Lean Baby

You know what wears me out? All the thin-person bashing. I intensely dislike the way anti-eating disorders advocacy becomes an excuse to demonize thin people. In what way is it more acceptable to say "freakishly thin" and "unnatural standards" than it is to say "grossly fat" "funny little midget?" These are real people, people!

The cachexia of untreated anorexia is a symptom of illness, and is not simply thinness. Most of the models and very thin people we see on TV and movies and advertisements are simply very tall and constitutionally spare. They're chosen for that. Of course this should not be our standard of beauty to the exclusion of all others but why would the sight of these individual people be considered so toxic to be seen that we can sneer and sniff?

This new distaste for thinness used to have a different cast: being "skinny" was lampooned as Olive Oyl : sexless, sharp-edged types. So, I was tickled to be tap dancing this morning and the song Lean Baby - I'd never heard it before - came on the radio. It's Sinatra so worth hearing anyway, but the message is a refreshing take on skinny-bashing.



Lean Baby Lyrics:
My lean baby - tall and thin
Five feet seven - of bones and skin
But when she tells me maybe she loves me
I feel as mellow as a fellow can be

She's so skinny - she's so drawn
When she stands sideways - you
(would) think (that) she's gone
But when she calls me: "baby" - I feel fine
To think she's frantically, romantically mine

She's slender, but she's tender
She makes my heart surrender
And every night, when I hold her tight
The feeling is nice - my arms can go around twice

My lean baby - she's so slim
A broomstick's wider - but not as trim
And when she starts to kiss me - then I know
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/Vzy ]
I love her so, I'll never, ever, let her go

My lean baby - strange to see
And all that nothing - it belongs to me
And though she may be scrawny - she's OK
Because I wouldn't want her any other way

She's so skinny - she's so drawn
When she stands sideways - you
(would) think (that) she's gone
But when she calls me: "baby" - I feel fine
To think she's frantically, romantically mine

I chased her - and I caught her
Then a diamond ring - I bought her
(Hey) The diamonds shine - the ring is so fine
But here is the twist - she wears it right on her wrist

My lean baby - she's so slim
A broomstick's wider - but not as trim
And when she starts to kiss me - then I know
I love her so, I'll never, ever, let her go

My lean baby - tall and thin...
(do-do-do-do-do,...)

Comments

  1. Laura, I don't quite get it. I get that thin people arent all anorexic and I don't feel animosity towards someone because their thin but those words are painful for someone whose experienced Ed. There is just to much emphasis on thinness as beauty as most desirable in our culture.

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  2. Ooh, I love this :) I hate 'thin-bashing' too.

    What I hated even more is when a female Member of Parliament in the UK suggested that all women should aspire to look like the 'curvy' Christina Hendricks, because she promotes 'good body image'. (And I despise the terms 'body image' and 'curvy' too).

    It's 'bollox'. I come from a line of slim, non-voluptuous women. Until my mother developed hypothyroidism after a thyroid tumour she had a BMI at the lowest end of the normal range, was (and still is) flat chested and had been teased for her thinness as a child and teen. She has never had an ED. I have inherited my mother's body type and was a skinny child. That was one reason why AN had such devastating physical effects on me so rapidly when I developed it. My weight had been on the low side pre-AN.

    People come naturally in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes underweight or overweight are signs of illness (emaciation is an obvious sign of illness). None of us 'should' aspire to look like anyone or anything that we're not.

    I find it ridiculous that some anti-ED-advocacy does not only do 'thin-bashing', but also promotes 'celebration of fatness'. And yes, I did say the word FATNESS. And I don't believe in the concept of 'fat acceptance' either, at least in clinical levels of obesity. (I know that by saying that I will be pi**ing many off; but obesity does carry many health risks). However, I certainly don't support 'fat-bashing' - because it's rude and unkind.

    As a society, we are faaaaar too obsessed with weight and shape. I say this not because I find it the least bit 'triggering' (I had 'non-fat'phobic AN that had nothing to do with body dissatisfaction), but because it's pointless, unnecessary, boring and silly.

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  3. Lisa, I don't mean to offend. I thought the song was funny it was playful and silly and demonstrates that in the 40s being skinny was considered a bad thing and the singer is defending her despite her unattractive physique. It's thin bashing, but from another angle.

    Cathy, I'm with you mostly but have to object to the business about obesity. People are small and big for all kinds of reasons - it isn't a choice they make. It can be natural body type, it can be from repeated dieting, it can be from illness - but it doesn't seem to be something people can control by choice (except for short periods, like we can "control" our breathing by holding our breath!). Finding our optimal functioning isn't a matter of choosing a weight and pursuing it: it is a process of living in healthful balance and letting weight fall where it will. I totally support "fat acceptance" just as I do racial acceptance and height acceptance: we need to embrace and nurture what we are - not bash it or be ashamed of it.

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