Unrealistic Beauty Standards
think they have to look that way to be beautiful. Society has the concept of beauty all wrong. Rosen, Christine, a senior editor at the New Atlantis magazine: “Beauty is what we are granted, through no effort of our own, at birth. “. Therefore beauty shouldn’t be about looks but that’s what society has made it up to be about. Today “What’s natural is declared a flaw when it's airbrushed out of photos, where a woman's waistline is tweaked before her picture is approved for print” (Spenceley). Today’s standards have made it to be where fake is the new norm and real is rare and unacceptable.
These unrealistic beauty standards are causing women to have severe emotional, mental, and physical problems. It’s causing emotional distress which can …show more content…
lead women of all ages to have low self-esteem. “according to at least one study, the number of women who view their bodies in a less than loving way has more than doubled in the past twenty years—nearly half of all women (compared with a third of men) say they are dissatisfied with their bodies” (Lehrman). Therefore more women are recurring to plastic surgery to look how they’re expected to. “In 2010, Americans spent $10.7 billion on cosmetic procedures, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and $33.3 billion on beauty products, according to SmartMoney” (Spenceley). Over the years cosmetic surgery has become more popular and more women and even younger girls are going under the knife to meet the beauty standards. Not only are women opting for surgery but women are also suffering from eating disorders. The more time we spend on social media looking at these models with “perfect bodies” the more obsessed we become over trying to look like them. Which can lead women to develop an eating disorder. The unfortunate part is that younger girls are the ones more vulnerable and at higher risk to the effects of unrealistic beauty standards.
As Wulff says:
“Because many cases go unreported, the statistics vary, but 5 million or more girls and women in America are estimated to suffer from anorexia and other eating disorders. According to the federal Office on Women's Health, eating disorders are increasing, especially among young white females, including preadolescents. While anorexia is relatively rare—affecting up to 3.7 percent of the female population at some point in their lifetime—it is the most deadly of all mental diseases. About 5 to 10 percent of anorexics die from it or its complications”
It’s unfortunate to see how many women and young girls suffer from this eating disorder and how they’re losing their lives to it.
To try to convince a person with an eating disorder that they look fine is nearly impossible. They become obsessed with reaching a body type that is unhealthy. Their reality becomes unclear and what they see in the mirror when they look at themselves is completely different from what everyone else around them sees. It should be an eye opening reality to see how this disorder kills people, society must stop emphasizing the perfect body as being stick thin. All these body and self-image issues are not only affecting women but as well as young age preadolescents. Today young girls at age 12 and 13 are struggling with these issues as well. Younger age groups are also feeling the pressure from society to look a certain way. Graydon Shari, author in your face is a writer and media consultant: “ Recent research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that close to one in three preadolescent girls is trying to lose weight and one in 10 shows symptoms of an eating disorder.” These younger girls look up to celebrities as their role models.
Vitelli Romeo, a psychologist in private practice in Toronto,
Canada:
“Media research has shown that adolescents often depend on television characters to "find their way" in the world and to set a standard for them to follow. The stronger the perceived relationship with the favorite character, the greater the motivation to be as much like them as possible, including in terms of body shape”
These unrealistic beauty standards are causing women to have severe emotional, mental, and physical problems. It’s causing emotional distress which can …show more content…
lead women of all ages to have low self-esteem. “according to at least one study, the number of women who view their bodies in a less than loving way has more than doubled in the past twenty years—nearly half of all women (compared with a third of men) say they are dissatisfied with their bodies” (Lehrman). Therefore more women are recurring to plastic surgery to look how they’re expected to. “In 2010, Americans spent $10.7 billion on cosmetic procedures, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and $33.3 billion on beauty products, according to SmartMoney” (Spenceley). Over the years cosmetic surgery has become more popular and more women and even younger girls are going under the knife to meet the beauty standards. Not only are women opting for surgery but women are also suffering from eating disorders. The more time we spend on social media looking at these models with “perfect bodies” the more obsessed we become over trying to look like them. Which can lead women to develop an eating disorder. The unfortunate part is that younger girls are the ones more vulnerable and at higher risk to the effects of unrealistic beauty standards.
As Wulff says:
“Because many cases go unreported, the statistics vary, but 5 million or more girls and women in America are estimated to suffer from anorexia and other eating disorders. According to the federal Office on Women's Health, eating disorders are increasing, especially among young white females, including preadolescents. While anorexia is relatively rare—affecting up to 3.7 percent of the female population at some point in their lifetime—it is the most deadly of all mental diseases. About 5 to 10 percent of anorexics die from it or its complications”
It’s unfortunate to see how many women and young girls suffer from this eating disorder and how they’re losing their lives to it.
To try to convince a person with an eating disorder that they look fine is nearly impossible. They become obsessed with reaching a body type that is unhealthy. Their reality becomes unclear and what they see in the mirror when they look at themselves is completely different from what everyone else around them sees. It should be an eye opening reality to see how this disorder kills people, society must stop emphasizing the perfect body as being stick thin. All these body and self-image issues are not only affecting women but as well as young age preadolescents. Today young girls at age 12 and 13 are struggling with these issues as well. Younger age groups are also feeling the pressure from society to look a certain way. Graydon Shari, author in your face is a writer and media consultant: “ Recent research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that close to one in three preadolescent girls is trying to lose weight and one in 10 shows symptoms of an eating disorder.” These younger girls look up to celebrities as their role models.
Vitelli Romeo, a psychologist in private practice in Toronto,
Canada:
“Media research has shown that adolescents often depend on television characters to "find their way" in the world and to set a standard for them to follow. The stronger the perceived relationship with the favorite character, the greater the motivation to be as much like them as possible, including in terms of body shape”