THE CULTURAL IDEOLOGY OF BODY IMAGE
AMONG FIJIAN WOMEN
by Erinn Gregg

Chapter 5
The Views of Older and/or Married Women

Although older and married women considered similar attributes attractive in females as did young single women, this second group of women was less concerned with body image and weight as a result of their focus on caring for others in the community. At an older age, women are more likely to focus on their role as nurturer within the community and devote less time and energy to the cultivation of their own bodies. This chapter will discuss how the role of older women as actively caring for others in the community affects the way women care for their own bodies. I found that even young women (in their early to mid twenties) who were married were not particularly concerned with losing weight though they admitted to being more concerned before marriage. This suggested that concern with weight is not the wave of the future in Fiji as values change. Instead women are (and are somewhat expected to be) concerned with weight for pragmatic reasons when they are single.

I began by asking four women who were older and married the same questions as the young women. The women were carefully chosen for the stage of life they were at during the present time. The oldest woman of the group was the wife of the village chief. It was presumed that in addition to her commitment to her husband and children she would have a more distinct role within the community as a result of her husband's chiefly status. Next was the daughter of this chief, who is presently living with her husband and two children in her parents' home. Since the majority of women in Fiji live with their husband's family after marriage it was interesting to see if the responsibility to the community changed as a result of her living situation. Two women were chosen for their unusual weight, both wives and mothers in the same village. One of the women is rather overweight and, aware that she was self-conscious of her weight, I was interested in determining what effect this had, if any, on her attitudes towards body image. The other women was noticeably thin and I had heard many people mention that she works to maintain her weight.

Older women were quite focused on the characteristics of women that displayed concern for the respect of tradition within the community. A major factor in the level of women's attractiveness was her haircut, styled in the traditional Fijian buina. The oldest women of the group, the wife of a village chief, said that the haircut was the most important feature for a woman. "Buina - the hairstyle is the main thing for the Fijians. Cut it, comb it nice, you can dye it. Nowadays a lot of girls are wearing make-up and it is different. But I think the hair is most attractive." The respect for Fijian traditions is attractive because it is associated with a strong respect for the community as a whole.

Another woman, a widow with three young children, also noted that the hairstyle of women is quite important. "The way they cut their hairs, some the way they put on their make-up and some the way they dress up." Here there is some concern for other factors but the characteristics discussed are physical traits that are focused on the behavior of a woman more than the physical beauty that she exudes. This was exhibited in the widow's response to a woman's unattractiveness.

Some, the way they don't take care of themselves - they wake up in the morning and don't wash their face and comb their hairs. Some just don't look nice and they know nothing about combing their hair.

In discussing unattractiveness, the women are more focused on how well a woman cared for herself than on her physical traits. A woman who does not know how to care for herself is perhaps considered lazy and not willing to care for others.

One married woman who is quite overweight focused on a woman's weight in relation to both attractiveness and unattractiveness. She noted that when a woman is considering marriage her figure is an important component.

When I was in school - the time of a marriage - you have to look at your figure. Small waist and big breast. The weight - we limit out eating and we don't eat much. We have to take care of our bodies because if we don't we are oversize - overweight. We care more about attractiveness.

Prior to settling down with a husband and beginning to have children, women have more energy to concentrate on the cultivation of their own bodies. However, when they get married women are more likely to turn to their husbands and children before caring for themselves.

After marriage we don't care about our attractiveness as much as when we are in schools. We have our family and kids to bring up and we don't care about our weight and attractiveness anymore.

She admits that at a younger age it is important for females to look after their body weight because it is more attractive for a young woman who is fulfilling her role as a potential wife and mother. However, once women are married the idea of wanting to be thin is associated with wanting to perhaps find another husband or wanting men other than their husbands to notice them. This woman said, "Well you don't want to get so thin so all the men start chasing me do you?" This suggests that for a married woman, focusing on their weight could be construed negatively as still being inappropriately interested in seducing men.

The same woman suggested that it was unattractive for a woman to overeat. She spoke of her young daughter, a renowned "big eater" who is rather chubby,

The way we eat (is unattractive). If you eat too much - even when you are small. Because my husband and I don't care [and] we let her (their young daughter) eat whatever she wants. But when she grows up she will know "if I eat too much, my body won't look good. I will have a big bum."

Even though this woman does not control the intake of food for her rather chubby young daughter, she does realize that at an older age, when her daughter will be expected to maintain her attractiveness, control of her weight will become more important.

While the older and married women did not deem it necessary to control their weight at this stage in their lives, they did admit that at a younger age it was a larger issue. One young women who is living in the village with her parents (generally the women live with their in-laws) said that she was only able to control her eating patterns when she was a single woman.

Just when I was single but now I can't. I always try but I can't. When I was single I just cut down on food. I just had tea and bread and tea and bread. And sometimes I would just have tea. I would cut down on the meat and then fish - I had fish. Fish was the only thing I could eat and eggs. But red meat, no. [I] just cut [it] out. After I got married it was meat again.

It was perhaps easier for this woman to lose weight at an earlier age because this was the role she had been expected to play within the community. As a young woman she was expected to focus on her image. Now as a wife and mother she is counted upon as the nurturer of her family and thus it is not considered that she control her dieting in an attempt to lose weight.

Another woman, who is a twenty-three year old wife and mother, suggested that she too was concerned with her weight when she told me about her dieting habits prior to marriage.

Sometimes I just go without lunch, go without breakfast. I was sixteen or seventeen. I would skip breakfast or lunch but not dinner. I used to take walks and was on netball but I never lost weight because I think I just used to go to school and then come back and eat. Slimming pills - I remember I overdosed once. He [the doctor] just gave me two and so he said don't overdose and I just took two. And I felt dizzy so I wasn't working that day. I was twenty-one. I was unmarried at the time but that was three months before I got married.

This woman admits to dieting and attempting to control her weight during her high school years which has proven to be a common age when young women in Fiji are concerned with appearance. It is interesting that she mentions the usage of dieting pills and further notes that the episode occurred just months prior to her marriage. The underlying message could perhaps be that the young woman was aware that after her marriage she would have less time to focus on her weight and appearance and thus was attempting one last time to exert a sense of control over her weight. She later mentions, "Now my main exercise is housework but I would like to go back to netball." Thus, once she had adopted her role as wife and mother, she must concern herself more with the care of the household and the family regardless of her personal desires and the enjoyment she received from playing netball.

Life in the Fijian villages is focused not only on caring for immediate family but also caring for others in the existing community. The oldest women of the group, the wife of a village chief and the mother of seven children (six of whom presently reside in the household) recognized the role that a woman's stage of life played in her concern with weight.

Young women who are not married yet, they are concerned with about their weight. Women my age are not concerned about their weight. It doesn't really matter. Those who live in the village, they are not really concerned about their weight - only those who live in the town. Because village life is very different. If anybody goes fat it doesn't really matter - nobody worries about it. Us Fijians, we are big eaters and we like to eat. Weight does not really matter much because people who are tiny and weighing themselves and jogging - when you live in the village that is different to us.

Most of the women are not only unconcerned with their body weight but actually favor a heavier weight at an older age because it becomes a symbol of their nourishment. A heavier women reflects a social organization within the village which provides for others and a lack of concern for oneself as opposed to others. When this women suggests that it is "different" in the village, she is referring to the interconnectedness within the village community. People who move away from the village will be more concerned with their weight and body image because they are not in daily contact with the tightly knit group of people. Again, similar to the other married and older women, she notes that at a younger age women re concerned with their weight. Not only are these younger women focused on finding a husband but additionally they have more time to concern themselves with what married and older women would consider menial concerns in the larger picture.

The youngest member of the married women who has one son actually said that because of her new role as wife and mother she would like to gain weight.

You know, because it is like a Fijian lady. They are very big and so I feel like I want to be big like them so I want to get bigger. [In high school] I just want to be slim because I should be and watch what I eat. But now I want to get big because I am a mom and all and I just want to grow bigger so I eat a lot. I like to eat a lot of food.

Recently accepting a new role in life, this wife and mother suggests that she would like to gain weight because that is the "proper" way for a Fijian women to look. It is significant that in high school she watched her weight because she "should" be slim. This stresses the importance for young women to maintain their appearance and figure at a young age. However, as a mother and a wife who must care for the house and the family as well as other men, women and children within the village community, this new role requires a strong and healthy figure. A figure that expresses a desire to nourish others as a reflection of the nourishment of oneself is preferred.

Among the older and married women there were two women who expressed an opinion about weight and body image which differed from the others. Both of these women, in efforts to make themselves different from the other village women and express some uniqueness, were in fact concerned with their weight and body image. Both women were less concerned with nurturing others and expressed a level of disappointment with village life.

The first woman was a thirty-three year old widow who is now living in the village of her mother's family with all of her uncles. She expressed a concern with appearance, even at an older age, and mentioned that she has recently tried to lose weight.

I have dieted before. Like in the morning for breakfast I would have many pieces of bread and then maybe I would have two or one [when I dieted]. I might just have tea for lunch and then in the afternoon have a little food. Maybe fill my mouth with just five spoons of food and that's it.

This woman made a conscious effort to lose weight that did not go unnoticed by other women in the village. Most of the people commented on the weight loss and asked her how she was able to lose the weight.

Though this woman was able to lose weight through restricting her diet, she commented that it was impossible for someone to lose weight without secluding themselves from the rest of the village.

If I sit alone in the house then yes, I can [diet]. If I am here alone all the time but whenever I leave the house and go out[side], they say, "Come have some [food]" and I say, "Oh no thank you" and they will ask why I do not want to eat. If you just eat a little you know the Fijians they will say, "Oh come on, kana (eat)" and I say, "Oh no thank you" and they tell me have to some more. In the morning when the kids go to school I just lock the house and stick in the house. Sometimes I will have breakfast with the kids in the morning but if I miss them and they just go out to school I just start doing my work and I forget to even have tea.

The commentary of this woman reveals that for older women, who are around the village for the majority of the day, it is hard to refuse or skip meals when others offer food. The offering of food is a way for people to express their care for others, and the acceptance of the food is a sign of respect in the culture which is strongly based on the tradition of exchange. Perhaps another reason why so many young women might find dieting easier is because they are away from the village. However, for the older women, as this widow explained, the only acceptable way to diet is to fully seclude herself from the villagers.

It is also telling that this woman is a widow. Although she didn't say so, it is quite possible that since her husband had died she was, like younger women, concerned with attracting a new husband. The comments of this woman further reinforce the idea that a women's age is not the primary influence of her attitude towards weight and body image. Rather it is a woman's position in the society that influences her attitude towards weight and body image. As an older woman with children, the widow might be expected to have a greater concern for her children and other people in the community. However, she does not have a husband and thus might be considering another marriage and be looking for a new man.

Her comments suggest that she is dissatisfied with the life which she is expected to fulfill as an older woman living in the village. "I like being thin and I like when people in the village notice. I want to be different from the other women in the village. I don't just want to sit around and get fat." Thus, she maintains her weight as a display of her individuality among the other women in the village.

Overall, the argument has been that younger women are more concerned with their weight not because they lack sociocentric values but because they are expected to cultivate their bodies to get married. The next chapter will look directly at the question of whether people's values are changing and sociocentrism is on the way out. Through a series of hypothetical scenarios I found that young women were somewhat more individualistic, but again age was not as important as marital status, suggesting that women's values, like their weigh control, are more influenced by their stage in the life cycle than by age.

On to Chapter 6...