I recently ran over a "Happy Weight" calculator on the Self Magazine website. This post is about what exactly is wrong with the calculator, and the magazine.
The calculator allows only 1 lb for occasional treats, 4 lbs for having recently quit smoking, and 1 lb for family history of obesity. (I estimate that more realistic numbers would be at least 5 times larger.) But setting that aside, it's not exactly as if Self Magazine is promoting a healthy body image among women, or the maintenance of a healthy, but not thin, weight (this "Happy Weight" is within a few pounds of the cutoff for overweight for a woman of her height.) Here are some screenshots I took on their site:
Allow me to make a wild guess and say that most, if not all, the women pictured above are below their so-called "Happy Weight." I even dare guess that beneath the smiles and tans a good percentage have disordered eating or exercise habits or even full-blown eating disorders. Body fat in women low enough for "toned" abs often comes with complications like amenorrhea, osteoporosis, and hair loss.
But that's okay because Self Magazine is not actually in the business of promoting healthy eating or body image. They're in the business of selling get-thin-quick schemes with gimmicky workouts and low-calorie meal plans, or perhaps selling the fantasy that buying the magazine will cause one to look like these young, white, tanned, attractive, thin models. Never mind that this is not how one makes permanent healthy lifestyle choices. Never mind that the constant insistence that losing those last x pounds and maintaining an inherently unrealistic figure has never been "easier" or "faster" is just the way to induce disordered habits in those women who don't happen to look like fitness models.
But that's okay because Self Magazine is not actually in the business of promoting healthy eating or body image. They're in the business of selling get-thin-quick schemes with gimmicky workouts and low-calorie meal plans, or perhaps selling the fantasy that buying the magazine will cause one to look like these young, white, tanned, attractive, thin models. Never mind that this is not how one makes permanent healthy lifestyle choices. Never mind that the constant insistence that losing those last x pounds and maintaining an inherently unrealistic figure has never been "easier" or "faster" is just the way to induce disordered habits in those women who don't happen to look like fitness models.
I find this especially sad. Self Magazine is so desperate not to display any overweight women on their website that they illustrate an article about obesity with a thin woman on a scale.
What Every Woman Should Know About Body Image: body image is only for thin women. Obese women should rightfully hate their bodies, because accepting themselves would ruin their chances of developing eating disorders (forgive me, I meant losing weight). If women had fewer disordered eating habits and better body image, Self Magazine would go out of business. (Note: I'm not saying that objectively thin women have a body image that reflects that. I'm just sick of objectively thin women being told to change their body image to reflect their weight. The implication being that objectively overweight women ought to have bad body image to match their "bad" bodies. These women are supposed to lose enough weight to appear in Self Magazine, and only then receive sympathy for disordered eating and bad body image. But I digress.)
Taking advantage of women's poor body image to sell get-thin-quick schemes is bad enough; doing so while claiming to promote "happy" weights and healthy body image is disingenuous at best, dangerous at worst. I realize that this is Self Magazine's buisness mobel, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an inherently unethical way to make money.
Taking advantage of women's poor body image to sell get-thin-quick schemes is bad enough; doing so while claiming to promote "happy" weights and healthy body image is disingenuous at best, dangerous at worst. I realize that this is Self Magazine's buisness mobel, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an inherently unethical way to make money.