THE ILLUSIONISTS is a feature-length documentary about the marketing of unattainable beauty around the world. To find out more about the film, click here.
Earlier today, a friend posted on Facebook a status update that denounced as shameful an article by the popular French newspaper 20 Minutes. In the column “Repérés!” (“Spotted”), 20 Minutes published a candid photo of 18 year old American actress and singer Miley Cyrus, taken as she was leaving the gym. The caption read:
Spotted, Miley Cyrus leaving her dance class. Miley, working out is good, but you should eat a little less in order to lose weight…
For my friend, it seemed preposterous, irresponsible and downright dangerous to call Miley Cyrus “overweight.”
I should say, I was outraged but not surprised by the put down. France has very strict standards when it comes to women and their weight. A size 6 or 8 can be put down as “plump.” According to this 2009 article by the British newspaper The Guardian,
While a new study has confirmed that French women are indeed the slimmest in western Europe, their slenderness, it has found, comes at a cost: they also worry the most about their weight.
The article continues:
The report also found French women set themselves very tough standards, had a tendency to exaggerate their weight and considered themselves fatter than they were. France had the highest proportion of women who were underweight, but only half of underweight French women thought they were too thin.
The author of the report, Thibaut de Saint Pol, said French women put “a high pressure on their body”. Their ideal weight was lower than other western European women’s ideals. He added that being underweight as a woman was “particularly valued” in France. The report found that French men were also the slimmest in Europe and their ideal weight was lower than other western European men.
I find body shaming to be pervasive here in France. A personal anecdote:
Three years ago, I was working as cinematographer at “Salon du Cinema” – a Paris trade show about film. During my lunch break, I went to the only food stand on the premises and realized to my horror that they didn’t have a single vegetarian item on the menu (I have been vegetarian for 15 years). So I purchased a muffin. I was taking my first bite, when a stocky, 50-something balding French man approached me and said “Watch out! You’re going to get fat.” My jaw dropped. I don’t remember what I responded – I most likely called him a pig and quickly walked away. But the experience left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. A complete stranger told me – a size 2 – that I shouldn’t eat a muffin because I would get fat. I wasn’t at all hurt on a personal level but rather worried about other women and girls who might have been the recipients of a similar comment.
I actually have friends and acquaintances here in Paris – women size 4, 6, 8 – who would go on strict diets, aided by their doctor (!!!), in order to lose weight. My protestations of the order of “you don’t need to diet, you are beautiful and healthy just as you are” would fall on deaf ears. My other spiel on “there are a plethora of industries that benefit from women thinking they need to lose weight… despite the fact that 98% of diets fail” also proves to be ineffective. I find this heartbreaking. At the same time, it gives me extra motivation to make “The Illusionists.”
What are your thoughts? Have you had similar experiences?
that’s awful!
she is not fat at all! she is a teenager! 🙁
man i feel so sad.. they should help young people preventing eating disorders… :'(
It’s disconcerting for multiple reasons but mostly that the French feel the need to critique the weight of an 18 year old whose body is naturally evolving at this age… they project these comments to build themselves up and have no regard for how they break people down. I think it goes back to the way French people are educated – they’re made to see the negative in people, making the positive so much harder to uncover. But that also means their expectations are unattainable. I, too, have heard weight-related comments that were both unfounded and inappropriate. Perhaps we should begin broadcasting our finances and wealth? That’s ONE topic that will keep the French mum.
Thank you for your insights & comments. The age issue – inappropriately critiquing the body of a teenager – is indeed really disturbing.
Hi. I haven’t had any comments about my weight, but my appearance does often draw disapproval. I don’t wear makeup and am pretty casual fashion-wise (or *non* fashion-wise) – the complete opposite of the usually well put-together French woman. For a country that’s stereotypically known as the land of seduction and “amour,” it’s too bad women often feel they aren’t beautiful just as they are, au natural. Now *that* would be true love.
I never had a similar experience with a stranger in France, but I can very easily imagine it. All french girls and women I know have heard this kind of comment at least once in their own family. Even when the family supposedly doesn’t care about the way you look. I can’t compare with families in other countries, so I am wondering, is it really a “french specificity”? And if os, does anyone have an idea as to why we are so stressed about our weight?
I think that a part of the problem here is also how the press regards a teenage girl as Miley Cyrus. I don’t believe that they see an 18 year old girl. They see someone famous, so her image does not belong to her and everyone has the right to criticize her.
However, I find it hard to say that we, French, “feel the need to critique the weight of an 18 year old”. Maybe it’s just me wanting to stick up for the French, but still I don’t believe this kind of comment couldn’t be find in any newspaper of this kind in many countries. It would be much easier to fight if we were the only one to feel the need to critique every women weight.
(Sorry if my english is not very good, at least I hope everyone will be able to understand me)
Thank you for your testimony, Sion, and for your comment, Lena.
Indeed, this is a trend that occurs across borders. I can say from direct observation that Italians also engage in body shaming, calling out others on their weight and physical appearance. But I feel that in France you “can never be too thin.” I wish that the focus of discussion would shift to health, physical activity and being grateful for what your body can do for you.
I’d agree that this is not unique to France, even regarding a girl of her age – similar ‘critiques’ can certainly be found in magazines and columns in British media at least.
And sadly that kind of comment from a stranger also seems to be getting more common – it’s happened to me not all that long ago… A friend and I had just sat down in the cinema, and begun to eat our (very small) box of popcorn when a man sitting next to me commented that we would “get fat”! Neither of us are or were anywhere close to being overweight, by any stretch of the imagination, and definitely wouldn’t have had any need to worry about a bit of popcorn whilst watching a film.
I suppose the two are linked, in that the more it is deemed appropriate to analyse a celebrity’s body in a magazine, the less inhibited people might be about publicly judging anyone. It’s a sorry state of affairs really 🙁 I hope Ms Cyrus won’t take any of it to heart.
I find it sad, and stupid. I think they should have praised her for her healthy habits – going to the gym, keeping fit, drinking water instead than coke…
I can confirm the problem. I vacillate between size 6-8 and I’ve had a couple of doctors in France tsk-tsk at me about my weight, saying I’m “en embonpoint” (chubby). Luckily, even after living there for ten years, I take it with a grain of salt. And when I’ve pressed the issue and ask whether they consider me to not be at a healthy weight, they drop the issue. Hmm, interesting. On the other hand, Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant and other actresses well into their 50’s or even ’60’s– and far from rail-thin– are still upheld as sex symbols in France. Meanwhile, back to Hollywood…Winona Ryder (barely pushing 40?) has appeared as an aging mother and a washed-up dancer in her latest roles…and if she were any less than waifish still I doubt she’d even get those. As usual, France is all paradox when it comes to this issue.
I’ve been called a “fausse mince” (false thin) by a sales girl in a lingerie store. That annoyed me that she would point out the slight disproportionate of my body (smaller on top and endowed below as I like to think of it) and it annoyed me that she considered me not thin. I have always considered myself relatively thin. A size 8 is not overweight.
I have also noticed extraordinary disciplin in some French women when it comes to restricted diets and cutting back on alcohol. To a point where you wonder if they are enjoying that tiny piece of cheese at all it’s so small!
Well, if you want to get picky, they never called her fat. They didn’t call her anything. They said if she wanted to lose weight (as she was coming out of a gym, it’s a fair assumption), then she should also eat less. Perhaps it’s a backhanded piece of advice, but I think most American and UK tabloids would just scream “FAT!!” on the caption.
Not that body shaming doesn’t exist in France. I’m sure it does. but I’ve never had a problem here. I have a fast metabolism like everyone in my family, and have been the same weight since I was 12 (I’m, er, three times that now).
However one of the reasons I decided to stay in France after my studies here is that, unlike in he US, I wasn’t constantly “shamed” for being thin. I’ve been called anorexic, have been suspected of bulimia, have had strangers say “You’re so thin it makes me sick” and grew up with names like “beanpole” and “spiderlegs”. I have a small stomach and don’t eat (or drink) as much as the average person (I can barely do three courses in a restaurant without having to unbuckle my belt and waddle home). But I’m healthy and happy (and I enjoy that small piece of cheese just fine, thank you).
So I don’t think the French-bashing is fair. All cultures victimize those who don’t fit in, and it’s horrible and uncivilized. But before we start pointing fingers elsewhere, we should probably take a look at our own culture. French-bashing is just as bad as weight-bashing.
The press everywhere make far too many personal coments that are both unecessary and downright unhelpful in the messages they send. I don’t think the French are unusual in that respect.
I live in Paris and am on average 10cm taller and many kilos heavier than the other Parisiennes…yes my doctor always makes a comment about my weight when I go to see her, (but I think she is right!)
However, I am always impressed how many older women are working out daily at my local gym and that people generally appreciate the quality of their food rather than the quantity…I was on the other hand appelled when we lived in Philadelphia for 2 years recently that a restaurant was rather judged on the size of its portions which I found quite shocking – take outs used to last us an extra couple of days!!
I can see how that would happen. I was married to a french man; he was 6’4″ and 165 lbs. when we met. I was 5’9 and 124 lbs; after two children and 15 years I ended up at 145 lbs.–still perfectly healthy. Throughout our entire relationship–even when I was what would now be a size 4 American, and knowing that I used to have an eating disorder–he told me I was too heavy. Later, he developed a life-threatening disease from which he eventually died. He stopped taking a medication that was helping him because it made him gain weight.
It’s all just so stupid.
When I was her age, I thought I was fat too. And I weighed 100 pounds. I can’t imagine what it is like for a girl who isn’t fat to be publicly told she is in such a crude and inhuman matter.
No longer being so small, I have now finally realized that it is not what I weigh that makes me feel fat, it’s the culture around me that does. If I thought I was fat them- all 100 pounds of me- when will I be thin enough not to feel fat? I hope other women can gain that kind of insight and get off of the self-hate treadmill.
I’ve lived in Paris for three years now and I’ve been told I’m too heavy by a doctor (I’m a size 4 in the US) and I’ve also been told I have too much muscle for a woman (by a trainer at the gym). I’ve also had to argue with saleswomen who can’t believe I fit into certain skirts or pants with my heavy legs (I was an athlete in high school and college). I’ve also been scolded by French acquaintances for eating too much bread or pasta or dessert.
While French society (perhaps more specifically Parisian society) has seemingly ridiculous expectations for women’s and men’s bodies, I don’t find it to be any worse here than in the US or elsewhere. It’s just different. Societies throughout the world use women’s bodies as symbols to signify politics, traditions, religion, cultural beliefs, etc. The ideal beauty standard in Paris seems to be a thinness and lightness that represents not just beauty but wealth, class, and intellectualism — which is why, after my gym experience, a friend reminded me that muscle development is still seen in Paris as something that is low brow or from the country. Although, I think you can see this changing a bit.
I think that’s why I read the above quote not as the magazine calling Miley Cyrus fat, but as a warning that the gym will not help her lose weight — she’ll build muscle instead.
Of course, I firmly believe it’s horrible that magazines, pundits, blogs, etc. anywhere on the planet feel it within their purview to critique the bodies of women and men.
I feel bad for all you girls who’ve had strange men coming up to you in Paris and telling you you’ll get fat for eating a muffin when you’re probably half my size (12)…. All I had was constant offers for dates.
I just came across this article. I think this might be a problem in Paris, which is the fashion capital par excellence, but you should come to Alsace.
My boyfriend is from this beautiful region and when I was introduced to his family I was so scared they would get all judgemental because at that time I had a couple extra pounds. To my surprise, his mother is fat (like really fat, not that size 40 “fat”) and his father is slightly overweight. Also, I’m thinner than most of the girls I have met around here, and I often get told that I don’t eat enough, even though I have a perfectly healthy diet.
Moral of the story: don’t say “France” when you actually mean “Paris”.
Uh clearly the guy was just trying to chat you up. Not a great line, though.