Body Image Essay
As humans we take a journey through life, there are many things that contribute to our journey including the trials and tribulations that make our journey what it is. As a part of growing up we all seem to go through this awkward faze of not really knowing who we are, we start to develop and many of us realize that our bodies are changing along with our minds and to some this can be hard. A lot of people do not realize that those insecurities that come with puberty and body image follow many of us women into adulthood. In our society today, there is too much pressure on women to have the so called “perfect” body that is brought on by sources such as the power of media, the diet industry and the prevention of negative body image. Many reliable sources and Doctors touch on this very subject. Media, something everyone is subjected to everyday is a huge part in the pressure to have the “perfect body” on women. From back to as far as anyone
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could remember, the extremely skinny, beautiful, tall women is the ideal image that every big media type seems to choose to be the face of their particular media frenzy.
Many people do not realize the real impact of seeing all these beautiful, skinny women everyday has on the impact of the way women seem themselves. Romeo Vitelli Ph.D. states “Adolescents diagnosed with serious eating disorders such as and bulimia often report that their symptoms can be linked to the bullying they often receive from their age peers as well as the unrealistic media images presented as an ideal for them to follow (Media exposure and perfect body).” Basically, Dr.Vitelli is saying that so many of women eating disorders these days are based off these unrealistic airbrushed images of celebrities and models alike. Women are taking great measures nowadays to conform to what media and the world so calls the “perfect body” form not eating, to working out too much, to extreme extensive diets and cleanses there is something always
new and fresh in the media as guidance to become the “skinner better you.” Many people who are figures of media disagree with these terms that media influences and pressures women to be perfect, But Dr.Vitelli disagrees when he writes, “females who are unable to conform to the ideal being put forward by movie and television find themselves taking extreme measures to be more like their role models. With thinness presented as the ideal body shape and a necessary prerequisite for health and happiness, anyone falling short of this ideal is vulnerable to depression, poor self-esteem, and general body dissatisfaction (Media Exposure and Perfect Body).” In other words, Dr.Vitelli believes that media is a fraction of the reason women have so much pressure to be perfect, and I would have to agree also. As our society continues to live on, it seems like every month or so a new fresh diet come out to make people skinnier, or healthier but in reality is the obsession of having a perfect body is in accordance with all these new diet crazes. Some women take their obsession with having the perfect body and their diets as far as eating way less than their normal calorie intake or simply not eating at all. Research shows that women are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, of losing their parents. Nicole Hawkins Ph.D.touches on the subject of dieting and the craze to have the ideal body. Dr. Hawkins states “Stice and colleagues looked at 1,000 high school girls over 4 years and found initial dietary restraint scores strongly predicted the onset of depression four years later, for each unit of dietary restraint, risk of onset of major depression increased 50% (The Media Myths: Understanding the pressure placed on women to be perfect).” In other words, Dr. Hawkins believes that diets are initially the worst way to loose weight. Dieting can lead to depression, most of the time diets fail and in the process. looking down at the scale after doing these drastic changes in your diet can be very unrewarding. As women, it is in our nature to want to feel beautiful. But the prevention of negative body image has become an epidemic with in the cultures of women all over the world. May we say it or not, everyone seems to care what other perception of them is in one way or another. Being perceived as fat or unattractive is not particularly self satisfying, especially if this view is from the opposite sex. A perfect example of not wanting to be perceived in an imperfect way is written in an article in the Huffington Post.The article address’ a video made by group of boys speaking about the impression of women, and how they believe a women should look and act. The video went viral all over cyberspace, famous authors and celebrities making counter videos criticizing the boys for there views, Camilla Vincent de Urquiza of the Huffington Post comments on the video “I'd like to believe that there are some decent guys out there who aren't so superficial that they consider something like a girl having arm hair or what color lipstick she wears a deal breaker for a relationship. So many people are making an effort to help women see past this image of "perfect" and realize that they're not supposed to be cookie-cutter images of each other and that being different and unique is a good thing that should be encouraged, not a reason for us to change or hide or think of ourselves any less (The Pressure for Perfection is Becoming too Much).” Vincent de Urquiza believes that there is too much pressure on women nowadays to be perfect just by self perception always, as women we don’t need men telling us how we should look. All and all, society tends to put too much pressure on women now days to have the ideal “perfect body, these pressures stem from the power of media, the dieting industry and, self perception. In reality all these factors play a huge part in the way women views themselves, no matter what we do all these things are not going to go away, but it is our job as women to stand up for ourselves, and redefine the idea of what the “perfect body” and beauty is, everyone is beautiful in their own way.
could remember, the extremely skinny, beautiful, tall women is the ideal image that every big media type seems to choose to be the face of their particular media frenzy.
Many people do not realize the real impact of seeing all these beautiful, skinny women everyday has on the impact of the way women seem themselves. Romeo Vitelli Ph.D. states “Adolescents diagnosed with serious eating disorders such as and bulimia often report that their symptoms can be linked to the bullying they often receive from their age peers as well as the unrealistic media images presented as an ideal for them to follow (Media exposure and perfect body).” Basically, Dr.Vitelli is saying that so many of women eating disorders these days are based off these unrealistic airbrushed images of celebrities and models alike. Women are taking great measures nowadays to conform to what media and the world so calls the “perfect body” form not eating, to working out too much, to extreme extensive diets and cleanses there is something always
new and fresh in the media as guidance to become the “skinner better you.” Many people who are figures of media disagree with these terms that media influences and pressures women to be perfect, But Dr.Vitelli disagrees when he writes, “females who are unable to conform to the ideal being put forward by movie and television find themselves taking extreme measures to be more like their role models. With thinness presented as the ideal body shape and a necessary prerequisite for health and happiness, anyone falling short of this ideal is vulnerable to depression, poor self-esteem, and general body dissatisfaction (Media Exposure and Perfect Body).” In other words, Dr.Vitelli believes that media is a fraction of the reason women have so much pressure to be perfect, and I would have to agree also. As our society continues to live on, it seems like every month or so a new fresh diet come out to make people skinnier, or healthier but in reality is the obsession of having a perfect body is in accordance with all these new diet crazes. Some women take their obsession with having the perfect body and their diets as far as eating way less than their normal calorie intake or simply not eating at all. Research shows that women are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, of losing their parents. Nicole Hawkins Ph.D.touches on the subject of dieting and the craze to have the ideal body. Dr. Hawkins states “Stice and colleagues looked at 1,000 high school girls over 4 years and found initial dietary restraint scores strongly predicted the onset of depression four years later, for each unit of dietary restraint, risk of onset of major depression increased 50% (The Media Myths: Understanding the pressure placed on women to be perfect).” In other words, Dr. Hawkins believes that diets are initially the worst way to loose weight. Dieting can lead to depression, most of the time diets fail and in the process. looking down at the scale after doing these drastic changes in your diet can be very unrewarding. As women, it is in our nature to want to feel beautiful. But the prevention of negative body image has become an epidemic with in the cultures of women all over the world. May we say it or not, everyone seems to care what other perception of them is in one way or another. Being perceived as fat or unattractive is not particularly self satisfying, especially if this view is from the opposite sex. A perfect example of not wanting to be perceived in an imperfect way is written in an article in the Huffington Post.The article address’ a video made by group of boys speaking about the impression of women, and how they believe a women should look and act. The video went viral all over cyberspace, famous authors and celebrities making counter videos criticizing the boys for there views, Camilla Vincent de Urquiza of the Huffington Post comments on the video “I'd like to believe that there are some decent guys out there who aren't so superficial that they consider something like a girl having arm hair or what color lipstick she wears a deal breaker for a relationship. So many people are making an effort to help women see past this image of "perfect" and realize that they're not supposed to be cookie-cutter images of each other and that being different and unique is a good thing that should be encouraged, not a reason for us to change or hide or think of ourselves any less (The Pressure for Perfection is Becoming too Much).” Vincent de Urquiza believes that there is too much pressure on women nowadays to be perfect just by self perception always, as women we don’t need men telling us how we should look. All and all, society tends to put too much pressure on women now days to have the ideal “perfect body, these pressures stem from the power of media, the dieting industry and, self perception. In reality all these factors play a huge part in the way women views themselves, no matter what we do all these things are not going to go away, but it is our job as women to stand up for ourselves, and redefine the idea of what the “perfect body” and beauty is, everyone is beautiful in their own way.