Body neutrality and body positivity: the older body


Photographer: Willem Jaspert 

I read with great interest the article  by Anna Kessel in The Guardian of 23/07/18 about the rise of body neutrality. It would seem that  'body positivity' has been fully co-opted and is being used, in subtle ways, to stigmatise fat bodies - I am using the word fat as this is being reclaimed by the advocates of body neutrality.   Apparently body positivity has its own beauty standards, such as a body that is not above a size 16. And a young body at that.
Let me at the outset clarify my thinking about size.  I believe that being overly fat (or cadaverously thin) is unhealthy  - reports of an increase in obesity among UK schoolchildren are very worrying and much is being made of the recent sugar tax introduced by the Government, as a measure to reduce the increase in obesity, although opinions on whether it will work are divided.
When is being fat to be regarded as unhealthy? When the excess weight prevents you from enjoying life. It is a vicious circle. Many fat people hate their bodies and will be caught up in a cycle of binge eating and restrictive dieting, none of which are positive in the least. They may feel too shy and ashamed to join a gym because of their size even though physical activity is what they need to feel good about themselves and their bodies.  They may avoid going for walks precisely for the same reason.


But stigmatising fat people and fuel their  self-hatred because of their excessive weight is very wrong, no better than stigmatising mental illness. I  have never been fat, so as Plum, the heroine of Dietland says "you don't know what it is like to be in my body". Touchée.  Maybe I should keep all these thoughts to myself...
The reason why I feel compelled to write about 'body neutrality' is because the body positive movement (or shall I just  call it 'body neutrality' now?) has not done enough for older bodies. Now this is something I can definitely comment on  because my body is old.
In her article for the Time of 25/07/18 Amy Keller Laird talks about the invisibility, especially of Gen X women -from 30 to 50. In a similar vein Alyson Walsh wrote for The Guardian last year  about the lack of middle aged models in fashion,  though a couple of weeks ago  she thought that now  middle aged models are visible, look at Jodie Foster  (celebrity actor, rather than model) in Porter, the magazine of Net-à-Porter.
I would include my decade too, the women in their 60s, in this invisible cohort. Yes, we have Baddie Winkle, Iris Apfell, even Daphne Selfe, now 90, but it seems that some 'judicious' visibility only comes if you are over 70 and if your body matches a stereotype of old age, of which frailty is essential. You can be stylish and elegant but you have to be frail. There are very few exceptions to this rule - Maye Musk, not frail looking at all, is one of them.
Where are the strong over 60 women? Why do we not see someone like Tessa Sanderson, Olympic gold medal, 62 years old , now signed to Grey Model Agency,  but who has not yet appeared in any major campaign? Is it because she is black? is it because her body is too athletic?

The beautiful Tessa Sanderson photographed by Wendy Carrig

I could mention many women over the age of 50 who are still at their peak, for example ballet dancer Alessandra Ferri  now 55, still dancing major roles.
I am tired of seeing stereotyping in every nook and cranny of the fashion and advertising industry.
I worked on a commercial for UNstereotype Alliance to celebrate its first anniversary. Entitled The problem is not seeing the problem  the short film tried to expose some of the most common stereotypes in the industry. I had a cameo role and can be seen in the background as an older woman showing off her physicality - performing stretches, splits etc. The stereotype I performed was that of an older lady, with reading glasses, knitting, gardening and using a zimmer frame. It did not make it in the final cut.
The commercial brought home to me that this is what I can expect in terms of participating in more commercials in the next few years - I am the old lady! My question is : why should I be ashamed of my body and make it look frail?
I have taken up again art modelling because  it empowers me. My body is not young but it is strong and flexible. I feel blessed to have been able to reach my age and  find that my body has not failed me in any way.
I am not the only one. It is time we should celebrate older bodies.


My interview for Magdalene  is out! Huge thanks to Intan Febriani

Comments

  1. The article made me smile, my wife has just done a marathon two weeks of organising the open day for the allotment site her allotment is on. Bloody hard work even if your in your 20's were not, we have both skipped over the 50 milestone. Then as I am reading down the article I saw the fabulous picture of Tessa. Somebody my wife actually knew as she threw the javelin for one of the Harriers squads herself in her Teens. It made me suddenly realsie that the reason my wife and I have little time for sterotypes is we just ignore them. She likes growing fruit and veg I love to cook she initialy went into engineering and I use to make clothes for a punk clothes shop. In some ways we are part of the problem becuase we do just ignore stereotypes

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