South African women become more weight conscious

By Gershwin Wanneburg

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Like many South African women,
Bongi Tsuene is worried about her weight.

The difference is that Tsuene, featured in a television
advertisement promoting a dieting formula, is black.

Experts say more black women like Tsuene are shunning the
traditional African reverence for the fuller figure as they
adapt to the pressures of post-apartheid South Africa, raising
fears they could become vulnerable to eating disorders.

Ads like Tsuene’s show there is a growing demand for such
products among black women, analysts say.

“The markets have seen a gap, so it must be there and they
will now go for it with all guns blazing,” says Marjanne
Senekal of the University of Stellenbosch’s Department of
Consumer Science.

Shown in a plush, well-furnished home and sporting a
meticulous coiffure, Tsuene fits the profile of emerging
middle-class black women who are becoming more weight
conscious.

While a decade of democracy has opened up a world of
careers and new-found prosperity for women like her, it has
come at a price.

“Empowerment brings with it a new set of problems for
women. For many young women, the words ‘You can be whatever you
want to be’ are read as ‘You have to be everything you can be
and you must be the best at it,”‘ psychologist Dr Christopher
Szabo told Fair Lady magazine in an article on the issue.

THE VALUE OF THINNESS

South African black women have powered their way into
boardrooms once dominated by white males. Thanks to the
government’s affirmative action drive, the country also has one
of the world’s highest number of women members of parliament —
mostly black.

Not to mention one of the continent’s most powerful woman
politicians in Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the
first woman in South African history to occupy this position.

But all these achievements have only added to the pressure
to be the best, said Szabo.

“At a time when women are experiencing such a high level of
empowerment, there’s a very low level of self-acceptance,” said
Szabo, a leading expert on eating disorders.

There are few studies on eating disorders among black
women, but one conducted among black female students at South
Africa’s University of the North found enough evidence to hint
at a future trend.

The survey of 180 students said most were happier with
their bodies than their white counterparts but there were signs
of weight issues starting to creep in, especially among urban
black women.

Eleven percent of the students had “significant concerns
about their body shape” or were identified as “possible cases
of (the eating disorder) bulimia nervosa.”

“These data indicate that there are signs of more realism
concerning weight status among black female students. However,
there are also signs of assimilation of Western cultural norms
concerning body shape, eating attitudes and weight management,”
says the 1999 study, published two years later in the South
African Journal of Psychology.

Similar trends have been noticed in the United States,
where improved living standards have also come with
psychological baggage, said Karen Charlton, a researcher at the
Medical Research Council.

“In the United States the increase in eating disorders
amongst Afro-Americans has been attributed to a rise in
affluence and social status,” said Charlton.

BRAINWASHING

Many non-Western societies have traditionally been immune
to the diet-obsession of the rich world, viewing bigger bodies
as a sign of prosperity.

But, as more of these women become exposed to Western
culture in an ever-globalizing world, researchers have seen a
shift in attitudes.

“Worldwide media exposure, which focuses on mainstream
cultural values, has been implicated as a powerful force in
shaping public perceptions regarding the value of thinness and
hence contributory to the rise in eating disorders in
non-Westernized populations,” said Charlton.

The desire to be thin may be new among black women, but
analysts say it is inevitable as more black South Africans
flock to cities and face the same marketing onslaught that
white women have succumbed to for decades.

The University of the North study found that 74.6 percent
of urban students were “restrained eaters,” meaning they
deliberately cut back on food, compared to 56.9 percent of
those from rural areas.

Black women have historically been plagued by obesity and
associated health problems like hypertension and heart disease,
but analysts say while healthy living should be encouraged,
they should not be made to live up to an “unrealistic” ideal.

“The very message that can be used to address one issue can
create a problem of eating disorders … Black models like
Naomi Campbell and movie stars like Halle Berry follow the
Western ideal. They are depicted as rich, successful, et cetera
– so a good model to follow in any young girl’s eyes,” Senekal
said.

“Black or white, we all hear the same messages and
eventually the cultural tolerance of having a larger body is
not strong enough any more to counteract the ‘brainwashing.”‘