Body Image-Two Sides of the Same Mirror

The saying goes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But, in most cases it's in the eye of the culture. Television and written media are controlled predominately by white America, so the message of beauty is portrayed as a thin body with minimal curves. But, beyond color lines, the messages change. 

Growing up as a thin African-American girl, I endured high pressure to gain weight. I was told by my African-American peers and family that I needed to "put on the pounds." It wasn't until my family moved to a mostly white neighborhood that I was envied and told by my white peers that I was beautiful. Twenty-six years and four kids later, I am still very thin and I still get jokes from other people in my race about my "flat booty and white girl shape."

As the article, "Sex Roles:A Journal of Research" states, "research has found that African-American females are less concerned with being thin. When asked, sixty-four percent stated that they would rather be a 'little overweight than a little underweight" (Herzberger, Molloy 1998).

The article goes on to expalin that African-American women have better body images than white women, because women base some of their views of themselves from what men in their race prefer. Since, generally speaking, African-American men prefer larger women, African-American women have less of a desire to lose weight. Therefore skinny African-American women are more of an outcast and their bodies are seen as in need of improvement.

Twenty-five year old black woman, Lakeisia Kimbrough and husband Ron feel that there is nothing wrong with her 5 foot 4 inch, 214 pound body. "I think I'm a nice looking woman," says Lakeisia, "I don't feel like I have to be skinny. Skinny girls have issues too," she continues.