Have you seen the Amy Schumer’s “I’m so Bad” sketch on Comedy Central?
Its a genius parody striking back at food shaming in the media. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, go to youtube it… I will wait. Let me recap it for you. 4 women sitting at a restaurant sharing about how “bad” they were with their eating habits….with no mention or issue with the actual horrific things they were doing like “cyberbulling kids on Instagram.” Its a perfect play on how women in the media are depicted as feeling guilty (and therefore you should too!) for…wait for it…eating. I know horrific right? How dare a woman engage in a body behavior that is integral for her survival!
Can you imagine if we replaced the behavior of eating with something as natural as going to the bathroom? I’ll paint the picture for you…4 women sitting around the table. Three of the women are able to leave their water untouched while another keeps pushing it away and then sneaking a sip! Finally, flushed now, she scurries away from the table to go to the bathroom only to slunk back to the table and cry, “I can’t believe I’ve had to get up to pee three times tonight! You guys, I”M SOO BAD!” Comical right? But the representation is right on point.
Take that a step further to include men. Can you picture a guy feeling guilty about eating? Play around with google for an afternoon and you will see what I mean. I’m not saying they may not feel guilty, but they certainly most do not feel like an immoral human being, who is guilty of punishment in some way. Yesterday I googled “women feeling guilty.” The entire first page was filled with article after article about women feeling guilty about everything from success to motherhood to eating. Once I looked at the image results of this google search, it got even sadder. Most of the photos that came up showed women eating food and feeling guilty!Next, I googled “men feeling guilty.” This first article that popped up is an article from PsychCentral entitled,” “How to Deal with Women’s Emotions.” The remaining results primary discussed how men want to leave you but feel too guilty about it, or even more fun, men making women feel guilty about their issues. I then looked at the pictures of this search. *Brace yourselves.* There were zero, I repeat, zero pictures of men with food. In fact, only the first three photos were just men. By picture #4, there were pictures of women feeling guilty while the man looks annoyed and couples in arguments. There was certainly no pictures of men feeling guilty for eating a steak.
The closest I got to an ad with men feeling guilty about food is the photo above, which is honestly almost worse because the guy feels guilty for “not reading the girls mind” when she is PMSing. This is seriously an ad for guys to buy their girls milk in order to “calm her down”.
If women are portrayed as enjoying food in advertisements or media, their is typically a sexual innuendo attached to it. Think of the stereotypical Carl Junior ad’s Paris Hilton did back in the day…or almost every chocolate commercial you have ever seen. Seriously, I don’t know who started this, but every chocolate ad appears to be advertised towards women as a way to feel sexy and “be bad” in a sexualized way. Do you see the ad above? It literally reads “Filthy. Indulge your obsession for chocolate.”Compare this to men. All the photos you find when you google “men eating” show pictures of men “chomping” down on food, or enjoying food with their friends. There is no guilt, there is no hesitation or need to sneak or lie about what they are eating. Also, to be clear, men have their own issues associated with food, body image, and advertisements and men absolutely have eating disorders. However, if you look at the photos of men eating versus women on the whole, men are represented as having a significantly healthier relationship with food than women.
It’s no wonder when examining a minute portion of advertisements and social media that women have issues with food and sexuality. Women are taught to feel guilty about their bodies, their sexuality and their appetites. And while I am very clear that there has been a lot of progress, there is a reason Amy Schumer’s sketch is so relevant Its one of those sketches that as a woman, you laugh “almost” too hard, as if your giggles may reveal that you relate a little too much. Again, not with the cyber bullying, but with eating so much cake you fear your friends will actually think you’re a monster!
Dear woman, go be YOUR BAD SELF! The world needs you. All of you. The good, the bad and the what you perceive as ugly.
with grace,
Amanda
