"Oh my god Becky. Look at her butt... It is so BIG. I mean...."
So, I have a confession to make. I definitely was listening to "Baby Got Back" this morning as I was getting ready for work...made famous by that (amazing) beginning line (and let's face it, the many shout-singing memories from school dances starting at age 13).
And then I came to work and found out that some of my news feeds were buzzing about some very interesting topics around women. It was too much for me to pass up. So things that I learned today: apparently, according to the Washington Post, the ability for a woman to accept her body is culturally rooted (duh) but the facts behind it are very interesting, particularly in the comparison between black women and white women (as an Asian woman, I can't help but wonder why I wasn't included in this study, but that's fine...I'm sure they'll hit me up next time). So the perceptions of beauty are changing.
So first, some facts. In a survey by Kaiser, they found that 90% of black women say that living a healthful lifestyle is a priority for them, outranking religion, career and marriage. However, two-thirds of black women also admit to eating fast food (on average) at least once a week, and only slightly more than half cook dinner at home on a regular basis. In talking with a trainer in the Washington D.C. metro area, the trainers claimed that it was interesting because white women come in and are specific about their goals in terms of weight "I want to be 120 pounds, I want to lose 30 pounds", whereas black women are more likely to set goals based on dress size "I want to be a size 6, 8, 10...". In 2009, the CDC claim that 43% of black women could be classified as obese, compared to 25% for white women.
This difference I think is interesting because it indicates that black women are less fixated on the number-- a goal for goal's sake, and place more emphasis on a more comprehensive goal of how they would look in clothes. For example, as a woman with mostly male friends, I can tell you that if I lost 5 or 10 pounds, not many would notice. On the other hand, if I wore a well-tailored suit to work and it fit well-- regardless of my size--I would be more likely to get compliments on my clothing. It's normal to not notice the details on a daily basis of your friends-- more likely to notice how, as a package, changes in appearance. Probably came from our tree-swinging days when it was more important to know that a tree was too low to the ground to provide safety than to notice the shape and color of the leaves.
In the other article I read from the New York Times, linguists have identified that young women are typically the pioneers of vocal trends. Everyone is well acquainted with "uptalk" (aka Valley Girl Speech), where everything is a question? And your voice goes up at the end? It's usually like, sprinkled with lots of "likes" for no reason? The newest trend that they've found among girls is "vocal fry", which is the throatiness that is injected at the end of sentences. Think of Mae West's "You should come up and see me sometime", or if you want a more modern example, the growliness of Britney Spears in every song ever or Ke$ha's "Blow".
But what do these things mean (other than the fact that apparently pop stars are changing the way we communicate with each other on a fundamental level *shudder*)? The claim is that, because women are generally more attune to social cues, vocal variation has been used as a tool for women to regain authority or to project power in a society where they are pressured to be demure or passive. Uptalk is seen as a way to convey friendliness or casual-ness in potentially uncomfortable situations. Which makes sense because asking questions instead of telling others to do things conveys mutual decision-making and sub-consciously establishes buy-in to all parties involved.
"Vocal fry", on the other hand has multiple uses, some say that it indicates disinterest because, apparently, this sound can only be made when the vocal cords are in a lax state. (And, let's be honest-- only teenage girls would want you to know how completely uninterested they are in whatever you're doing as to go so far as to make a whole new tone for it.) Others claim that because it creates a lower pitch, its typically used in situations where women want to convey authority. I personally can buy either of these situations, I imagine that I use it in both ways without thinking about it. Working in a male dominated field has made me a little numb to the nuances of conversation-making (Just give me the facts! Now! No! Yesterday!), but I can think of many examples with friends or on conference calls where I probably have used both methods.
The funnest facts from the study? Men are more likely than women to use "like" in casual conversation. Moreover, fathers are more likely to use uptalk than any other demographic.
So what have we learned today? Black women are better at seeing themselves in a more comprehensive way, and are really challenging the accepted norms of what being "healthful" means. However, there is a danger here of being so "proud" that an entire sub-culture in America fails to see the health risks. Oh yeah, and Britney Spears is apparently a pioneer for linguistic trends in our society...And I should pay more attention to things that I say and how I say them if I want to be hip! Apocalypse to commence in 3...2...1...
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