I started reading a book yesterday for a little project I’m working on. It’s called The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers behind Women’s Obsession with Food and Weight by Michelle M. Lelwica. I have to admit, the book has been sitting on my shelf for a while now because I haven’t been terribly motivated to read it, mainly because it is written from a Christian perspective, and to be honest, I’m tired of the books about these topics written from Christian perspectives. They are often very shallow and shortsighted and don’t even touch the surface of the topic. Anyway, I am only as far as the introduction, but I already have found this, which has encouraged me to keep reading:
In an attempt to fill [the void in our culture resulting from a lack of symbols, beliefs, stories, and rituals - normally fulfilled by religion], many women have adopted what I call “The Religion of Thinness.” This “religion” teaches us that controlling our weight will give us a feeling of control over our lives. It offers us the hope of health and happiness through the idea of the “perfect” body, which we believe is attainable through diet and exercise. It teaches us to feel morally superior if we “eat right” (meaning fewer fat grams or calories), and connects us to a larger community of women who are trying to lose weight. It gives us rituals—like counting and burning calories—that create a sense of order. And it includes a plethora of icons and symbols in the form of models and actresses in whose image we are encouraged to recreate ourselves. Perhaps most importantly of all, it gives us an ultimate purpose—the “salvation” that comes from being thin.
I totally agree with this line of thinking and am interested in where she will go with it. It is shocking to me how we use something like weight and food, and especially diet and exercise programs, to feel superior, to feel worth, to feel like we’re doing something important with our lives, to create community and belonging. Of course, not all people do this. But it’s sad to overhear conversations that women are having – long, long conversations – about how they don’t eat sugar, or how many pounds they have lost, or what they are doing to sculpt their body, and so on. This just seems like a huge distraction sometimes. I understand the need for health. These conversations are not about health. But it is really easy to pretend these things are about health while we mask our needs for control, worth, belonging with things like food, weight, and exercise.
And so I will continue reading this book to see if there is anything else that’s good in here!
