Dear Jamaica,

However, I think these people is taking it to the extreme, and it’s like a whole 360 degrees. Yeah they tell us all the health benefits of being at your ideal weight for your frame, which is good and all. However, as you know whenever you overdo anything it only ends in disaster. It’s hard enough being a girl or a woman with all the changes that we have to cope with our bodies. Now we have the added pressure of being stick thin. These mawga bodies are so prominent in Hollywood and are portrayed assiduously on television and print media, everyday you see another one mawga than the first. This ideology that to be”sexy” is to be sickly thin not healthy, can only lead to serious health problems with the next generation of impressionable young women and to some extent men. To save some of these young people extreme measures have to be taken, so much so that the French Parliment have to pass a bill that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to publicly incite extreme thinness.

We Jamaicans sometimes think that these things only happens a foreign –women becoming bulimic or anorexic; but unnu member back in the days when the “ku-kum-kum” song was busting the place? every mawga girl run downtown, “chicken pill” nun have hand to sell. Similarly the big-ups and raving of “browning” led some to bleach their skin even to this day. I can remember this lady where I used to live back inna the days, she was like a chameleon this week she brown like Saga but give her two-three weeks and she black like PJ, but what was really funny was that the “black” would came back with a vengeance, I swear that eventually she would become a shadow and when JPS have them usual “block out” we wouldn’t be able to find her.

Jamaica it all boils down to self esteem and how you see yourself, to me, you are as sexy or good-looking as you feel. Look at it, what they call “fat” like JLo is what we call healthy body–a nice proportioned woman, this is sexy to us. Jamaica I hope you naaw make what you see on TV defines who you are. Some fatty wey me see split and kincat inna “Dutty Fridays,” no ku-kum-kum can’t hold them (by no means promoting obesity).  I agree that some persons have high metabolism and nuh matter what they eat they remain mawga same way but for the average person, please don’t starve yourself to look like a scarecrow, nothing is sexy or beautiful in that.

Over to the flip side of the coin, weighing 500lbs is definately no good for you, when you have to a blow like 51 storm to go up one flight of stairs is like killing yourself slowly, obesity is a very dangerous health hazard. Just as how bleaching your face and looking like “claffie” isn’t cute either and can be a serious health risk too. I am by no means comparing the two but Jamaica, both need to be stopped. Ah bowy, All I am saying is, Jamaica find your balance;  just be comfortable in your skin, best of all; be healthy: exercise to be fit, eat right and live life how it suit you.

Love yourself.

Your Daughter