A Different Standard.

Last week one of my Malawian friends paid me the greatest compliment (according to a Malawian woman) – she told me that I “was getting round”. Also known as putting some extra padding around the hips ;)

My mouth literally dropped open and a shocked look spread over my face. But before getting upset I remembered to “unpack the situation” as I learned in my course on Inter-cultural effectiveness, and try to understand why she would have said that.

I explained to her that in Canada, that is probably one of the most insulting things you could say to a woman. She was extremely apologetic and tried to explain that in Malawi – this was a huge compliment. She was trying to tell me that she thought I was looking great. In Malawi (and many other East African countries) the ideal shape of the female body is round and padded, with a very large bum. She explained that a woman gaining weight signifies to others that she is doing well financially and can afford enough food, and that she is healthy. She said that if you saw a woman losing weight, or looking thin, you would assume that she is very poor or sick. My friend said flat out that a person who is losing weight probably has AIDS. Because people don’t try to lose weight in this country.

It is so interesting to see how different cultures view and construct beauty. As someone who has grown up in North America, it is almost impossible for me to understand why a woman would want to be ‘fat’. Where I come from, woman and men have eating disorders, people undergo invasive and dangerous procedures to alter their body, and those who model our fashions are overwhelmingly clinically underweight. In contrast, in Malawi women are injecting fat into their hips and bum in order to make it bigger (at least those who can afford it).
I am not suggesting that that is a healthier option – just simply driving home that point that standards of beauty are completely constructed in the culture that we live in. And that there are crazies all over the world who go overboard in their attempt to reach that standard.

I find it so interesting that a comment that would send most North American women up in arms actually comforts and compliments Malawian women. I guess the question to ask now is what being thin represents in North American culture?