The other day though, one line in particular seemed to jump out at me. I stand in the kitchen, puzzled. Surely I didn't just hear what I thought I heard, right?
Just to be on the safe side, I check with Ricky.
"Did Amy Farrah Fowler just say she was 130 pounds?"
"Uh, yeah. I think so."
Huh. Knowing what little I know about Mayim Bialik in her everyday life I wonder if that's true. Or if it's just a random number the script writers threw in there thinking it sounded right for a (formerly) sheltered female scientist. Considering how straightforward she seems to be, and the fact that she's a bit shorter than me, I suppose it may be true. After all, the women in Hollywood - especially her costars - are freakishly teensy.
For those of you who have never seen the show, there are three consistent females in the cast: Penny, Bernadette and Amy.
- Penny started out as the stereotypical hot, blonde neighbor, but has developed over time into someone who can hold her own when it comes to putting the guys in their place. She's still hot though, and her costumes tend to lean this way.
- Bernadette is a scientist with a little squeaky voice, but a big scary yelling voice when mad. She's described often as pocket-sized (she's very short and cute so this is understandable), but admittedly "stacked" as her husband's late mother called her once.
- Amy is the dowdiest of the group - and I mean this in the nicest way possible as she's also hilarious and brilliant - but her costumes mostly consist of shapeless cardigans and calf-length skirts. Out of the three of them, she's presented as the DUFF. If you don't know what that is, you can look it up.
Obviously this thought has stuck with me for a few days. And then this morning I had an epiphany, one that I needed to resort yet again to my good friend, Google, to confirm.
In the Bridget Jones' Diary series, the character is constantly referring to herself as some form of fat. In order to play her in the first two movies, Renee Zellweger had to put on an alleged 20+ pounds. If you Google "Bridget Jones' weight" in an image search you'll find a ton of pictures of Renee side-by-side as a before and after playing the character. And yet, what is her weight described as in both the books and movies?
I'll give you a second.
Give up?
125-131 pounds.
Think I'm crazy? I'm not the only one who noticed this. Book Riot also picked up on this oddity almost four years ago.
Let that sink in. We're being told that 130 pounds is heavy.
I dunno about you, but that kind of makes me want to go all "Hulk smash."
What sort of a messed up world do we live in where the average woman (going on the average height of around 5'4" for American women) is told that 130 pounds is heavy? Yes, Bridget is technically British, but you know the publisher likely did that conversion for American audiences, much like "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was changed to "Sorcerer's Stone."
Please tell me someone else is getting angry.
130 pounds. Heavy.
I know my self-perception of my body is way off. Dancing for well over 20 years will do that to a person. (Side note: My friend Lacey just wrote a beautiful post that can explain this far more eloquently than I can.) But at 5' 7" and 169 pounds, I can safely say that I'm in the slightly overweight category.
Does my height help hide this better than some others - that depends on your perception: I say no, others sometimes doubt me (or they spare my feelings and say I'm lying while doing it themselves).
But still... 130 pounds as big seems insane to me. In fact, my dream weight is still heavier than that. Yeah, wrap your head around that one.
In the U.S., 20 million women, and 10 million men are estimated to have suffered from an eating disorder at some point in time in their lives. Maybe, we can take a small step in the right direction of remedying that by eliminating the idea of characters in our media being large when they're anything but.
130 pounds is. not. fat.
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