Da jie emailed to me a clipping of The New Paper entitled "They're looking for a few good men - and women", which introduces a new variety show coming to Channel U in April. It's a match-making programme "where (hosts Quan Yifeng and Kym Ng) go around Singapore seeking suitable candidates for a lucky single". Da jie thought I should go for it o_O.

Hmmm... ok, well, looks fun ^^. Keep an open mind...keep an open mind.... read on....

"...blah blah blah... blah blah blah...blah blah blah... Kym disagreed, 'I have my own criteria - if it's a man, looks are not important. Character is. If it's a woman, she has to be very pretty'."

NEXT PLEASE!!!



I'm reminded of a Taiwanese variety show where a group of artistes were sent out on a mission to look for a plain jane to give her a complete make-over and make her glamourous. So, this group of youngsters went to a school and asked the principal to introduce someone whom he thought was a suitable candidate for this task. The principal introduced a girl, fat, but not that fat, average-looking but not ugly, and immediately the group of youngster gasped and a caption appeared onscreen - "dinosaur!" , and like avoiding the plague, the group rejected her.

See the problem with this???? Fat girls are not entitled to look beautiful. Fat girls cannot be beautiful. Fat girls are seriously wrong. Fat girls should not exist....

Now, this Channel U programme is supposed to help singles find a partner. Firstly, if that person isa ravishing beauty, chances are she would have been taken up long ago. Secondly, does that mean girls who are fat (=ugly, in layman opinion) or ugly are not entitled to even find a partner??? Something is seriously wrong with our society nowadays.

I wrote an essay on Singaporean women's distorted idea of thinness and their obsession with it today for last year's Social Psychology course. Here are some of my research findings which were in my essay...

• It was found that girls who were overweight reported lower self concept, including a lower body esteem and lower perceived cognitive ability. In addition, peer weight-related teasing was found to be related to a lowered self-concept and specifically, at age 7, parent weight-related criticism was associated with lower perceived peer acceptance, physical ability, cognitive ability and self-esteem.

• women are encouraged to view their own weight, and that of their peers, as outcomes of personal success and failures, which is often why striving to become thinner has been linked to problems of self-esteem and self- efficacy.

• Inability to achieve the “thin ideal” leads to the person to be perceived having a flawed personality, not only by herself and by people around her, like being “weak-willed” and possessing “characteristics that are undesirable” (Klaczynski, Goold and Mudrey, 2004).

• A content analysis of 28 different prime-time television situation comedies in the US examined the body weights of 52 central female characters, their verbal comments about body weight of others and self-comments of their own body weight. It was found that below average weight characters were over-represented as compared to the general American population.

• Also, these female characters were given more verbal praises by other characters, especially male characters.

• In the same study, those who were more involved in dieting gave themselves more verbal punishment than those who were not.

• Televised ‘thin ideal’ images elevated the boys’ importance ratings for physical attractiveness in girls, which translates into the girls’ need to achieve the ‘thin ideal’ (Hargreaves and Tiggemann, 2003).

• It is not uncommon for Chinese productions, such as movies like Love on a Diet (Hong Kong) and drama serials What a Beauty (Taiwan) to showcase how losing weight leads to a better life laden with more opportunities and more happiness.

It's sad, isn't it, how being overweight is like not being a complete human being. And if looking down on overweight individuals is not enough, girls are increasing embracing the 'thin ideal' in the likes of Kenix Kwok, Fann Wong and Charmaine Sheh, which is really a nicer phrase for "being underweight".

Me? I'm slightly overweight, and I do feel the pressure to constantly lose weight, not only for the sake of looking 'normal' but also so that I can fit into those nice clothings which seem to only cater for women ranging from the anorexic to the skinny. Not much choice for women like me who are on the plump side, what more women who are larger-sized??

This applies to women who are seen as ugly...

Sad sad world...