In India they like their ladies 'curvy'. A 7 up advert has a woman asking a genie in a bottle (Fido) for three wishes. The first one is, 'I want to be more curvy!' Imagine that happening in England! Bill board posters feature ladies in short shorts with legs that, well, let's just say that I wouldn't be wearing short shorts if I had their legs...
There's something cool about this celebration of the natural womanly shape. Women are appreciated for the very physical attributes that make them female. The ubequitous sari is one size fits all, and if you're pregnant or have just eaten too much biryani, then you can just let it out a bit!
Thin people are assumed to be poor, food is wealth. This is an eye-opener to someone from our calorie-counting obsessive culture in the UK, but there's something to learn from the Indian attitude towards fat.
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2 comments:
Hi,
I just found you're blog, because we have something in common.... my name is Julia Evans as well. :)
I was at the Norton Simon museum in Pasadena, CA a couple of months ago and they had an exhibit of ancient Indian statues. I was struck by how the shape of the bodies looked like modern comic book cartoons. The godesses had tiny waists, large breasts, and large hips.
It's interesting to think about how different cultures look at body image. I guess what's attractive is whatever is the most difficult to attain.
It sounds like you're experience in India is going to be fascinating.
Cheers,
The "other" Julia Evans
Wow! Good to meet you. I think there are quite a few of us in the world :-)
I just looked at your profile and I can't believe it - you've read Kavalier & Clay! That's one of my all time favourites...
And I wanted to be a librarian when I was a little girl... (I've ended up as an editor but am on secondment at the moment so doing lots of different things).
Maybe we share more than a name! how cool.
Enjoy the blog.
jules x
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