Elastic Waist - Rants and musings on weight, body image, celebrities, fitness, food and other fixations.

CELEBS 07.15.2008 BY WEETABIX

katie holmes is trying for body acceptance and failing really spectacularly

Photo via Splash

I usually feel mild pity for Katie Holmes, if I feel anything for her at all, but after reading this comment in last week's Hello interview, my sympathy is amped up after this little sound bite. Via Celebitchy:

"I try to embrace my imperfections. But I will forever wage the battle of the thighs! So I prefer not to show them off. I am pretty tall. Usually most actresses are tiny and I'm not - I'm a big one."

Unless "imperfections" is the nickname she gives to her Scientology handlers, you can basically ignore the first sentence, because she totally contradicts herself in the very next breath. "I'm free to be me except for the parts of me I really hate." "I'm learning to love myself unconditionally but with one condition." She probably looks at pictures like this, a moment that is happy and priceless with her adorable daughter Suri, and she only sees one thing, the same thing we tend to zoom in on when we see pictures of ourselves--our self-selected biggest physical flaw. Maybe that's why not a single person was willing to show me their cellulite.

Actually, the whole statement brings up something that's been rolling around in my brain for a few weeks now. How often do we describe our bodies as something that must be "battled" or "fixed"? Think about how many magazines boast ideas for "belly busters" and "tummy tamers," as though your chub were a roaring beast ready to snap viciously at passersby. Why are we so cruel in reference to our physical selves? Would Katie feel the same animosity toward Suri's adorable chubby thighs? What about when Suri is 14 and starting to physically resemble her mom? Wouldn't it be nice if we treated ourselves with the same kindness that we would offer to our own daughters?

Now THAT'S a battle worth fighting.

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4 Comments

Sal said:

Couching our fitness goals in terms of battles against certain body parts also encourages us to distance ourselves from our bodies. We think, "It's me versus my ass." But my ass IS me. It's all me!

Compartmentalizing our bodies just aggravates our tendencies to focus negative energy on the bits we hate most, and think of our true selves as totally separate from our bodies. Don't you think?

July 15, 2008 11:41 AM

electropoptart said:

Sal...Bingo!

July 15, 2008 1:25 PM

Kelly said:

The hardest part of self-perception is just that - SELF-perception. What you see when looking down at your body and even when looking in the mirror is not what anyone else sees. I feel like my mom did a pretty good job of helping me see the skewed analysis that we bring to our own bodies, but it's hard to remember that all the time.

July 15, 2008 1:38 PM

cecilia said:

"I'm free to be me except for the parts of me I really hate."
"I'm learning to love myself unconditionally but with one condition."

katie's statements make perfect sense, except for the words that come out of her mouth.

July 15, 2008 1:49 PM