sge and toxic body standards:
tw: eating disorders, anorexia
i’ve sure everyone’s seen the handful of instagram posts going around of people addressing the widely undiscussed topic: SGE’s reoccurring toxic body standards.
but still, despite all the @‘s to soman, dms, story reposts and shares, he hasn’t said a WORD. so, i thought i’d talk about it, even though he’ll likely brush it off.
i’m not gonna sugarcoat it. the fat shaming in this series is REOCCURING, REPULSIVE, and used as comic relief. riddle me this, soman. what is so funny about fat shaming dot throughout the whole series because she’s plus sized? why is that her ENTIRE character? why does her size matter to much that you mention that she’s overweight every three sentences? why is it that the only time dot is viewed as “beautiful” it’s when she grows “curves” (these kids are 16 max in book 2, why are we emphasizing that they have curves?) and is skinny?
why, in book 2 when it says that “reena let herself go” that’s she’s viewed as not as pretty as she was in book 1, when she was skinny?
why does sophie say that thick thighs are uncommon in pretty princess? is that funny to you? are your nine year old fans who idolize these books laughing with you? why is it that you ramble on and on about all the prettiest princesses having tiny waists, and being short, while the main character who is described as ugly, is tall?
part of sophie’s character in this series is being stunningly beautiful. guess what else? she rarely eats anything but small portions. until book six, she’s barely shown eating any sort of cake or sweet offered to her.
have you ever considered how this could trigger people suffering from ED’s and put a negative image that they need to deny food to be seen as the “fairest of them all?”
and i won’t even start about how the toxic body images in this series applies to boys as well. why is tedros, as a 13-14 year old in book one is described as having perfect “rippling muscles,” perfect skin, and overall a “perfect”, buff and skinny body? not to mention he also avoids food because he doesn’t want to be fat? imagine the young boys reading this series, now thinking they have to achieve a “perfect” body by age 13.
“it’s not as damaging as you think!”
yes, it is incredibly damaging. these are kids books. i read this series for the first time at age eight. i read the line where sophie says, “thick thighs were as uncommon in princesses as a hooked nose.”
i had never been self conscious about my thighs before, but when i looked at myself, i noticed that they didn’t have that gap. they weren’t stick thin.
stick thin like sophie’s.
i felt like i couldn’t be a princess, like i had to make myself skinnier if i wanted to imagine myself in the world of SGE. i hates my thighs. my mother had to tell me that my thighs had nothing to do with being a princess.
i was in third grade. that never should’ve happened.
i come from a place of privilege. i’m not plus sized, so imagine how horrible plus sized people could feel reading this series? its disgusting.
in case anyone needs more evidence, i reached out to a lot of friends in the fandom, asking if maybe one or two people had stories similar to me. i wasn’t expecting that many had.
i received tons of stories, most even more severe then mine. here they are:
“In primary school, we had world book day. I went as sophie, and I felt really insecure about it because i thought i wasn’t skinny enough to be sophie.” - @anadil on insta
“When i was in 5th grade, i wrote a fanfiction where my friends and i went into SGE. I remember writing it and being like, “wait we’re not skinny!” :( So of course i had to mention we weren’t skinny in the fanfiction, because in sge that’s a plot point.” -@ rarefreckledeer on insta
“The juice cleanse comment made me relapse cause it made me remember how disgusting I thought eating was.” - @ nettleforest, who suffered from anorexia.
“the thick thighs comment definitely got to me aswell, i remember going on walks and being scared to walk up hills cause i thought i’d get fat” -@ wheresmerlin
“also, the “no breakfast” comment...looking back that definitely was part of the reason why i skipped breakfast every morning and lied about it to my parents.” - @ wheresmerlin
“honestly the thick thighs comment in the book was what made me aware of it in the first place” - @ the agathaquartet
“the whole evergirls/sophie's skincare and watching what you eat agenda combined with outside influences genuinely made me feel like i should be doing it too”
“the way it’s used as comic relief too??? um? ok soman i don’t think me seeing black spots during school at age 13 because i hadn’t eaten in 48 hours is that funny😹😹”
“like name one healthy happy character who’s plus sized in sge. and doesn’t get their weight brought up negatively ever. NAME ONE I CHALLENGE YOU”
“the way dot is shamed for being fat the WHOLE series and is only respected when she’s skinny”
“dot and nicola and book 2 Reena are the only plus sized characters but they were insecure/bodyshamed/thought they weren't pretty enough”
i only talked to about 15 people, and got THAT amount of responses. so many people have felt insecure, had EATING DISORDERS, or stopped eating because of what they read in YOUR series. but still, this series gets endless praise.
while, yes, i adore this series and love it dearly, this has to be talked about. i doubt soman will see this or speak on the topic, but i’ll use my platform to speak on things i’m passionate about.
by including these messages in the books, youre creating unrealistic body standards, encouraging people to refuse food because they don’t want to be overweight, and planting the seeds of self hatred in young minds of those who read this series.
will you speak up about it? or will you let this “blow over?”
do with that information what you will.
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
gummygunk
dailybridgerton
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
