Feeling Good Means Healing Good

So it's February and the weight loss advertisements are still flooding into my household.  Like two days into the new year Bobby Flay was in a warm up suit talking healthy eating when October-December he and all his foodie buddies on the Food Network and the new Cooking channel were all about indulgence. But the ad that really caught my eye was the Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers ad.



I must admit I don't keep up with the latest as much as I should, but I figured I was not seeing her much because she was focused on trying to recover/heal after the tragic loss of her mother, brother, and nephew. What concerns me most is that the new ad manages to do a lot of work while still tricking the public into thinking that weight loss will solve all your problems.  So first off the use of the song "Feeling Good" is amazing because Jennifer Hudson is being read through many lenses.  She is an American Idol runner-up turned super famous celebrity and a black woman who has had to overcome extreme adversity.


But here are a few behind the scenes details to know.  First, CDC statistics indicate that nearly 1 in 4 Black women are "overweight" so we are being actively targeted as a major consumer market by Weight Watchers.   Second, there is no clear indication in the commercial of how much weight she lost or how she lost it, just images of her body in a skin-tight white dress and a powerful song.  Third, I don't buy into the Body Mass Index formula and the body measurement charts because they were no supposed to be used outside of the context of your family medical history and your personal medical history.  I believe, like Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, that we should be talking about being healthy at any size or weight.


In October 2009 the Federal Trade Commission published guides for celebrity endorsements making it difficult for weight loss advertisements to include all kinds of statements while putting in small light font on a light background "results not typical."  What Weight Watchers has done is effectively maneuver around these restrictions by using images alone.  Rewatch the commercial and you will see that it is just an encoded music video for Weight Watchers.  What we see is a smaller Jennifer Hudson singing "I'm Feeling Good" and Weight Watchers Points Plus.  What we don't see is her personal trainer, nutritionist, psychiatrist/psychologist/therapist, potentially a cosmetic surgeon, or her stylist(s).  Furthermore every time she sings this song, Weight Watchers gets to tag along.


If Jennifer Hudson is feeling good I am happy about that, more power to her.  But the way she is using her body or the way her body is being used to promote weight loss-for-all can be devastating for women broadly, and Black women in particular. So here is my "talk back."


#1 Being thin or losing weight does not necessarily equal "feeling good."  I believe this because when I am most stressed, confused, upset, what have you my tendency is to not eat as much as I should, lose weight, and get compliments for it.  That is ridiculous!


#2 Talk to me about Jennifer's support group, her girls who helped her through it all, her supportive partner, therapist, dance teacher, minister, or whoever has helped her to recover.  “Feeling good,” as Nina Simone sings, is for me about a deeper spiritual feeling that resonates from the inside out so when I think about Jennifer Hudson I’m interested in her recovering from the unbelievable loss of her immediate family?


#3 The true winner is Weight Watchers because they managed to get around FTC rules and while they may be "inspiring" people individually, when you think about the shear number of weight loss ads on television in the last two months alone it's more like collectively "shaming" people into saying "if J Hudson can do it after what she has been through then what is my excuse?"


When I say feeling good means healing good, I mean let's feel good because we are taking care of ourselves inside and out "at every size and every weight", loving ourselves "at every size and every weight," NOT because we are Watching our Weight (ourselves) through someone else's eyes trying to look like Jennifer Hudson in December 2010.  


Let us "feel good" responsibly. I officially name and claim January-March as "Love Ya Body Quarter" starting NOW!


~ Sheri Davis-Faulkner

Chicanas & The Lime Light

Comedian and actor George Lopez first caught my attention when I heard him in a stand up comedy show speaking in this ever so familiar Chicano dialect.  It was unbelievably exciting to hear him talk.  Finally, there was one person on television that genuinely expressed himself as we do.  Unfortunately, Lopez is the only person in television today whose stories I can truly relate to when considering my experience growing up in Los Angeles as a Chicana.  It is with a heavy heart that I can not say the same about a Chicana in television today. 

Growing up in the barrio as a first generation Mexican-American, I acculturated into a bicultural world in which a tertiary culture was introduced: the Chicano culture. Chicanos in American barrios speak Calo, the Chicano dialect.  Calo is the combination of archaic Spanish words, Hispanized English and Anglicized Spanish, originating from the fronteras (bordertowns) of Northern Mexico and the Southwest.  Although Calo is not recognized as an official dialect, it is commonly known as pachuco slang, Spanglish or Tex-Mex and is widely used in the Mexican barrios of Los Angeles.

In the stereotypical context, Calo is synonymous with cholo/chola gangsters in society (as is the image of Chicanos), due to the over exposure of these images in the media and in films. Although frowned upon in mainstream society, it is still the lingo that connects us. It is the barrio-wide linguistic code and the common identifying marker of  'La Raza.'

In a country where Mexican-Americans now make up more than two-thirds of all Latinos in the United States, the underrepresentation of Chicanas in television is a social injustice. Chicanas in American television today are missing in action.

In my search for my ethnically relevant Chicana counterpart,  I came across Constance.  In all honesty, I could only think of Constance Marie (who speaks Mexican Spanish and was born in East L.A. to Mexican immigrant parents) because she plays George Lopez' wife on the George Lopez Show.  Although Constance did play Selena's mother in the hit movie “Selena,” it was because of The George Lopez Show that I remembered her.  Supporting roles are good but lets face it...we are yearning for a strong, leading Chicana in a girth heavy role and in the spot light who will not only inspire us but empower us!    

Personally, I feel that the underrepresented group of Chicanas in television is largely due to cultural and societal factors. The media has a powerful influence on girls' and young women's socialization into society. For this reason, it is imperative that we observe and challenge those media representations that perpetuate the notion that Chicanas are not good enough except in the role of the gangster, jailed inmate, housekeeper and sex object.

Though I will always defend my people and my culture against fatuous statements, I refuse to buy into the cultural obstructions that cheat our women of individuation. I can start with gender as the primary focus but Chicana women experience multiple forms of oppression, domination and familial constraints which lends us the title of being a triple or posssibly quadruple minority in society. This experience as one grows often creates conflicting ideals and loyalties.  Chicanas who challenge these structural and ideological ideas within the dominant culture are often ridiculed and labeled as “locas,” and suffer extreme devaluation within their families and communities. Chicanas, who break out of these gender role rules are prone to shame and depression.

The stigma attached to such labels makes us feel cut off, cramped and pushed into a small corner in which Chicanas learn to hide or tone down their ambitions and gifts in order to avoid such labels. I refer to this as the half-light  syndrome.  Eventually, the faded dim lights become the safe haven for Mejicanas who do not dare to live out loud, who often prefer the back and side stage to avoid stepping into the lime light.  Although not everyone is meant for the spot light, it remains a travesty that a woman would delegate herself to such limits because they have been indoctrinated to believe they are unworthy of more.  

To exasperate such matters, these toxic introjects of cultural oppression and concepts of normalcy spread like a virus among women who often feel the need to restrict other women into these subjective roles. The veneration of La Marianista, and the adherence to El Machista, still encourages women to impose a stricture on other women and form ridicule bands against the women who refuse to conform to these long lists of gender role rules and limitations.

It is time for the strong, genuine Chicana to make it into the lime light with her interpretations of Xicanisma and 'our' experience. La Chicana who is not afraid to speak her lingo and attest to her fight to be seen and heard.  La Chicana who will show her true face in the midst of oppression and never stop for cultural convention.

~ Brenda Perez