Body Image in YA Literature

Body image is a massive issue in contemporary culture, and is a phenomenon which affects a lot of teenage girls. Pressures of society and the media have made girls feel like they need to be a certain weight and have certain features (thigh gaps/exposed hipbones) in order for them to be pretty. This often leads to a problematic relationship with food, with teenage girls being among the highest percentage of women who suffer from eating disorders and body dysmorphia.

 I began to wonder if Young Adult (YA) literature portrays a relationship with food and, if so, to what extent is this relationship healthy. In The Hunger Games, Katniss definitely has a healthy relationship with food. She literally has to hunt down each meal, and knows that food is not a luxury, it's a necessity. She needs to eat as much as she can get her hands on in order to remain as physically strong as she can during the Games, and even at home in 12. Katniss cares not about her body image, instead she understands that her body is the vehicle that will take her through the Games and feed her family at home.

Jennifer Lawrence was cast for the role of Katniss in the film version of The Hunger Games. Lawrence has made no secret of the fact that she had to fight for Katniss to have a more realistic figure in the movie, as she was being pressured to lose weight for the role. While we know that Katniss would naturally be very thin due to the fact she has been underfed her whole life, Lawrence saw that they had the opportunity to present a heroine who wasn’t stick thin, and knew the affect this would have on young girls. Hollywood is full of unrealistic images of women’s bodies that young girls try desperately to imitate. Lawrence wanted to set a more positive example to young women, and show that they did not have to conform to this ‘ideal’ stick thin figure. Lawrence set out to promote a healthier body image for her contemporary female audience.

YA literature has a responsibility towards its readers, and should not be promoting or romanticising unhealthy relationships with food. Jennifer Lawrence has helped to reverse the idea that a size 0 is the ideal women’s figure, and has shown just how damaging the media’s portrayal of this ideal is. She has highlighted just how problematic fat shaming is, after the media repeatedly refered to her size 10 figure as 'fat'. She is promoting strength. She wanted to portray Katniss as a strong woman and it is having an incredibly positive affect among young women who really look up to her, and to Katniss.