Asian/American women wrestling with body image issues

from BuzzFeed

NO, NO, NO! STOP IT, RIGHT NOW!

Just as we're starting to promote healthier attitudes towards body images and self-acceptance, along comes a new phenomenon that could derail that path. A new Internet challenge that started in China and is trending fast across the rest of the globe is the goal of having a waist the size of a piece of paper.

Women are taking pictures of themselves and posting on social media to show how slim they are compared to the width of sheet of paper. They're calling an "#AA4WaistChallenge," a reference to the A4 paper size, a little over 8 inches wide.

It is unrealistic and kind of disturbing. But some of the women are claiming that this is how they are naturally. The key word is "naturally." Love how you are naturally, and don't use a piece of paper to judge yourself.

The trend points out the type of social pressure Asian women are under to fit the stereotype of petiteness attributed to Asian women. (See the BuzzFeed video, above.) Some credit the "skinny gene" or "Asian metablolism" but it's more like the "crazy gene." 

The #A4WaistChallenge gained steam on Weibo, the Chinese micro-blogging site, and has since picked up traction on Instagram and Twitter.

This is clearly not a healthy obsession and women should ignore it. It can lead to eating disorders along with self-image problems. About the only good thing coming out of this trend is the reactions mocking the challenge.

Social networkers on Instagram and Twitter mocked it with poses behind multiple papers taped together, holding A4 sheets with body-positive messages written on them, or using university diplomas and asking: “Does this degree make me look fat?”

This unhealthy obsession with skeletal dimensions is the modern-day equivalent to the bound feet Chinese women were painfully forced to conform to back in the 19th century because the so-called standard of beauty was tiny feet..

Anybody who spends any amount of time with Asian women know they come in all shapes and sizes and the petite look is really the exception, not the rule. Beauty, comes in all shapes, sizes, pigments and heights. 

This is a social media trend that we have to - stop - right - now! The challenge is a total waste.

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