Don’t Conflate Thinness with Success

The collective pressure to be thin and the idealization of thinness are central reasons for the increase in eating disorders in recent decades.

Children are inculcated in the idea that thinness is an achievement and an essential goal to attain. Unless one adheres to this societal guideline, a person is often seen as a failure. For children still developing their own identity, thinness is a simple way to conceive of success as an achievable and straightforward goal.

When adults collude with this fallacy by praising children who lose weight or are thin, they promote and support the paradigm of weight as a central part of adult success.

There is a movement afoot to praise all body shapes and sizes. Body positivity focuses on helping adults and children appreciate their bodies as they are and not focus on negative feelings about one’s body and weight pressures. Clothing advertising is gradually shifting to using models of all shapes and sizes—a way to enable children and adults to see a reflection of themselves in the media rather than see photoshopped pictures that make them feel self-conscious and self-critical.

The last crucial component to fight the idealization of thinness comes in daily conversation. It’s too easy for adults to join the ranks of industries that make thinness seem like a necessity for a healthy life. The food industry, diet industry and medical establishment all promote thinness as a panacea and fat as a sign of sloth and poor health.

Adults need to emphasize to children that their bodies are healthy, natural and a positive part of who they are. Praising weight loss or thin bodies only encourages children to question themselves and their bodies. The goal is to help them find confidence and not use their bodies as a way to doubt themselves and their lives.