The Plight of Women with (Small) Tummies
Sending love to all the different kinds of tummies out there!
First of all, I’m not fat. At least I am not considered to be by mainstream norms. My BMI is normal, my clothes size varies between Small and Medium. But I’ve always had a small tummy. Maybe it’s because I’m bloated, maybe it’s because of posture (ever since I know I’ve either been hunched over a book or over a computer), maybe it’s because of genetics (one theory is that my ancestors’ anatomies were used to famine, and now my body is overcompensating by stubbornly saving fat.)
It is with dismay (and envy) that I grew up watching icons of fashion and style baring their midriffs — in Hollywood, in Bollywood, hell even in Japanese animes! The quintessential trend was to wear crop tops over low-cut jeans (I hate you Britney Spears and Princess Jasmine!).
I have dreamt of having “stone-washed abs” since forever. It seemed essential to be able to wear trendy clothes — whether Western or Indian.
I did push-ups, all kinds of crunches, planks, intermittent fasting, you name it! Faint abs lines on both sides even appeared a few times when I had been to the gym super consistently, or when I just woke up in the morning fasting, but each time, they disappeared quickly enough. It seemed that abs were incompatible with my lifestyle of being a foodie and needing to go to work five days a week!
So I try to avoid crop tops and bodycon dresses. Body shapewear feels like torture. I wear straight line or flowy dresses and skirts, or clever patterns that make you look slimmer or do not accentuate your midriff. When taking photos, I try not to pose on the side to avoid more attention to my tummy. I try to sit up or stand up straight in the rare occasions where I notice that I am slouching.
Sometimes, I notice furtive looks at my tummy. It seems like the person is having a mental debate — is she fat or could she be pregnant? Or maybe that’s just my own insecurities manifesting?
Bottom line, screw mainstream fashion and anorexic models! Maybe I’ve just been born in the wrong period. I know close to nothing about art, but I do know that the art museums I have visited are full of classical paintings of women with healthy tummies! In classic literature of the not so long gone past, “child bearing hips” and “ample bosoms” were considered desirable and attractive. Whatever happened to those fads? One theory is that the war against the sexes has pushed beauty norms towards “androgyny”. Sexiness is now associated to quasi boyhood traits — chiselled, high cheekbones Peter Pan features, long legs, FLAT bellies. How many women out there fit in these modern beauty norms? Not many I would think. Traditionally, Indian and Latin women are curvy and beautiful. The rest is just not the traditional norm.
Moreover, tummies are not only meant for aesthetic purposes — they hold so many important vital organs! Hell, some of them might become home to one or two babies at some point! Media has just relentlessly built up this part of women’s anatomy as the ultimate seduction tool, and the fashion industry has followed suit.
I don’t have more wisdom to share on this unfortunately. Since the onset of the pandemic, I have not invested into office clothes, and now, three years after, when I have to actually go to the office more often, I just felt like ranting because, I have realised that … I do not fit in anything I own anymore. Since the last Christmas holidays, I have struggled to lose the holiday weight. I have officially had to admit that my maximum weight bracket has increased. With age, it seems that losing weight is harder. BUT gaining weight is just as easy, or even easier! It makes me think that I might need to rethink about the consequences of excesses on my body.
Or it might just be time to invest into a new, more adapted wardrobe for my new body type which still feels like me, but which also does not feel like it might be bursting at the seams all the time. More to come on exploring this new phase and body of mine!
