how much do you weigh? the new book
Through the world of body image blogging/tumblring, I met a woman named Erin who just came out with a book called How Much Do You Weigh? The book features pictures of women, posing, with their weight listed on their images. I thought the project sounded interesting. I asked its creator to talk about it with us here. This is Erin:
I know a lot of people. I have quite a few close friends, and nearly all of my family lives close by.
I have no idea what any of them weigh. Even my oldest and dearest friends, because this is just not something we’re supposed to talk about.
I only know what I weigh, because the experience of stepping on the scale is an isolated moment,and my eyes are the only pair present. And I never see anyone else’s scale during the moment that they step on it.
So I have no gauge.
And when the media places an image of a photoshopped model in size zero jeans on a pedestal, I internalize the message that I should look like she does if I want to be valued in the same way.
And this is disastrous. Women who might otherwise be proud of their bodies are made to feel inferior. About our bodies. The very vessel that carries us through our lives.
We can’t change the media. But we can shoot an arrow through the heart of that stigma. The one that leaves us all alone with our weight.
Here to save the day are 24 beautiful and brave women, revealing for you what their scales read that morning. Owning it. Without explanation or apology; it just is what it is.
(pictured here are a few of the participants. I can’t figure out how to make this picture bigger. I feel stupid. But the photo is great.)
You can find the book on Amazon, go to the Facebook page, or the tumblr. You can also follow Erin on Twitter @erinweighsin
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Erin’s Unroast: I love the way my hair is curling just right today.
P.S. This is Kate. I just wanted to say hi. It’s stunningly beautiful outside and I hope all you East Coasters are there, instead of reading my blog. But then I hope you come inside later and read my blog. I’m off to perform Kol Nidre (the beginning of Yom Kippur) services in a few hours. I am not as scared as I was for Rosh Hashanah. But I am, of course, not totally not scared. I’m resisting the urge to write yet another post about the High Holidays. Instead of writing one, here’s my post from last year about the Days of Awe.
P.P.S. When I wrote about My Body Gallery a while back, some of you (and me, too, actually) commented that there weren’t many older women on it. As in, women over, like, 30. Erin’s book seems to include more people from that demographic.
Kate on October 7th 2011 in Uncategorized
LeeH responded on 07 Oct 2011 at 9:14 pm #
This is wonderful. You’re SO right, so is Erin, I don’t know anyone’s weight but my own. I’m going to Weight Watchers to get mine under control. Certainly not to be model thin but healthy for my age (58) and comfortable in clothes I like. The media does a disservice to everyone
Hunter responded on 07 Oct 2011 at 10:34 pm #
Hmm. I guess I don’t really see the point. At some time, one has to intellectually as well as emotionally try to accept that weight is just a number. So many physical variances factor in. Sometimes I am troubled that even these ‘assurances’ and affirmations we try and offer each other are meaningless in the end, and amount to merely fueling the same old preoccupations with self-evaluation and comparison.
jss responded on 08 Oct 2011 at 9:39 am #
@Hunter, I think your point IS the point. Maybe you have never thought about “the number” or maybe you have learned not to. Either way, a lot of people have some number in their heads that is the PERFECT number and they give up a large chunk of their lives to get there. Sometimes, they do get there and sometimes not. A lot of the people who DO get there are the most miserable, because they often reach their goal only to find that it did not have the effect that they wanted it to have. I think that books and websites that show people at various weights often show that people at the same weight can look very different and people at different weights can look very similar. I think they are a step in teaching people (who still need to learn it) that “weight is just a number.” And, in doing so, they can take power away from “the number.” I don’t think this fuels preoccupations; I think it helps people get on with their lives and set goals that actually matter.
Rachel @ Musings of an Inappropriate Woman responded on 08 Oct 2011 at 10:21 am #
It sounds weird, I know, but I’ve always found there’s something really lovely about being honest about my weight with other women – especially since culturally we seem to operate under the fiction that women weigh on average about 10-20lbs less than they actually do.
katilida responded on 08 Oct 2011 at 11:30 am #
i think it’s great that people are willing to share their weight. i think it’s not great that “size zero jeans” are cast as the enemy here again. if this book really wanted to stand by its own message that ALL women should love their bodies, it would include the size zeroes as well. skinny girls have bad body-image days just like anyone else, and they deserve to be “valued” the same as anyone else as well. the double standard kills me.
Erin responded on 08 Oct 2011 at 11:57 am #
@katilida – you are so right. I hadn’t realized that the way I’d framed the discussion here promoted that double standard. Please be assured, however, that size zero IS represented in the book, and the models in that range that participated shared exactly the same frustration that you do…..and forever having been teased for being “so” skinny, told to eat a sandwich, etc.
And none of us can compete with the photoshopped images.
melissa responded on 09 Oct 2011 at 10:59 am #
There have been times where someone casually asks my age and/or weight and before I can answer, someone in the room gets all in an uproar saying “you never ask a lady that!!”
I’m okay with answering those questions because it’s not something that you can hide. If I look lighter than I am, then that’s just a bonus. If not, then duh, of course that’s my weight, why did ya even ask?
I’m joining in by saying I am probably around 165lbs. I don’t actually have any idea because I don’t own a scale. But I was 165lbs once so… I probably still am.
Kate responded on 09 Oct 2011 at 12:05 pm #
@Katilida
Comments about thin discrimination are beginning to frustrate me, honestly. Obviously, people should not discriminate against other people. But obviously, in this culture, being thin is highly preferred to being heavy. Or not thin. So yes, people feel a ton of pressure to be a size zero. That’s a real thing. And we can’t pretend that it’s not. It doesn’t demonize size zero people to identify that they are often the ideal. They are.
jss responded on 09 Oct 2011 at 12:44 pm #
I wear a size 0 to a size 3, depending on the brand, and I get frustrated by comments about thin discrimination, too. Do thin people get annoying comments from strangers, like the stereotypical, “Go eat a sandwich?” Sure. But it’s said out of jealousy, or in jest, or even as a veiled compliment. (Also, the ratio of those comments to bona fide compliments is about 1:10.) Not quite the same as an obese person being told to eat nothing but salad and join a gym. That comes from judgment or even disgust. Now, I have plenty of my own body image issues, but have I ever felt marginalized or discriminated against for being thin? Come on now…
Erin responded on 09 Oct 2011 at 1:04 pm #
It’s probably more apt to say that no woman of any size is immune to having anxiety about her weight. That, if anything, is the impetus for the book.
Kimmy Sue Ruby Lou responded on 10 Oct 2011 at 11:17 am #
Well…I’m 48 year old, 5’7″ tall and this morning the scale read 161…and it looks good in jeans!
Amy responded on 10 Oct 2011 at 9:15 pm #
Whenever I go to the doctor’s office I have to tell the nurse to move the (pointer? marker? scale thingy?) higher. People always guess my weight to be lower than it is. I walk several miles a day and lift weights. I’m certainly overweight. I mean, naked…yes…the flab is there. There’s no denying it. I’m only 5′ 4′ and I’ve had some kids. Flesh happens. But my doctor told me that my frame is large. I interpreted that as “You have Neanderthal bones”. Yes Virginia…”Big Boned” is real. One day I’ll be dug up and dubbed “Amyosaurus”. Rawr.
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