Attention, naturally thin gals… do you feel pigeonholed by society?
May 14, 2008 by angelique
Filed under Women's Health
I’ve never been a “naturally skinny” person. Even as a child, I was… well… healthy-looking. I never was told I was scrawny. So I often forget that being naturally lean carries with it its own sort of stigma.
My question tonight is aimed at all the ladies out there who are or once were extremely thin. I’d like to know if you find/found it embarrassing to be skinny? Did/Do you ever wish you were plump? Did/Do people accuse you of having anorexia or bulimia?
I think it’s important to explore the other side of the “size zero” controversy; namely, those persons for whom “size zero” is simply a natural weight and not the result of self-induced starvation. So please feel free to comment with abandon!
A few months after I started a new job I found out that a rumor had been going around that I was bulimic. I was a size 2 with the unfortunate habit of going to the bathroom (to wash my hands) after I ate.
I also hate it when I tell my plumper friends that I love the way they look and they think I’m being a jerk. Or when they get great pleasure out of telling me that it’ll all catch up to me when I’m 40.
Elle:
That’s very rude of people to make assumptions, though I can see why they’d start to wonder. But really — unless you’re washing your hands for 20-30 minutes, their rumor was just mean-spirited.
Are you still at the company? Did they eventually treat you differently?
I just came across this site, and I love your articles.
I am a naturally small girl. Through out my school years I was always told how skinny I was. I only remember one time someone used the word anorexic. It was this natural thinness though, that was part of developing an actual eating disorder. Since I was always small, when I did start to gain weight in my early 20s, I freaked. It was like being thin was a personality trait to me.
People still comment on my small body, the only difference is that I disagree with them now.
Embarrassing doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel on a day to day basis. I’ve always been extremely thin from day one. Back in elementary school is where I began to realize I was not really like most of the other girls. I was tall and tooth-pick thin. I will never forget when a girl came up to me and called me “chicken legs”. From there on things just got progressively worse. I don’t think I feel much different than someone who is overweight…comments hurt…people constantly staring and whispering behind your back. People just assume I don’t eat…or just figure I just throw it up later. I always wanted to be more average in weight. I really wish I could put on some weight. I celebrated when I hit 100 pounds. I’m 20 yrs. old and about 5′7 1/2 and weigh about 100-105 pounds. My height just makes me look thinner. No matter how much I try to explain I don’t starve myself…I feel people aren’t listening and assume I’m lying (in denial). I could go on and on about stories about being accused of having an eating disorder…
Its horrible being so thin im 5′6 and 107 to 110 people feel no shame in walking right up to me and commenting about how skinny I am and telling me I need to eat as if I didnt on top of that theres such a double standard when it comes to underweight and overweight thin girls are being taunted and talked about in magazines and the public cheers while the ones who put on a few are called out on it only to have everyone lose their minds!!! Its not fair IT SUCKS SO HARD!!!!