Analyse af Kasey Edwards' 'When your mother says she’s fat'

Living in a society there are always standards or opinions of what is beautiful and what is not. We’ve all grown up with an inbuilt perception of beauty because of our surroundings, family and friends. There are different social and cultural trends to what defines the ideal look or body type, therefore it differs from person to person what the ideal look is. Nevertheless we still strive to be ‘perfect’.

Eventhough beauty is as subjective as it can be, there are some trends that have stuck with us for as long as we can remember. These are the same our grandparents experienced, and because they are so engraved in our society, these are probably the same our kids and grandkids to some

degree will grow up with. By putting a box around beauty, and therefore excluding everything that isn’t ‘beautiful’ or ‘normal’, we will never realise just how diverse the concept truly is. Our society has changed a lot, and matters like these are no longer left undiscussed, but expecting it to change just like that is simply unrealistic.

“When your mother says she’s fat” by Kasey Edwards is a letter written to her mother. In here she tells her mother how her self image and self hatred has affected her view of beauty and importance growing up. And how she too has had to deal with insecurities the years following. She was seven when she found out that her mother was “fat, ugly and horrible” and after having a long time to reflect upon it, she finally understands what made her mom say those things about herself. She describes the effect it had on her, hearing her most influential role model putting herself down and the lessons she took away from it.