Tricia Mc.T. sent in a video that illustrates the tendency to associate non-White women’s bodies with curves. Fruit of the Loom’s “Flawless” commercial celebrates women’s bodies, offering the message that they’re flawless at any size. But as Tricia points out, though there is variety in the bodies of the women in the commercial, “women of color are the only ones with ‘curves’,” and the woman whose body is farthest from the thinness ideal is an African American woman:
It’s a small example of a larger pattern in which non-White women are associated with curviness and we’re comfortable depicting women of color as larger — think of all the TV shows you’ve seen where the only plump female character is the African American woman.
For more on this pattern, see our post on who has curves in a Levi’s ad, an ad for shapewear to get “Latino curves,” Vogue emphasizes Beyonce’s body, fetishizing African American women’s butts, and conflating “ethnic” with “curvy.“
Comments 48
RexSchrader — October 12, 2012
Wait, that's "plump"?
Question: Is there a greater acceptance of, or a difference in opinion along different racial/ethnic/cultural lines about what constitutes an "ideal figure"?
(I can't believe I'm bringing this up but . . . ) Sir Mix-a-lot's "I like big butts" was not endorsement of the supposed thin white ideal.
Chris — October 12, 2012
I agree that the "variety" of bodies represented here are still a minority of all the body types that exist. I think the color choices are interesting too - are they all matching their eye color or something?
I know that different cultures endorse different body types. I think it is some Arab cultures where the woman is supposed to make herself heavier to prove that she comes from a family that can support her? There seems to be no celebration of bodies that work, no matter what size they are.
Yrro Simyarin — October 12, 2012
http://www.halls.md/on/women-weight-b.htm
http://www.halls.md/chart/women-weight-w.htm
Median weight for self-identified "black" women in her 20's - 150 lb.
Median weight for self-identified "white" women in her 20's - 135 lb
Now, I can't say whether our cultural acceptance is driven by this distribution, or if women are adjusting their eating and exercise habits to match this ideal - but it's not just in the media.
Waugh — October 12, 2012
Molly of "Mike andMolly"
Sam Loy — October 12, 2012
As an Australian, I can only comment on the American media we consume (which is considerable). In these, depictions of black culture seem to celebrate the "fuller" female figure as the ideal. I'm not sure if this is an accurate representation of what happens in the real world, but it is certainly the perception we get. So, if this is true, isn't the ad merely appealing to the different cultural ideals while making a representation that the 'Fruit of the Loom' is for every body type?
Norman Lewis — October 13, 2012
Right, need to sort something out here because it's been bugging me about liberal feminism for a while.
ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE CURVY.
They are curvy because we are not built of fucking polygons.
If you want to see someone who is not curvy, here is a picture:
http://www.lipglossiping.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/kryton.jpg
Do you see the difference between the people above that this article declared 'not curvy' and this image?
Good. That is an important thing to notice. Now, if you are struggling to think of a non-judgemental non-abusive term for women whose body proportions are larger or **more** curvy than the people THE MEDIA tend to present disproportionately, then perhaps you - LIKE THE FUCKING MEDIA - should not be thinking of words to describe people, to categorise people, to alienate people. Perhaps, instead of trying to think of nice words for people, we should be focused on taking down the infrastructure that allows mass media and cultural prescription to fuck with peoples' minds, perceptions of reality, concepts of self-worth and cultivate expectations and entitled attitudes.
Barring that level of militancy; If you want to discuss the way the media presents reality, you can do this at a cultural instead of an individual level. If you talk about the patterns in the ways bodies are being represented in images, then you can do this without passing comment on the individuals' bodies themselves and declaring them curvy or non-curvy, skinny or fat, etc. You can do this right, it's not difficult.
India-Indian — October 13, 2012
Can you imagine the uproar if all the skinny, flat-butt women were black and all the curvy, bubble-butt women were white? Being "curvy" is much more accepted by people of color. Black women who are size 12, 14, 16 are still considered beautiful. White woman larger than size 6 are "fat."
Abenig — October 13, 2012
Has anyone been to the Mid, Mid West? I've never seen such huge people in my life! All were white.
If you ever lived in a predominantly white neighborhood, you would realiz how much the media liiieeeeees regarding how the average white American looks.
They wished they looked like the lie, the media perpetuates as their normal reality.
I like healthy whether curvy, athletic etc. I'm 5'7" and 118 ballerina thin & chiseled. Im black and its odd how many white woman tell me they would die to be my size. That's insane.
Asli Kurmanji — October 13, 2012
Because black women tend to be more curvy? Like they tend to have fuller lips? And more likely to have kinky hair? There is nothing wrong with that!
kali — October 14, 2012
What I find interesting about this ad is that the men are completely comfortable (i.e. not self-conscious) walking around dressed as fruit. They are not obsessing over their body shape and size. It is only women's bodies being presented for public consumption and critique. I am hoping for the day when we spend more time discussing women's ideas, talents, achievements, viewpoints than their body shape, size, color and texture. Not holding my breath, though.
Naomic3 — October 14, 2012
Hi there! Token Asian here to "weigh in." Asians are not "supposed" to be fat. Ask Margaret Cho about that one. In recent years, "Pacific Islander" has been split off from "Asian" on demographic surverys--interesting to see how we will assign cultural bias on curviness on FOTL's next commercial--Anime-thin, petite Japanese girl? Extra-large Samoan?
Discuss.
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Pelirroja Peligrosa — October 23, 2013
"Curviness" is also over-sexualized... and interestingly enough, women of color, and black women in particular, are often more over-sexualized than other women. And then, of course, there's the fetishism associated with "ethnic" women of all sorts.
pepe_br99 — November 3, 2013
Or that the stereotype reflects the truth, like many stereotypes do. White women ARE thinner and flatter. What's the problem? The entire complaint is based on like, it makes you feel bad and unequal or something.
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Raylene — April 12, 2014
Anyone else notice how this pattern is inverted when we're talking body positivity? (i.e. all bodies are beautiful, but only white bodies are depicted)