Society imposes certain expectations on women's bodies that are impossible to fulfill. Body image is how a person sees her/himself and how they feel about what they see. The healthy thing to do is have a healthy body image. Seeing one's self as beautiful, attractive, and handsome. However, the media andthe fashion business have turned this simple task into an impossibility. In our society today, the norm for our bodies is set for us by the media fashion and celebrities. If it was just a trend that people followed, it would be ok. Nonetheless, these industries set out to tell the normal people of our country that they are fat, ugly, not good enough, and need to look like the models. They set unattainable goals that are unrealistic and are largely edited. Our main problem today is that many women old and young, and men as well, are having a hard time accepting their own bodies because they do not come up to the standards that are set by the industries(media, advertisements etc). Because of this we have many young people with self destructive habits such as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and low self esteem.
Video Courtesey of Tim Piper director Ogilvy, follow up to Dove Evolution
Some History on the Issue
Women, in one way or another, have been struggling with body image from the beginning of time. Everyone compared themselves to another human being. Back then it would have been queens, royalty, the rich who would set the standard or the norm for that age. However it was in the 20th century in America and Europe people started to value skinniness over healthy rounded figures in women. The 1900s were all about the fashions, people started to closely follow the current fashion trends. 1920s brought boyish looks and flat chest. The thirties came back with full breasts. It's been a fashion roller coaster ever since, and it's taking a toll on today's women. Now days women are overwhelmed at keeping up with the status quo of what their body is supposed to look like, and they are hurting themselves in the process.
What has also hurt women in the process in feeling better about themselves is using certain tools to determine their "perfect" weight in this imperfect world. For years the American Medical Association has used the BMI (body mass index) to determine whether or not a person is overweight for their height. I would take heart in knowing that someone in the medical community has done research, had focus groups, did blind studies to access this information, so that we, as humans, could be at our optimal health and well-being. But this chart, the BMI, is so grossly out of date that it is quite frightening.
The person responsible for this chart is Adolphe Quetelet: Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. Quetelet invented this index between 1830 and 1850. His scientific research encompassed many scientific disiplines, but his influence over public health agendas was the establishment of a simple measure for classifying people's weight relative to an ideal weight for their height. In reality, this concept does not apply in today's standards. In the Victorian Era, women were mostly of European/Anglo-Saxon descent. Their body frames were smaller, and women of mixed heritage did not come into play.
The BMI was formulated, by a mathematician, not a medical physician, to provide a simple, easy-to-apply mathematical formula to give a broad, society-level measure of weight issues. It has absolutely no scientific or medical basis. It is based purely on a crude statistical analysis. It measures a general society trend, it does not predict. Since the majority of people today (and in Quetelet's time) lead fairly sedentary lives, and are not particularly active, the formula tacitly assumes low muscle mass and high relative fat content. It applies moderately well when applied to such people because it was formulated by focusing on them!
People helping to change the causes of unhealthy body image in women
One person who has helped bring this issue into the light, was Bernard Rudofsky through fashion in through the 40s - 60s.He showed America that the fashion industry was selling fashions that were unrealistic in representing the human body. Modern footwear was designed in a unrealistic way and came up with his own footwear design that comfortably fit the human foot.
It was the Bernardo Sandal, which we now accept as the normmodel for sandals.
In this way, Rudofsky was illustrating that the modern fashions and styles that the majority follows is unreal in representing the actual human body. This leads to people doing everything to fit the clothes, rather than making the clothes fit the people. Then, because people are not satisfied with how they look, they end up with a negative body image.
What more can we do to help to change Body Image?
We should go to Congress and ask for a law to be put in place that the media can no longer hire models who are 10% below the standard weight for women. If an average weight for a woman who is 5'8 is 140 lbs. and the average model is a minimum of 5'8" and weighs between 108-125 lbs., what's the problem here? Do the math! 10% of 140 lbs would be 126 lbs - that's 1 lb. more than the highest number on the scale.
We need to continue to talk with our kids so that they are aware that these women in the magazines and on the television and big screens aren't what they make themselves appear like. They are often times, airbrushed and they are underweight and sick and insecure. Insecure in the way that they are paranoid that they won't be hired if they eat a meal. They have to go on crash diets if they gain a pound; that's not a way to live - living in paranoia isnot a healthy way of living.
We could implement this Healthy Living in our schools. Currently, there is a "health" class, but it isn't geared toward positive body image. It implements a wide array of subjects within healthy living; which includes: sex, food, friends, self image, etc.
For information on research about Positive Body Image visit:
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