I Hate Twiggy

Remember cultural tip #6 from my textbook waaay back when I first started taking Indonesian lessons? No? I’ll remind you:

Cultural Note #6: “Commenting on somebody’s physical appearances is somewhat customary in Indonesia, and not to mention as one of the best ways to show warmth/friendliness. It is wise not to be upset if someone comments on your body, like ‘Wow, you look fat/thin!’ In this circumstance, you can respond by smiling or you can also tell a bit joke (about being fat), like ‘Yeah, I can hardly find a T-shirt at the store!’

Ok. This is nothing new to me… when I was in India, my host brother (sorry Bharat but you know it’s true) used to say to me after a long weekend vacation, “Wow Britt you look so much fatter!” I usually did not respond with a ‘bit joke’ but instead with, “Dude, you canNOT say that to an American girl!”

Here I’ve tried to just let it roll off my back and for most of the two years have barely given a second thought to comments about my fatness/thin-ness which usually do not correspond to my actual body weight at all. However, for some unknown reason, this month has been the month of commenting about how fat Britt is. An unprecedented number of Indonesians have recently come up to me and said, “Waaaaaah tambah gemuk! [Wooooowwww you got fatter!]” while grabbing some gelatinous segment of my body to demonstrate in fact how much fat is there. Most popular method: extending the pointer finger and thumb to ‘gauge’ my upper arm like wowwww look at all your arm mass! Those are my guns, son. Get up off.

It’s strange timing because I look pretty much EXACTLY the same as I have all year, and if anything thinner than last year. And since I know it’s just a random comment on their part, I shouldn’t let it bother me. Except, come on people. Honestly, you KNOW that’s a rude thing to say to an American woman. And #2, please remove your fingers from my belly fat. If I’m not allowed to show my skin in public, you are certainly not allowed to pinch it for measurement purposes.

I keep thinking it will be nice to get back to a country where I’m not an enormous obese giant (although they have a point: While shopping the other day, I picked up a pair of pants that went a little more than halfway across my hips. They were labeled XXXXL). But then I remember all of the wack American beauty standards.

For example, how did we go from this standard of beauty...

...to this one...

...in less than 10 years?

And why haven’t we gotten bored of the Twiggy look? I guess we added plastic breasts at some point, but the barely pubescent thinness is still there. At least in Indonesia, being fat is considered sort of a positive thing. To get fatter means you are happy and prosperous, stress-free, while a skinny person might be short on money, ill, or emotionally burdened.

So I guess I should take “You got so fat!” as a compliment. I just wish they would phrase it a little differently. Attention Indonesia: next time you want to comment on my tambah gemuk please just say, “Wow you look so much more like Marilyn Monroe than Twiggy!” And don’t even think about jiggling my tummy rolls. Thank you.