Some food for thought

For the latter half of this week, I've been ruminating on an article I read in The Age online. It was just a short little factoid in their lifestyle section, but its opening line has stayed with me for the last few days. Under the heading, 'Women turned off by extra kilos', it begins thus: "Sixty per cent of women prefer to have sex in the dark and the reason, they admit, is poor body image". (For the full, albeit tiny, article see here)

Now, I'll be the first to admit that this survey is problematic - it's hosted by Jenny Craig, weightloss supremo, so odds are that the women surveyed are more likely to have weight-related issues than the average bear. And yet, despite this, I can't help coming back to that number - 60%. Even assuming this might be a bit of a blowout from the statistical norm, that's still an awful lot of couples trying to play Blind Man's Bluff ... in the buff.

Body image is a huge problem in Australia. According to the Butterfly Foundation website, approximately 10 % of women are, have been, or will be affected by an eating disorder (including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder) in their lifetime. I've been pondering these statistics, particularly in regards to its relationship with the 'thin is beautiful' culture that pervades the Australian/American media that so many of us, as it were, ingest.

Since arriving in Europe on this and other sojourns, I have wondered whether women on the continent possess a different relationship with their bodies and what they put in them. Although European culture is fairly activity-centric, (people ride or walk to work more, they join sports clubs for 'fun' and cycle on weekends), I also wonder whether *if* there is a difference (it's currently conjecture on my part), this difference exists because, quite simply, in most European cultures there is a bit more flesh around. By this, I don't mean Europeans are fatter - I'm fairly sure there are some fairly comprehensive, rigorous, and scientific studies, studies like French Women Don't Get Fat, which would suggest that this is not the case. What I am talking about, however, is the nude culture that, for anyone from Australia or America can come as a bit of a shock.

Now I haven't spent the last 5 months on a German naturist reserve (it was a very cold winter and I did have to save something up for July), but what I am talking about are the very small differences - communal showers in the gym, naked saunas, and of course the generally cavalier attitude to the need for bathing suits at most European beaches, that I think must make a difference. I wonder whether this fairly constant exposure to other female bodies - bodies that are hairy, fat, thin, lumpy, lovely, and strange - specifically bodies that are not 'perfect' - has a significant impact on women's attitudes to food and to themselves. There certainly seems to be less pressure to be the thin, toned, and hyper-plasticised image that I think we're in danger of believing is somehow achievable (and desirable) in Australia. Don't believe me? Try looking for your friends on a Croatian beach where the only directions provided are an SMS that says, "behind woman with saggy boobs". Hours of fun; it was like Where's Wally 2.0: The Fleshpot.

Without wanting the size-zero debate to rear its lollypop-esque head, I can't help wondering how often it is that Australian women actually view themselves in relation to one another in ways that are not either competitive (i.e. 'well, at least I'm thinner than her') or negative (i.e. 'she's thinner than me'). I'm not suggesting that every office should become some kind of Spencer Tunick love-in, but I think that it wouldn't hurt for there to be some way of gaining greater exposure to the differences, delights, and deficiencies that make up 'normal'. Apparently, the Dove 'Real Women' ad campaign was a great success; hopefully, seeing this, other companies will follow suit and use real bodies to depict their product.

To close, here's an image of one of my favourite things - the 'Venus de Willendorf' an 11 cm fertility/fecundity figurine that dates from about 24,000 -22,00 BC, and is currently situated in the Naturhistoriches Museum in Vienna. Knowing I loved it, my parents bought me a replica in Vienna, and now it's come from Melbourne to Belgium with me. It fits just perfectly in the hand, and I like to think of it as my own little piece of portable Earth Mother. Beautiful, eh?