How Bridget Jones’s New Year's resolutions still reflect dangerous female self-correcting techniques

With the approach of the new year, Bridget Jones’s resolutions are still a dangerously accurate portrayal of women vowing to lose weight, go to the gym and find a partner

When Bridget Jones made her New Year’s Resolutions list, she wrote:

I WILL

• Reduce circumference of thighs by 3 inches using anti-cellulite diet

• Improve career and find new job potential

• Be more confident

• Go to gym three times a week not merely to buy sandwich

• Form functional relationship with responsible adult

When I first read Bridget Jones’s Diary, I found Bridget embarrassingly relatable. She is, after all, an aspiring journalist (tick) living in London (tick), who has grown up reading glossy mags (tick), which had the potential to push seriously harmful images of womanhood.

While I try to readjust my new year's resolutions to something actually achievable (scratch 'go to the Met Gala' – that can be next year's), Bridget's exhaustive list always reminds me of the constant female need to better ourselves – and the feeling of constant failure when these ambitious goals aren't reached.

In a 2019 survey, YouGov reported that 48% of New Year’s resolutions included losing weight. But, as many of us will know, setting unrealistic health and fitness goals is an unsustainable way of getting there.

Bridget is a classic example.

Constantly making “Food consumed today” lists and counting calories, Bridget’s restricted diet inevitably ends up with her binge eating and feeling guilty.

"Wise people will say Daniel should like me just as I am, but I am a child of Cosmopolitan culture, have been traumatised by supermodels and too many quizzes and know that neither my personality nor my body is up to it if left to its own devices," she says.

Statistics show that for those who make a New Year's resolution, over half are unsuccessful in keeping it after six months.

These pressures seemed to heighten during the pandemic, when using lockdown to get fitter while also maintaining motivation, holding down a job and taking care of our mental health, was particularly overwhelming.

Often dubbed as 'Cuffing Season', winter also presents Bridget with her next challenge: getting a boyfriend. And while her desire to find a partner is normal, the guilt at failing to do so is a danger shared by women far and wide.

Not only is this pressure felt by Bridget herself but by the family and friends around her. Always asking about her love life, Uncle Jeffery definitely reminds me of a few family members asking some overly personal questions this Christmastime…

But, during lockdown, dating app Bumble found that over half (55%) of users experienced loneliness and are using the app to find meaningful relationships. With the rise of the Omicron variant and speculation of further restrictions in the New Year, the need to enter 2022 with a partner may see these figures rise.

The sad thing is that, for Bridget, the inescapable need to lose weight and have a boyfriend is actually satisfied by the end of the novel. But just because Bridget achieves her “happy ending”, it doesn’t mean that her struggles are not still shared by women worldwide after the final page is turned.

If there's one thing I learned from Bridget Jones, it's that she was still successful despite thinking she wasn't: she was a working journalist living in London with a nice flat and friends she loved.

So, for those digging out Bridget Jones's Diary or making New Year's resolutions, don't forget to go easy on yourself and remember all the things you have achieved this year.