Proyecto de ley de Igualdad de Género

Lifestyle can be defined as a manner of living that reflects a person's values and attitudes. It is a set of behaviours and practices that makes sense to both others and the person itself

and is a mixture of habits, conventional ways of doing things and also reasoned actions. Therefore a lifestyle is “a means of forging a sense of self and to create cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity.”31

Throughout the adolescent girls’ narratives it becomes evident that they are very lifestyle oriented. This is particularly evident in their approach to eating - and exercising habits which are issues that play a substantial role in the adolescent girls’ self image and thus their iden- tity construction. The girls’ narrations about lifestyle within these two areas reveal that they are perceived as very interlinked and in the end of the day function as means to retaining an ideal self image and attaining their hoped for self, for the future. In addition, it is displayed how the media has a substantial influence upon the culturally shared meanings within this area. This is evident as the media appears to influence both the creation of the scare images but also the attitudes towards being overweight. Furthermore, it constitutes an extensive stream of guidance and advice on how to achieve the media manufactured female ideal. In the following we wish to elaborate on how the adolescent girls manage their lifestyles in their effort to approach a hoped for self.

The adolescent girls display a clear perception of their hoped for self in relation to physical appearance – a self, which is heavily influenced by the media and its portrayal of women: “You have been raised with women magazines and advertising, which usually use slim women with 90, 60, 90 measures, nice skin and vigorous hair.”(Stephanie: l. 156f). As such the media clearly works as an opinion former as to what is looking good and what is not. These media created ideals are furthermore indoctrinated into the girls to such a degree that they function as motivations for the adolescent girls' lifestyle and attitude towards eat- ing and exercising. As a result there is a predominant agreement among the adolescent girls about the ideal physical appearance.

In a similar way the media has also been a vehicle for transferring meaning to the opposite ideal – being overweight. Accordingly, it appears that the adolescent girls are also very re- flective when it comes to these “anti- ideals” – their feared for selves. When discussing the concept of being overweight it is revealed in a broad way that this is what constitutes the girls’ feared for self. As Victoria explains: “*...+ I really do not think that overweight people

31

look particularly dishy or cool, so I would not like to become like that [...] I could not live with being really big”. (l.479f). This displays how the girls’ aversion towards becoming overweight is primarily based on the undesired signal value derived from a common domain. Neverthe- less, being overweight is not only a negative physical stigma which reflects your lifestyle in relation to poor eating habits and lack of exercise; it is also seen as a mirror of people’s per- sonality and character:

“If there is someone sitting and hiring people for some cool job for instance where you have to have a certain authority and things like that, then it is no use if there sits a fat lady, even though she might have some good qualities. She [the overweight girl] may not look so au- thoritative and it may have to do with control. If she cannot control her own body how can she control other things? *…+ It is just something about the look. Even though they *the slim and the overweight+ have the same skills, you would probably choose the slim one“(Cecilie, l. 90ff).

In this way being overweight is widely regarded as something that reflects a lack of discipline and control. Obviously it is not regarded as something that is attractive and desirable at an age which is much absorbed in getting the attention of the opposite sex and living up to the media’s portrayal of the ideal woman. The interesting thing is though that the negative sig- nal value of being overweight is not solely related to the physical appearance. It also encom- passes negative signal value, because it is seen as indicator of the individuals’ personality and backbone. The girls’ attitude towards being overweight is additionally marked by the way they perceive it is an individual obligation to look after one self. As such their own un- derstanding and relationship to the influencing factors, eating and exercising, are projected onto their surroundings. Stephanie explains this as she narrates about health and exercise: “It means a lot. Well I think that you have to think about health and exercise because it really means a lot for your well being. I actually think that it is irresponsible not to take care of yourself by eating reasonable and stay in shape. It actually does not take that much.” (l. 131ff)). Furthermore, it cannot be neglected that the girls’ surroundings and their peers’ opinions are decisive for their focus on weight. Therefore it also appears to be obligatory to endeavour being slim - as Cecilie replies when elaborating on why you have to stay slim:

“*…+ one has to *keep slim+. I just do not want to be fat because it is not a good signal to send, to be fat. People know so from the media and everything. It is not popular to be fat. It is being criticised tremendously. I just think I want to look nice because then I feel good about myself” (l. 60ff)

The adolescent girls’ aspirations regarding health are unambiguously connected with both exercise and certain ways of eating. Participating in sports is therefore partly motivated by staying in shape and avoiding the commonly agreed on feared for self of getting overweight. Though there is not only an undeniable focus on the physical appearance but also a much defined understanding of how this ideal is pursued properly and when it becomes obsessive and unhealthy. Nana reflects on it, in the following way:

“It probably has something to do with our ideals, which has become way to thin. Models who almost look like skeletons on the catwalk. It probably also has something to do with girls mir- roring in each other and in that way they affect each other. I think all of my friends feel like that and then it keeps on going in circles. It would be something different, if there were a couple of them that would say ‘hey, you look really good, so relax’. But I think it comes from ‘above’, with all the thin models running around.” (l. 495ff)

The adolescent girls are as such very critical towards the fashion world’s extensive use of extremely thin girls, a scorn that is emphasised by some of their own personal encounters with anorexic peers. The interviewed girls, on the contrary, appear to have a very harmonic approach to their ideal physical appearance and of being healthy. Thus, there appears to be a shared aspiration towards attaining a balance between staying healthy and slender and not becoming overly obsessed or fanatic: “A healthy person is someone who eats right and exercises. But you should not be fanatic *...+”. (Camilla, l. 197f). Stephanie explains how such a balance is implemented by her: “If I have been out and have hangovers, then I typically eat ‘hangover food’ the following day because you need salt. Then on Monday I normally eat really healthy and do something active in order to balance the score” (l. 159ff). Their ap- proach also embeds a hedonic lifestyle wherein junk food, alcohol, chocolate and ice cream are indispensable sources to enjoyment, and therefore a de-selection of these things ap- pears to be undesired. One of the girls explains her point of view when discussing the rejec- tion of food in order to maintain a physical ideal:

“It is just boring not being allowed to eat a lot of things. Life is too damn short. I do not want to be the type that says ‘no, I am not having dessert’, when I am out eating with a party be- cause I think that is kind of rude. Then you are not really participating in it [the meal]. Neither is it fun if you say that ‘I am not having anything to drink’, because you can gain weight from that. Then I would rather do it and then just give it some extra the next day in that stupid fitness centre” (Katrine, l. 449ff).

The adolescent girls’ aspiration regarding being physically attractive is a part of a holistic approach towards living and staying healthy. In this approach the girls’ hedonic consumption of less healthy food is seen as an indication of how they have not become fanatic or obses- sive. In this perspective their healthy lifestyle is perceived as a balanced lifestyle. Thus, the girls express how calorie counting and de-selecting sweets and other less healthy foods is not them. As Camilla explains it: “I think eating should be enjoyable and not be affected by the amount of calories. You should not just choose the low-fat as it has no taste. You should rather take the fatty one with a lot of taste otherwise you might as well do without” (l. 189ff). One of the explanations for this is apparently that they perceive an extensive focus on eating the right things as something that can very easily get out of control - a scenario that is as undesirable as being overweight. Hence there is also a great awareness on how girl often have a delusion of themselves.

“*...+ I have thought more about it since my friend got anorexia. She definitely had a twisted perception of herself. We have a mirror where we workout and women obviously have a ten- dency to look at themselves in the mirror [...] I have heard girls before stand and say ‘oh, I am too fat’. Even the girls that train a lot who are slender and fit think that they just look wrong. I just do not get why they bother waste their time and energy on it. They should just be satis- fied with how they look, especially when there is nothing to be unsatisfied about.” (Nana, l.483ff).

Additionally, a lifestyle with strong emphasis on health, exercise and eating habits, seems to be related to the adolescent girls’ transitioning into adulthood. Thus, it appears that the ado- lescent girls adopt an increasing focus on attaining their hoped for self as they grow older. This focus is possibly caused by the media which contains a larger focus on these issues and

features a steady stream of hints, tips and advises on how to eat and exercise right. Katrine explains how the media affects her in her lifestyle:

“*...+I am a real slave for those dietary advisors so if I read somewhere that now milk prod- ucts are not good, which I heard last week because there are some ingredi ents in it that the body cannot decompose naturally, then I immediately think that I have to stay away from that. Then you hear that carbohydrates are bad and then it is fat and suddenly the only thing you can eat is apples and that is just crazy. Therefore I think it is about reorganising your diet and the amounts and then exercising a lot” (l. 439ff)

In concurrency with the girls being exposed to more media which focus on these issues they are also increasingly forced to relate to it. It appears though that the focus on eating and exercising as related to physical appearance, is something that has arisen after attending high school. This could possibly be associated with the more competitive environment, which high school entails. Stephanie exemplifies this when she narrates about the change: “I think you have become more aware *in high school+ about what is healthy and what is un- healthy and wrong and right. When you are little you just shovel in what your parents gives you. Now I definitely believe I think more about it. Especially here in high school. I go to an all girl class without boys, so there is a vivid talk there.” (l. 188ff).

With the competitive environment in high school the adolescent girls’ awareness about physical appearance apparently increases and adds to the number of factors which play a role in the girls’ aspiration towards their hoped for self. It is evident that the girls are very reflective in their persuasion for their ideal physical appearance. There is no doubt though that the fashion world is one of the predominant factors in creating these ideals for physical appearance. Additionally, there are all the mass media and the women oriented media such as woman magazines in particular. They all have an extensive focus on how to achieve the ideal self through life style modifications implying exercise and diets. This comprehensive focus on the ideal appearance and on exercising- and eating habits has apparently gone so far that it has bred an opposition. The majority of the adolescent girls narrate about class- mates who are anorexic and also about how they are witnessing obsessive behaviours in relation to exercise and eating. These narrations are very clearly not them and the girls very

strongly dissociate themselves from this behaviour. The girls’ lifestyles can more be charac- terised by rational principles and beliefs which gives hope that common sense will prevail.