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

Chapter 6
The Commitment to Community Versus the Self

Earlier chapters have argued that Fijian women all ages have sociocentric values and, in general, do not attach the same importance to weight control as do American women. I suggested that younger women are somewhat interested in weight control, but this largely reflects their role in society. They are at an age where they are expected to be somewhat selfish and to cultivate their appearance so that they can get a husband and think of weight control in pragmatic terms. In this chapter I will look directly at people's beliefs about the role of the individual in society. I administered a series of hypothetical scenarios designed to elicit the extent to which individuals felt that individual rights and desires should be subordinated to group needs. My results suggested that younger women were in fact more committed to individual rights than were older women. However, I did not feel that this indicated a general shift in Fijian values. Closer inspection revealed that, in fact, young women who were happily married were just as committed to sociocentric values as their elders, while older women who were unmarried or were unhappy with their marriages were just as individualistic as younger women. Therefore, I concluded that women's attitudes were tied closely to their role in the community. People who had more individualistic values were either those who were at a stage of life where they were expected to be more selfish or those who were very unhappy with their life and expressed this by rebelling against the dominant values.

The individual perspective on weight and body image among Fijian women is strongly related to the role that they are playing within the village community. Women who find themselves tied very closely to the community are less concerned with their bodies and more focused on the cultivation of the group which surrounds them. Those women who are not satisfied with village life and are unconcerned with the upkeep of tradition are much more individualistic in their outlook. The result is that women who are more sociocentric are less concerned with weight and body image because by cultivating themselves they are taking away from the solidarity of the group. In turn those women who are more individualistic tend to focus more attention on the cultivation of their bodies rather than the community which surrounds them.

In order to uncover whether women were more focused on the community as a whole or focused on their personal well being, hypothetical scenarios were administered to each of the women. Thus, each woman was indirectly asked about her commitment to self versus commitment to the community and the same scenarios were administered to each of the women. Each of the women involved was chosen according to age and marital status. I wanted to see if young women responded differently from older women, thus possibly indicating that Fijian values were changing. But I also wanted to see how women's roles in the community affected their values; thus I was interested in whether young married women sounded more like their unmarried counterparts or more like their married mothers. The latter case would indicate that social role had more influence than generational changes on people's opinions. The oldest woman of the group was chosen because as wife to the village chief and mother of seven children it was assumed that she would feel strongly committed to the community. The next woman who was interviewed was a nineteen year old wife who was the mother of a young boy. The two women who were single and unmarried were chosen because both were unmarried past the age of twenty-five, a fairly uncommon occurrence in Fijian culture. The first woman was a twenty-eight year old who lived at home with her parents and siblings. The second woman was forty-one years old and was chosen because she was not a typical Fijian woman. Aside from the fact that she was unmarried at an older age, she had moved away from the village for many years and refused to dress in the traditional Fijian sulu skirt, opting instead for pants and shorts. She was chosen for her seemingly individualistic attitude. The last two women who were interviewed were chosen because one was a widow with three children and the other was a young unmarried woman who seemed to have traditional Fijian ideals. The widow was interviewed to review whether her opinions about community were different because, unlike other women with children, she had no husband to answer to and thus was assumed to have a more individualistic ideology. I wanted to decipher if an older woman would sound more like younger women if she were unmarried. The final woman exhibited a strong commitment to the traditional ideals of Fijian culture although she was unmarried and had no children. Thus, it was interesting to consider if she considered the community more important than her self, and if so, why this was the case.

The first scenario focused on the topic of marriage in Fijian society. In traditional Fijian society marriages were often arranged, and like many exchanges within the Fijian community, marriage was an exchange between two groups of people. When a man was interested in marrying a woman, he would inform his parents and then go to the house of the woman. The man would inform the woman's family of his intentions, presenting them with a tabua, a whale's tooth used in ceremonial exchanges. In the past, the father of the woman would often decide for her whether or not she would marry the young man. Today, arranged marriages are less common. Formerly, when a woman was asked by her father if she would marry the man and she turned down the proposal, she would be shaming her family and the community around her. Marriage solidifies the bond between groups and the communities. By refusing the proposal of a young man, a woman was rejecting the community and this was unacceptable. Again the presentation of the tabua and the acceptance for marriage by the father of the woman rather than the woman herself is less common today but sometimes still occurs. The scenario tested whether the respondant was more focused on the good of the community or on individual good by asking what should be done in a case where a young woman who was not planning to marry receives a tabua asking for her hand in marriage.

Scenario No. 1

A young woman has just finished a course at FIT (Fiji Institute of Technology) and is planning to go out and get a job. But the family of a young man she knows arrives at her father's house with a tabua (a whale's tooth that is traditionally presented as an exchange between two groups in Fijian culture) saying the young man wants to marry the girl. What should the girl do? What should her parents do? Was the boy's family right to bring the tabua?

Women who are older and married have taken on the roles of mother, wife and overall nurturer. They are focused on the well being of the community and the upkeep of tradition. The results from these women to the above scenario exhibited their commitment to the community. The group included an older married woman who was the wife of the village chief and the mother of seven children. Her response focuses on the importance of preserving the tradition as well as the role that the woman will accept as she gets older: "It is tradition in Fiji that the parents accept the tabua and the girl gets married. Maybe the girl should work and then marry because once she gets married she will have a husband and the children to look after." This woman recognizes that the tradition is for the woman to get married. The respondant suggests that perhaps the girl should work first but justifies this not in terms of satisfying her desires but in terms of the responsibilities she will face. The importance of working is that later on in life the woman will take on her role as wife and mother and will not have the opportunity to work outside the home. Thus, she must make money first perhaps to help her fulfill her later responsibilities. She suggests that tradition and the need to work are not in conflict but can be reconciled by just letting the girl work first.

A similar response was given from another twenty-year old woman who is married and has one child. Despite her young age she has taken on her new role as nurturer, and thus she too agrees that the right thing to do would be to marry the man. This woman's response suggests that it is not the case that younger women are more committed to modern individualistic ideas than are older women. Instead, women's views change according to the role they are currently playing in the community. "Her parents should accept the tabua and then tell the boy that she will get married to him but maybe at a later time. The girl should marry him but first find a job." This woman also recognizes that the woman be allowed to first get a job, but she focuses on what should be done which in this case involves the woman marrying the man. She is not given the individual choice; rather, her parents should accept the tabua for their daughter. Thus, according to this woman, it should not be left up to the girl whether or not she would like to marry the man.

Another scenario was administered which focused on a woman's desire to lose weight and the reaction of the community around her. Eating in Fiji is another example of the communal ideology that molds society. The sharing of food with others not only suggests the prosperity of the providers but also reaffirms the idea that the support of the community, in this case the nutritional support, is the means for surviving within the culture. Social events are frequent in Fiji, and the exchange of food marks these events. One is expected to eat as a sign of respect for the community and host. The interest of the following scenario was whether or not a woman would be correct if her hosts were offering her food and she refused for her personal goal of losing weight. In other words the scenario tested whether the respondant felt that respecting tradition and the hosts feelings were more important than pursuing an individual goal.

Scenario No. 2

At a big fundraising event a young married woman is offered a big plate of barbecue by her hosts. She eats the bele (a type of leafy, green vegetable) but leaves the cassava and the meat because she is trying to lose weight. What do you think: is this the right thing to do? How do you think the hosts will react?

The oldest woman of the group stressed the nurturence that the people are providing the woman as positive and her refusal to eat it as negative. "She should eat what they give her because she is the guest and they are trying to show how they care about her and they want her to be well fed, and so if she leaves it they may wonder why." In refusing to eat the food the woman thus is breaking away from the sociocentric ideology that the people nourish one another and take care of each other. By wanting to take care of herself and reduce her weight she is thus adopting more of an individual role which is not acceptable to other women who are the providers. She is also showing that she cares more about herself than about the feelings of those around her, something which is entirely unacceptable in Fijian culture.

A similar response was given by a second woman, in her early twenties, who argued that the woman should eat the food so she will not disrupt the harmony in the group. "No, she should eat what they give her. The people gave her the food and they will ask her why she did not eat what they gave her and they will be upset." In this case the girl should eat so that she does not offend the people who offered her the food. The young woman who responded does not suggest that the people might understand why she was not eating the food, nor does she suggest that the woman explain why she is not eating the food. Rather, the best thing to do would be to eat the food so that the hosts remain content.

The similarity of the younger woman's response to the response of the older woman reflects the idea that women who are satisfied with their role in the community are more committed to communal values. The young woman is more connected to the responsibilities she has within the community and therefore responded less individualistically. Thus both women, displaying a strong commitment to sociocentric values, suggest that there is no way to diet without upsetting the hosts.

The third scenario focused on the issue of domestic violence and the commitment to family. The first few years of marriage in Fiji are often described as rocky, as the husband and wife are establishing their relationship and getting to know one another. Domestic violence is common as the husband establishes his position above that of his wife. The scenario which follows was drawn from a case of domestic violence between a husband and a wife in which professor Brison witnessed the parent of the young woman encouraging her to return to the husband for the family's sake. Again, this scenario tests whether the respondant feels, as do many Fijians, that women should put up with some abuse for the sake of the children or that the woman's rights not to be abused are primary.

Scenario No. 3

A young couple has been living together for four years and has two small children. The couple fights a lot and the husband frequently hits the wife. One day, the wife gets very angry and goes to her parents, saying that she want to leave her husband to go to Suva and find a job. But her parents tell her that she should go back to him. What should she do? Were the parents right?

According to the oldest women of the group the most responsible action for the young girl to take would be to return to her husband and children. "She has to go back because of the children. She cannot leave them behind and must think about who would look after them." Her role as nurturer takes precedence over the fact that her husband is physically abusing her, and according to this woman she cannot simply abandon her children because she is being hurt. She has accepted her role as mother of her children and provider for those around her, and she must continue to uphold her responsibility.

All the responses which the older and married women gave focused attention on the woman's responsibility to nurture others and reflected the role these woman have accepted in their personal lives. Again it was interesting here that age was not the only factor. In general it was the married women who felt that the young woman should return to her family, showing that women's current role in the community had much or more influence on their views than did any general social change based on age. If the woman were to refuse the food she would be focusing on her individual self rather than considering the group. In essence, by refusing the food she would be refusing the support and care which the people around her are providing. Likewise the woman cannot turn her back on her children and husband because she has accepted her role as wife and mother. If she does walk out on the family she is rejecting the organization of the family and the traditional roles which women are expected to play within the family.

The second group of woman who were questioned included younger and unmarried women. They responded with more individuated answers which were in most cases less focused on the group as a whole and considered personal choice more important than did the older and married women. When asked to consider the marriage of a young woman who has just graduated from FIT (Scenario No. 1), these woman were aware of the traditional marriage customs in Fijian society, but they concentrated more on the well being of the woman if she were to marry the man. One twenty-eight year old woman who is unmarried was very concerned about how the man would support the woman and believed the choice should be left up to her.

Is the man working? In Fijian tradition if the boy comes to your place you can't refuse it. If you refuse or run away you will disgrace your parents. The boy's family should think first before bringing the tabua. They might take the tabua and say you are going to be so and so's husband. They should go and ask her, and then she herself can decide. The boy should find a job so he can buy food instead of cutting sugar cane.

This woman is strongly in favor of the girl deciding whether or not she would like to marry the man. This is important coming from a twenty-eight year old woman who herself is unmarried because she is more individuated than the older and married woman. She herself has not yet married, and in Fijian society is rare to be a single woman at the age of twenty-eight. She does note that it would be a disgrace to the girl's family if she were to refuse the marriage proposal but believes that the woman should decide for herself whether or not the man is right for her. It is also interesting that she points out that is it incumbant on the family of the boy to have considered the girl's perspective first. Thus, she points out that with communal rules one should not have to always sacrifice one's interests since others should also be thinking of your interests too. In addition, the woman focuses her answer on the employment status of the man and has a negative attitude towards cane cutting, a common occupation for many Fijian men. From her response it seems that she is unconcerned about the nurturence of those around her and more concerned with how the man himself would provide for her.

Another response was also focused on the girl, and this again came from an unmarried woman. She replied, "[The woman] should think about how she just graduated from FIT, and after the husband gets a job she should think of marrying him." This woman also believes that the woman should decide for herself what she wants to do and that the choice is left up to the young woman. Both responses came from woman who are unmarried and younger. They have not yet taken on roles as nurturers and are fulfilling their role as individuals. They focus more on what is best for the individual person rather than the group as a whole. While both woman are aware of the traditions in Fiji, they are unconcerned with upholding them and simply accepting the marriage offer in accordance with the conventional practices of the culture.

When the younger woman were presented with the second scenario on refusing food in order to lose weight they again were more concerned with what the woman herself wanted to do. The first woman was not so much disturbed by refusing what the people offered her but by her waste of the food in general.

She is stupid. She should have a little bit of meat, a little bit of cassava and a little bit of bele so that she balances her diet. It is an unbalanced diet if she is just eating bele. The people will get mad because nobody will want to eat her leftovers. So you eat a little of this and if you know you cannot eat the whole amount you get a smaller serving. Even myself, I buy whatever serving I can eat because that is a waste of my money.

This woman is not concerned with what the people will think about wasting the food but concentrates more on the issue of wasting the food in general. The woman should know how much she herself can eat and only accept or buy that amount of food. Here she emphasizes individual responsibility rather than the need to accommodate others. The woman should eat the food not just to be considerate but because this is what a responsible person would do. The response of the woman does not consider the idea that the people are providing for the guest and her refusal of the food will be interpreted as a refusal of their care. Rather, her focus on the amount of food that one is able to eat rather than what one is given lends more importance to personal choice in relation to eating.

A second unmarried woman was also in favor of the woman eating what she chooses to eat rather than what she is given for the sake of pleasing her hosts.

Well, it depends if she is really honest with her diet. If she is just not eating in front of the other ladies and eating behind closed doors, that is not good. People should not say anything because she can eat what she wants.

Thus it is the decision of the woman to eat what she would like to eat, and if she wants to diet then she can do that. It is not considered by either of the woman that she would be disrupting the unity of the group if she were to focus on what is better for her rather than considering the effect of her action on others within the community. This reflects the individuality of the younger women in relation to their self versus the community.

The younger and unmarried women were finally presented with the scenario on domestic violence and the option of the woman to walk out and get help for herself (Scenario No. 3). They were strongly in favor of the woman gaining assistance in the situation. The first woman believed that the matter should be taken beyond her parents to the authorities.

She should first go to the police and the social welfare office because he has been beating her. So that the husband can pay maintenance to her and if her does not pay the police will be there and he will go to jail. Her parents are not right. They should tell her to take her case to the police and court and get her help and then to social welfare and get your money. It doesn't matter if you are still living together, you can still get maintenance if he is beating you. Her parents should advise her first to get legal advice. Because nowadays the Women's Rights Movement is very strong. So all those who are having these kinds of cases, they have rights. All those who are having these kinds of cases, they have to pay maintenance if they have children.

This young woman was the first to say anything about the legal rights of the woman who was being abused. She did not suggest outright that the woman abandon her children, but she did suggest numerous ways the woman could acquire help for herself. She did not speak of the need to be loyal to the husband and the children and was unconcerned with what the community surrounding the woman would think. It was a personal decision and the woman should get help for herself.

A second woman of the same age group and marital status also focused on the woman herself rather than the commitment she had to her husband. She responded, "She should go back and get the kids and get out of there. Because she cannot leave the children behind, and she should not have to go stay with the husband." The sentiments of this young woman are that the victim should take care of her own needs rather than fulfill the role she is expected to play. If she does not want to stay with her husband then she should not listen to her parents and she should leave to make a better life for herself.

In all of the scenarios the unmarried and younger women were more focused on the personal choices of the women involved. They were less concerned with the importance of the community and the traditions and ideals that encompass the group. Rather, these younger women focused more on the responsible choices that must be made by an individual, and less attention was given to the effect of a decision on the community.

While most of the women fit into specific categories, either being older and/or married and focusing more on community or younger and focused more on self, there were two women who diverged from the conventional responses of their age group. The first was a widow and the other was a young unmarried woman. From the responses of the other women it may have been expected to find that all young and unmarried woman were individuated in their answers, but in fact they were not. One young woman was strongly in favor of upholding the traditional practices in Fiji and favored the network of community over the nurturence of self. In regards to Scenario No. 1 on the marriage of the young woman she was certain that the girl would get married. "She should marry the boy because that is the way in Fiji. If a man comes to her house with the tabua she must get married. And if her husband will let her get a job then he can get a job, but if not then she cannot get a job." Thus, because it is tradition, the woman will get married according to this young woman's response. It is interesting to note that this young woman did not state that it was a good thing for the woman to get married. Her answers could have reflected a general sense that young women are trapped and have little control over their lives as much or more than the view that the individual should think first of the community. Indeed, other interactions with this young woman confirmed the view that she was dissatisfied with her life in many ways and felt overly controlled by her parents. Overall, it may not be a strong commitment to community which has influenced the response of this young woman but rather the feeling that young woman cannot control their lives.

Similarly the response of a widow with three young children was quite different from the responses of older and married women. She was in favor of the young woman deciding what was best for herself rather than deciding what was good for the community as a collective.

She should decide what is right for her whether she should go and get a job or get married. Some parents, they ask them but some they don't. Some of the parents, they just accept it and then she has to get married and maybe she would not like that. The parents should ask the girl what she wants to do.

As an older woman with three children of her own, this woman would be expected to consider what the best thing would be for group rather than supporting the choice in favor of the individual. However, she is no longer a wife and has moved away from that role, and while she may be a mother and a nurturer in that way, she has a more individual outlook than do other woman of the same age. In her position as a widow living with her mother's group she is marginal to the village where she lives. While her family accepts and supports her, she does not, in the cultural ideology, occupy any particularly useful or necessary role in the community. Thus again, her position in society influences her views; because she is not well integrated into the community she also feels less commitment to the communal values.

These two women were also asked to consider the refusal of food by a young woman who would like to lose weight (Scenario No. 2). Again their answers were opposite from women of the same age, but they reflected the focus on group versus self. The young and unmarried woman was very concerned with the reaction of the hosts to a woman who refused to eat the food she was offered.

She should have eaten the food. The people that gave her the food will think that she did not like the meal that they have offered her and they will be angry. If she wants to lose weight then she is going to have to stay home and do it herself.

The response from this young woman emphasizes that dieting is frowned upon in Fijian society. A woman would not be acting properly if she were to refuse food that is offered to her regardless of the circumstances and thus she should either eat the food or stay at home. Dieting is pointed out as an individual activity that is impossible for someone to carry out in a culture where great emphasis is placed on the solidarity of the group as a whole. The response reflects that there is no place for individuality within the traditional society. Again though, this answer could reflect the fact that this young woman feels that traditional Fijian culture makes oppressive demands on younger women rather than the fact that she feels committed to the culture. She does not speak, as the older women do, of not wanting to hurt other people's feelings; instead, she emphasizes how the young woman's actions are constrained by the need not to make people angry with her.

The second response which was distinct was that of an older widow who has three young children. Unlike other mothers who placed a considerable emphasis on the nurturing that the guests were trying to provide, this woman believed that the woman should eat what she chooses to eat if she is trying to lose weight.

Yes she is doing the right thing. If she wants to do it - lose weight - then she can do that. The hosts should not say anything, and if they ask why she is not eating she should tell them she is trying to lose weight and that should be it.

This reaction places a larger emphasis on the individual choice of the woman than did any of the other women who were older with children. Rather than focus on the idea that the people are expressing their care by offering the food, this woman believes there is nothing wrong with the refusal of food in regards to personal goals. The cultivation of the body is in her mind of no interference with the solidarity of the group.

Finally, the women were asked to consider the situation of a wife who was abused by her husband and would like to leave him but will also be leaving her children behind (Scenario No. 3). The young and unmarried woman was adamant that the wife should return to her children and husband. "She should go back! The kids are there and she should think of the kids. If the husband gets married again the kids will be alone and so she should go back to the husband." According to this response, the woman is wrong to think of herself before her children and she must return to the husband regardless of the circumstances so that she can care for her children. But again, the position of this young woman is framed in terms of negative results rather than positive desires: it is not that she will love being with her children but that in Fijian society children are abused if they do not have a mother. Once again, her response could reflect a deep-seated dissatisfaction with Fijian culture rather than an endorsement of communal values.

On the other extreme the widow, herself the mother of three children, believed that the woman should do what she would like to and that her parents should support her decision.

She should go back because of the kids. If she really doesn't like that, it is up to her whether to go back or to stay with her parents. They are right to tell her to go back no matter what happens because of the kids, but she should leave if she really does not like what the husband is doing.

Here the response implies that the woman has a role that she is expected to carry out, and thus her parents are correct in telling her to return to the husband and the children. However, the woman focuses on the wife herself and stresses that she must do what is right for her rather than what is expected of her.

Thus, while many of the older women tend to orient themselves around the structure of the community and younger woman tend to focus on themselves and the notion of personal choice for all women, there are some women who diverge from these attitudes. The widow who responded with a more individuated answers is not as satisfied with village life as are the other woman of similar age, so her responses reflect her focus on self over community. Meanwhile, the young woman who was very supportive and involved in the community around her replied with less individuated answers than did the other younger women of the same age. The responses of each group of women support the notion that Fijian women focus their attention on the community or their individual selves depending on their stage of life and the role they play within the stage.

The ideology of women in Fijian society appears to be framed by their positioning in society. Women who are young and unmarried are not necessarily individualistic in their ideals, just as older and married women are not necessarily communal in their ideals. Rather, the position of each woman within the structure of society influences her commitment to the traditional ideology or the less traditional, individualistic way of thinking. From the scenarios, women who were more intertwined within the network of relations - in many cases, but not all, older and married women - felt more committed to the traditional Fijian ideology of placing communal interests above those of the individual. Those women who were less embedded in the social structure, in most cases the younger and unmarried women, felt less of a commitment to the communal ideology and focused more on individualistic ideals. Those women who expressed ideas different from other women their age exhibited some dissatisfaction with the existing framework in Fiji and thus were less inclined to think according to other women of the same age group. Overall, women considered the commitment to tradition based on the extent to which they felt they were tied to the community; women who are less connected tend to be more individualistic while women who are more connected tend to be more communal.

The above conclusions support the notion that at certain stages of their lives women will be more focused on their individual selves, including their weight and body image. Women who are more concerned about the effect of their actions on the community will not want to disrupt the solidarity of the group; they will not concern themselves with issues such as weight because this does not promote community. However, at a younger age when women are less firmly established within the group, they will concern themselves with their weight because they have less of a commitment to the community. Thus they are less concerned with the effect of their actions on the group regardless of whether or not they go against the traditional Fijian ideology.

While the sociocentric self that Anne Becker describes in Body, Self, and Society: The View from Fiji does exist in Fiji, the role it plays depends on the role of the individual at a particular stage in their lives. The findings support the idea that not all women find themselves embedded into a network of relations where they are unconcerned with their appearance in relation to their weight. The subsequent chapter will examine the cultural ideology in American society, which Becker suggests is more individualistic. It is the individual way of thinking, she suggests, that encourages women of all ages to focus their attention on the personal commitment and success that are involved in dieting.

On to Chapter 7...