Susan Bordo

In the movie “Thin”, one of the patients in the hospital talked about visiting her doctor when she was 7. Her doctor openly called her fat and asked her mother what she was planning to do about her daughter’s weight.  At such a young age, a child’s weight is usually not a big determination of how he or she will be as an adult; however, the doctor was already concerned and planting this weight concern in the daughter’s mind. A young girl, such as the one in this movie, is exposed to the societal view of how a woman’s body should be. Everything and everyone demonstrates the idea that a woman should be very thin, and when even a young girl’s doctor agrees with this ideology, he facilitates her behavior to strive for this goal. This ideal body however, is difficult to attain and many women achieve it through harmful forms. Many times, women develop an unhealthy relationship with food. Susan Bordo talks about commercials and ads that demonstrate the way in which our society thinks. She discusses a French commercial of a young girl looking at a picture of her friend’s mother. She says that the mother is so beautiful and so thin, already making the connection that thin is equivalent to beautiful. Then she asks if she eats. Her friend responds that of course she eats, but “just not so much”. This statement suggests that in order to be beautiful, one must be thin, and in order to be thin, one must watch what one eats, therefore beauty and control over one’s food become synonymous. As Bordo says, it shows young girls already beginning to learn to control their weight and in a way, teaches them that this is correct. When these ideologies are exemplified through ads appearing on a daily basis and from a doctor, a person who holds authority in body health, it is so easy for a young girl to learn that she must be thin at all costs.