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Narrative story about yourself
Narrative story about yourself
Sample of narrative story about self
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How people perceive their weight can have both positive and negative effects. Unfortunately it is more common to have negative effects. Maria Miller (2014) explains in her article, “Rock More Confidence: Sexy is a state of mind. Allow us to explain.,” that having a low self-image is exceedingly damaging to oneself. It not only leads to weight gain but can also cause health problems. Others perceptions can also have a negative effect on an individual’s well being.
Perception can have a profound impact on a person’s overall state of being. Miller (2014) explains that degrading oneself “can actually alter your physical appearance” (p. 62). Perception often negatively affects people who are of average or normal weight. This is as a result of their perceived weight being heavier than their real weight. Miller (2014) continues by stating that a recent study showed, “normal-weight people who viewed themselves as fat were more likely to end up overweight” (p. 62). A theory that Miller (2014) suggests is that many women believe that it is either beneficial or non-damaging to undervalue oneself. In reality, Miller (2014) argues, having a poor body-image can impede “friendships, job prospects, and overall well-being” (p. 62). Many statements made in Miller’s article can be confirmed by various sources.
A journal article written by Markus H. Schafer and Kenneth F. Ferraro (2011), “The Stigma of Obesity: Does Perceived Weight Discrimination Affect Identity and Physical Health?,” corroborates many of Miller’s statements. The study lasted 10 years and examined “body weight, self-perceptions of weight status, perceived weight discrimination, and changes in health” (Schafer & Ferraro, 2011, p. 77). Schafer and Ferraro had three hypotheses. Th...
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...oose to interact only with persons who provide sufficient emotional support” (p. 142). Social and emotional needs are the basis of how people choose who surrounds them.
Works Cited
Carr, D., & Freidman, M. A. (June 2006). Body Weight and the Quality of
Interpersonal Relationships. Social Psychology Quarterly, 69(2), 127-149.
Frisco, M. L., Houle J. N., & Martin M. A. (June 2010). The Image in the
Mirror and the Number on the Scale: Weight, Weight Perceptions, and
Adolescent Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(2), 215-228.
Miller, M. (2014, January/February). Rock More Confidence: Sexy is a state of mind. Allow us to explain. Women’s Health, 62.
Schafer, M. H., & Ferraro K. F. (March 2011). The Stigma of Obesity: Does
Perceived Weight Discrimination Affect Identity and Physical Health?. Social
Psychology Quarterly, 74(1), 76-97.
When you are a more heavy set person or have a noticeable flaw it gets pointed out daily, especially if you are a woman. I agree with Weiners point about Weight Watchers. She says that Weight Watchers basically tells you to be your beautiful self, only if you are thin. This is a huge self-esteem killer. Being a heavy set girl myself, I have come to learn that I will always have the mentality of a fat kid. I’ve lost nearly 30 pounds over the past year. Normally this would boost someone’s self esteem but due to how society has treated fat people it will always be ingrained in my head. I will always worry that I am still that fat
The article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” is written by Mary Ray Worley, a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She writes of her firsthand experience as a “fat person” in society. Throughout the article, Worley explains what it is like to be obese and describes the way society treats those who have a weight problem. She attacks the idea of dieting, criticizes medical professionals for displaying an obscured view of health risks, and defends the idea of exercising to feel good rather than exercising to lose weight. Unfortunately, her article seems to reflect only own opinions and emotions rather than actual facts and statistics.
“Fat Acceptance”: An Argument Lacking Validity Cynara Geisslers’ essay “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer,” was published in Geez Magazine in 2010. The focus of the essay is to refute the pressure of society to be thin and promote self-acceptance regardless of size. While this essay touches on many agreeable points, it tends to blow many ideas out of context in an attempt to create a stronger argument. The article takes on a one-sided argument without any appropriate acknowledgement of the opposition, overlooks the risks of ignoring personal health, and has a strong feminist ideology associated towards the essay which tends to make the validity of her argument questionable.
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
Interest in the social aspects of obesity is nothing new. Jeffrey Sobal has written extensively about the social and psychological consequences of obesity , including the stigmatisation and discrimination of obese and even overweight individuals (Sobal 2004).
Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Brownell. "Ways of Coping with Obesity Stigma: Review and Conceptual Analysis." Eating Behaviors 4.1 (2003): 53-78. Web.
In a society similar to the one of the United States, individual’s body images are placed on a pedestal. Society is extremely powerful in the sense that it has the capability of creating or breaking a person’s own views of his or her self worth. The pressure can take over and make people conduct in unhealthy behavior till reaching the unrealistic views of “perfection.” In an article by Caroline Heldman, titled Out-of-Body Image, the author explains the significance of self-objectification and woman’s body image. Jennifer L. Derenne made a similar argument in her article titled, Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders. Multiple articles and books have been published on the issue in regards to getting people to have more positive views on themselves. Typically female have had a more difficult time when relating to body image and self worth. Society tends to put more pressure on women to live to achieve this high ideal. Body image will always be a concern as long as society puts the pressure on people; there are multiple pressures placed and theses pressures tend to leave an impact on people’s images of themselves.
Such as toxic myths and challenges some commonly held attitudes in contemporary society. There are four myths explaining body image Myth 1: How you look is more important than who you are, not quite because you tend to want to change to look a certain way but in the inside you'll alway be yourself. Myth 2: Anyone can be slender and attractive if they work at it, yeah like when you see a slim person and you gain knowledge of wanting to look like them because not satisfied with your body. For instance, Myth 3: Extreme dieting is an effective weight-loss strategy in trying fad diets or "quick-weight-loss"products or cross the limits to having the " perfect " body. For example my friend Crystal was very insecure of her body. Whom later began with small things such as loss of appetite when seeing people all fit, bad habits of eating leading to eating disorders and saying " i'm fat " just not eat and feeling overwhelmed just to get the perfect body. But later came the sickness she got which is called anemia to help her recover I was there for her in every way she needed me to help. By giving her eating plans and boosting her confidence gaining her power as how beautiful she was inside and out her self esteem to going in group exercise and making her love herself. Myth 4: Appearance is more important than health, no because it limits yourself on eating and leads to sickness of all kind with your
“People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder,” according to Salma Hayek. Society should have a positive outlook on body image, rather than face a disorder that can change one’s whole life. Negative body image can result from the media, with photoshop and editing, celebrity fad diets, and society’s look at the perfect image. Negative body image can lead to dangerous eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia. It can also take a risk to unhealthy habits, such as smoking, alcohol, and drugs. It is important to stress the effects of body image, because the world still struggles with this today. Society should not be affected by media, disorders, and pressure by making unhealthy choices and having a negative outlook on body image.
Women in our culture today have developed an obsession with body image and weight that has contributed to the development of eating disorders. The media portrays super-thin models and women take that as the ideal of what they “should” look like. This can have a tremendous impact on their self esteem, and on both the low and high end of the BMI scale, a measure of body fat calculated using your height and weight; whether it be a woman with anorexia, or a woman with obesity. Men also experience this pressure to be muscular and tall, yet it is small compared to what women face. Statistics of college men show that 25% binge eat, 24% diet and 3% purge (Cain, Epler, Steinley, and Sher, 2012). Studies show that people with higher BMI’s experience more body dissatisfaction and and negative body image than people with lower BMI’s (Duncan, al-Nakeeb, and Nevill, 2013). When people feel bad about their body they can experience low self esteem: when a person feels inadequate and lacks respect for the self (Mäkinen, Puukko-Viertomies, Lindberg, Siimes, & Aalberg, 2012). Someone with low self esteem is more at risk for experiencing body dissatisfaction, which can lead to abnormal eating habits (Mäkinen, Puukko-Viertomies, Lindberg, Siimes, & Aalberg, 2012). This can take two forms, dietary restraint and binge eating. High and low BMI has a negative impact on self esteem and body image of women due to the pressure to be perfect in today’s society. The presentation of the following studies of children and adults will seek to understand the differences in men and women and their relationship with BMI, self esteem, and body image through its effect on eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, and the thin-ideal portrayed by the media.
“...8 out of 10 women will be dissatisfied with their reflection, and more than half may see a distorted image” according to the Social Issues Research Center, and the statistics of self-shame and negative reflection are increasing worldwide. A person who shames their own body learned how to do so from someone else, and took it as that body shaming is acceptable if it is to oneself. This self-shaming pandemic has become far worse over the past few decades, where people are striving to look like their role models in unhealthy ways. Our society can push for and encourage a healthy way of life without body shaming people and putting them down in a negative way.
Physical beauty is constructed by the society that we live in. We are socialized from a very young age to aspire to become what our culture deems ideal. Living in the United States, as in many other Western cultures, we are expected to be well-educated, maintain middle-class or upper-class status, be employed as well as maintain a physical standard of beauty. Although beauty is relative to each culture, it is obvious that we as Americans, especially women, are expected to be maintain a youthful appearance, wear cosmetics and fashionable clothes, but most importantly: not to be overweight. Our society is socially constructed to expect certain physical features to be the norm, anything outside this is considered deviant. Obesity is defined as outside the norms of our culture's aesthetic norms (Gros). “People who do not match idealized or normative expectations of the body are subjected to stigmatization” (Heckert 32). Obesity is a physical deviance; it is one that is an overwhelming problem in our society as we are always judged daily, by our appearance. Those who do not conform to the standards of beauty, especially when it comes to weight, are stigmatized and suffer at the hands of a society that labels them as deviants.
Recently, a lot of controversy has been in the news about the increase in negative body image among women. This negative body image can lead to a number of different problems in individuals including low self-esteem, eating disorders, and depression. Some factors that can influence this increase in negative body image include age, gender peer influence, and family influence. One of the main factors that has been an influence on the way people view themselves is the media. According to Aubrey (2006), “a primary way that an objectifying culture is propagated is through the media” (p. 159). Everything from magazines, television, and celebrities can have an affect on the way people view themselves. The population that is most affected by this problem in our society is young women. Social comparison, which is when someone compares their own body to other’s bodies, is a common factor for thin-ideal internalization and dissatisfaction of their body (Bessenoff, 2006, p. 239).
Yamamiya, Y., Cash, T. F., Melnyk, S. E., Posavac, H. D., & Posavac, S. S. (2005). Women's exposure to thin-and-beautiful media images: Body image effects of media-ideal internalization and impact-reduction interventions. Body image, 2(1), 74-80.
People may think that men should be cool and handsome and should look and be a certain why like having a lot of muscles. McClure Stewart is the managing of editor of Women’s Quarterly Journal and Kate Kennedy is the campus project more important, our inner Women’s Forum, stated, “Again, this one features a corpulent guy’s guy lounging on his sofa in his dirty undershirt, which barely covers his beer gut” (1).Why is it that males are always stereotyped as the ones that cannot take care of themselves. Females are not the only ones that care about body image. So do males because like women they too try to attract the opposite sex. Many males find this offensive because it’s like we are not all slobs and they all would not want to be categorized like that too. At the same time, females worry about body image more because of the many advertisements that make women just look like sex objects. Katherine Toland Frith an associate professor at the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Barbara Muller coordinator of the Media Studies Program at San Diego State University stated that Gentry found that female college students who were repeatedly exposed to thin models in ads feel increased guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction (5). Women tend to be more sensitive than a male which is already a good reason that females have it worse than males. Not to