'Ask a Laobeijing' is a regular series where we chat with a laoren about their thoughts on different issues. This month, we met Liu, 68, during lunchtime in Taikooli
How do you feel about social media trends that focus on body image?
I disapprove of the recent social media body-measuring competitions such as the ‘A4 challenge’ or the ‘belly button challenge.’ I don’t think a woman’s body should be seen as ‘good’ just because it is skinny.
A good body doesn’t only depend on weight. It depends on many factors such as one’s height and eyesight. If one’s body is too big this may also be inappropriate. But if women, in particular, are too skinny, they may be at risk of detrimental health effects, which would affect their ability to have a healthy pregnancy and child.
Real beauty isn’t about being thin or not. To me, beauty comes from the inside, and it’s this inside beauty that is most important. You need to have intelligence and honesty in your soul to be a decent person. This way you can send out positive energies. So, if you have a good heart, beauty will emanate.
As a mother, I don’t pressure my daughter about her body size. In fact, she talks about it herself, as if it’s a problem. So at some point she started exercising more – she went swimming and jogging – to increase her fitness and achieve her body-shape goals.
It’s celebrities who are driving people to attain a thin body. Realistically, people are unable to imitate celebrities because everyone is different. Celebrities may be beautiful but that just happens to be their body type. Not everyone can make their looks similar to their favorite celebrity. Everyone has his or her own personal beauty, which derives from his or her life experiences.
As for these social media competitions, it’s not a matter of whether social media is wholly good or bad. There are two sides to it. A helpful aspect is that it enables rapid dissemination of news, so everyone can find out good information quickly. But if the topic is harmful, social media as an information-sharing platform can be misleading and detrimental.
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