by government regulation, or by agreements (tacit or explicit) within the industry. The idea is to create a union or association or something and then use it to start imposing regulation and preventing competition.

In the recent nuclear crisis at Fukushima, the country’s prime minister himself received news about reactor explosions from media reports! In truth, the reactors were able to withstand the earthquake. Against the tsunami however, the safety measures were inadequate, since a deluge of its proportions had never been experienced or even considered before. The plant authorities did not admit the shortcomings, they chose instead to play down the nuclear threat.

Garthwaite writes:

[International agencies] criticized Japanese authorities for "working from a standard nuclear industry playbook” …  calling for "a frank appraisal of what is known and not known and the potential range of damage and consequences … verbal reassurances about low radiation levels stand in stark contrast to repeated increases in the radius of evacuations."

Post-catastrophe, big firms have become pessimistic about Japan’s business conditions. Economic recovery is not expected to be broad-based and household spending has decreased. The country may also face labour shortage because of its social imbalance - the biggest demographic age group being the oldest. In a nation largely of of retirees and disconnected youth, the effects of trauma may well tend to hopelessness.

Back decades in time, in the aftermath of World War II, a proud nation was brought to its knees, with the atomic bomb explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroying Japan socially and economically.  The people’s indomitable spirit of recovery raised the levels of creativity and industry to achieve new heights of economic glory. 

Clearly, the present ‘traditions’ of closedness and ethnocentricity are not part of the cultural inheritance. Perhaps these later additions to social learning were adopted to secure the preeminence of the manufacturing industry against foreign invasions.

Beech writes that imminent labour shortage has forced open to change the most traditional doors – in sumo wrestling. This sport, totally associated with Japanese culture, has been practiced for at least 1,500 years.  Its traditional secrets can be expected to remain within the ethnic fold. And yet, the top spots of the sport in Japan itself have been taken over by gaijans – foreign athletes from Mongolia, Bulgaria, and Estonia. 

Economics again has been responsible for the dearth of local talent. In earlier ages, families sent their children to the sumo “stables” to ensure that they were at least fed. In an affluent nation, hard labour is a thing of the past. The goal becomes college education, and thereby a comfortable life.  With few indigenous aspirants, the ancient sport faced extinction. 

The training schools set higher and more stringent standards for the outsiders. But they found that international wrestlers take all in stride – discrimination, indignities, language, diet, isolation, and socio-cultural hierarchy. The rigours they were subjected to in fact enabled them to come out on top. Sumo wrestling adapted to globalisation, and now enjoys a global following.

Beech writes:

After all, if this quintessentially Japanese sport can accept—and even celebrate—foreigners, perhaps the rest of the nation can do the same in other fields.

Indeed, change is a necessary part of evolution. The world has changed, and today in the global forums, people skills are required to survive and flourish.  Sharing does not diminish knowledge, it expands it. In new millennial businesses, collaboration and partnership are replacing merger and acquisition. 

Perhaps the cultural need of the devastated nation is to revisit the forgotten past, and resurrect the spirit of recovery that once brought the people up from absolutely nothing.  Although their emotional minds are now burdened, the people of Japan need to realize that the opportunity arises to once more resurge from devastation.  And little by little, as my Japanese friend mentions, time and nature heal the sorrow.

References for this post:

1.      Beech, Hannah. “Sumo wrestles with globalization” mckinseyquarterly.com. McKinsey Quarterly. McKinsey & Company. JUNE 2011.   

2.      Garthwaite, Josie. “How Is Japan’s Nuclear Disaster Different?” news.nationalgeographic.com. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Daily News. March 16, 2011. 

3. Kihara, Leika and Ishiguro, Rie. “WRAPUP 2-Japan business mood to recover from post-quake slump-tankan” reuters.com. REUTERS. Jul 1, 2011. 
4.  Yanai, Tadashi. “Dare to err” mckinseyquarterly.com. McKinsey Quarterly. McKinsey&Company. JUNE 2011.