THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 5, 1994 TAG: 9408040061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER RIDDLE, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
MY DOCTOR SAYS I am a little overweight for my age. My grandfather calls me ``pleasantly plump.'' And my brothers have a wide range of names - anywhere from ``fat'' to ``Shamu.''
For the longest time, I was happy with the way I looked. Sure, there were weak moments when I wished I looked better in a certain dress and dreaded summer because it meant wearing a bathing suit, but all in all, I was pretty happy.
That was until Cindy Crawford got her own show on MTV, Janet Jackson became a sex symbol and the eyes of society drifted from people's faces to their stomachs.
I love Janet's music, and I can bear to watch Cindy shop for bikinis on the streets of California. I just don't like having to live up to their standards, to be judged on whether my body is as firm and my stomach is as flat as theirs.
I'm handling it OK, but after Christmas last year, when the thought of summer bathing suits and how my friends looked in their bikinis came to mind, I got really down on myself. I became desperate to do whatever it took to lose the excess 15 pounds, even if it meant drinking diet shakes and giving up all forms of pizza, french fries and chocolate.
I tried the traditional watch-what-you-eat-and-get-more-exercise routine. I tried the vegetarian route. I tried the diet shakes and even the pills. I can't afford a health club membership, but I'm possibly the only 16-year-old with Richard Simmons' ``Sweatin' to the Oldies'' tape in my VCR.
I tried to change, honestly I did, and for a while, I actually thought I was accomplishing something. Unfortunately, I have little willpower, and heaviness runs in my family. After almost six months of exercising and diet foods, I looked in the mirror. The results weren't there. I gave up.
I'm not trying to blame Cindy for my weight problem or say that diets don't work. I just couldn't find anything that worked for me. Sometimes I sit in my bed in the dark and wonder how my self-esteem and self-confidence have survived as my body has grown.
Sure, there are times when my self-esteem crashes, but that has a lot to do with the people around me. I remember this guy on the football team who I had an enormous crush on who said he would go out with me if I lost weight.
I have realized that people judge others way too much by their bodies and way too little by their minds. Unfortunately, with the stereotypes we see on TV, the movies and music videos, people will continue to expect others to have the perfect build and the perfect flat stomach.
I wish that we could change all that, that there was a flat-chested woman with her own ``House of Style'' and a slightly overweight woman on the cover of Vogue. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Jennifer Riddle is a rising junior at Lake Taylor High School who
plans a career in journalism.
by CNB