What size is a Filipina?
I know it’s a crime to ask American women about their weight, or size of clothing for that matter. (Age is another no-no). Among Filipinas, though, talk about weight is something that we do in the open. Or at least I used to. We tactlessly comment on how we or others look – you’re so fat, you’re so thin, you’re so flat-chested, you’re so “bulgy”, and although the poor victim feels the brunt and pain of our comments, the response is to laugh at oneself or shrug it off.
Growing up, I used to be a mere 100 lbs and at 5′3″ I thought that was just the right size. At least it was in the Philippines. Everywhere around me were women my age having the same proportion as mine. Until I got to the USA, when the first thing my foster parents said to me was that I looked malnourished. Truth be told, I probably was. Subconsciously, and because life has been good and food is even better, I gained weight. And please, DO NOT ask me how much!
However, the problem of weight emerges when I go back to the Philippines. This time, I maybe the victim of tirade. I can now totally relate to this article by fellow Filipina Deborao Yao in the Seattle Times:
The minute I hear the wheels of the plane on the tarmac of my homeland, I brace myself for a barrage of comments about my weight. I wear dark clothes to appear slimmer, never mind that the Philippines is usually a sweltering 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity.
As I emerge from the airport in Metro Manila with my luggage, bearing gifts from the U.S.A. (ironically, all made in China), a throng of family members rushes toward me.
The greetings end with the following phrases: “You’ve gained weight! You’re so fat now! You really ate a lot in America!”
Welcome to the Land of the Super Skinny Asian Woman.
Read her story to emphatize with the rest of us who are struggling to be part of the Super Skinny Asian Women. 
[Source: The Seattle Times]
2 Comments
The way Americans look at a woman’s girth is something that boggles me sometimes too. In the course of my work, I have gotten to know some Americans and get to talk to some of them through IM on a daily basis. They cannot seem to understand why I think of myself as fat just because the clothes I wear are a size equivalent to what is considered “medium” to them. They think of a person weighing 120 pounds as “unhealthy.”
Anna – yeah “size” becomes relative with race and how we look at ourselves, but that’s the beautiful thing about being created as unique individuals. I think it’s more the way we carry ourselves that speaks volume. No pun intended.