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Anti-slimming campaign starts

The Young Reporter (2004, January), 36(04), pp. 8.
Author: Lily Su Dali. Editor: Alexis Chui Kwok-ching.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0015321

By Lily Su Dali

02050048@hkbu.edu.hk

GUTSY Women, a self-help group, has been fighting against the prevalent “the slimmer-the- better” culture we are now in.

Gutsy Women have been organising activities such as workshops, web TV shows and street demonstration on this topic for years.

“Maybe it's only the middle-aged fat women who would hold campaigns on anti- slimming,” said a university student, Brian Kong, when he was asked about his opinion of this group. But as a matter of fact, all members of Gutsy Women are in their 30s, and none of them are fat.

Gutsy Women was founded by some female graduates who studied social work in various universities in 1997. Currently six girls are the constant members of Gutsy Women.

“Anti-slimming” was one of their main themes in 2001. They held a protest outside Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre during the Health & Beauty Exhibition 2001.

Lam Ying-hing, the only full time staff of Gutsy Women, says that the security guards kept trying to drive them away. “But many reporters were there to film us. So the security couldn't get near and we completed our task.”

In 2002, they have organised road shows to draw pubic attention to their “anti-slimming” mission. In October and December 2002, they organised road shows in Mong Kok, calling on the female artistes and models to stop performing in advertisements for slimming products.

This year, they have held protests outside Modern Beauty Salon, which provides slimming services and products in June.

Even though the local press covered their major events, in most time of the year, they are unknown.

Dr Odalia Wong Ming-hung of Hong Kong Baptist University, specialising in gender studies, said she had not heard of any women groups like Gutsy Women in Hong Kong.

Getting slim is a fad. Dr Wong says, “You can see from the media. Messages about losing weight are like bombs.”

Gutsy Women admits that the commercial power such as medical companies and beauty centres are very powerful in maintaining the prevalence of the “the-slimmer- the better” culture.

“Slimness equals to beauty, slimness equals to happiness and slimness equals to perfect woman.” Dr Wong says these values are unnatural and it was the power of the slimming business that created such myths for people.

As a small organisation of minority opinion, Gutsy Women do not have abundant funding. The payment of the only full-time staff is contributed by the other five members from their monthly salaries.

Their goal is realistic. “We never expect slimming centers to shut down in two years,” says Ms Lam. “But at least, we hope to arouse people to think wisely about this.”

Vicky Lo, 26, has been very unhappy with herself becuase of her overweight body figure. “When I go shopping, the salesmen always try to persuade me that I am too fat and should purchase their slimming products,” She says. “My friends also laughed at my chubbiness.”

Being overweight has made Vicky's emotional life quite difficult. “Eight out of ten boys who I have been friends with, said to me that if I were thinner, they would like to be my boyfriend,” she says.

To combat obesity, Vicky had visited a “famous gynecologist” in 1997 and took the medicine prescribed by the doctor. The medicine, which did help her lose 30 pounds within two weeks, has now been recalled by the Department of Health.

Not long after the delight of losing 30 pounds, she realised the cost of “other people's appreciation” . Her boby was getting weaker. She feels fatigue easily and the situation continues until now.

“We deeply understand the kind of social pressure chubby women have to bear,” said Ms Lam, “Therefore we don't lay the blame on any particular woman or man.”

What Gutsy Woman wants to do is to urge people think critically: think twice about the standard to judge a woman, instead of falling victim to the brainwashing of the slimming business.

Vicky says she has stopped trying hard to lose weight. After getting to know Gutsy Women through her colleagues, she takes part in some of their activities, such as delivering leaflets during street shows. “I have a sense of security when I am with them.

“Now I come to realise that health is the most important thing and I should learn to be good to myself.”

Dr Wong agrees with such an attitude. “Many women would follow others blindly, just in order to please those around them. But the healthy attitude should be: make yourself happy first,” she says.

Vicky has decided that she would not be upset when people think fat girls are not worth pursuing. That's exactly what Gutsy Women likes to see: a girl being free from the chains of commercial culture and become a “gutsy woman” .

Ms Lam is happy with the group's progress. She says, “We feel that after one or two more rounds of promotions, we can complete our task and stop doing it.”

According to Ms Lam, many students would like to volunteer to help their research over the problem of losing weight. Columnists have also started to raise questions about the “slimming” culture.

However, Ms Lam is worried whether Gutsy Women's effort is long-term. “We don't know if there will be activists standing out and speaking up after them,” she says. “Or when we can see a significant change to this culture of slimming.”

Edited by Alexis Chui Kwok-ching

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