The Cult of Thinness
Many modern women subject themselves to an intense day-to-day involvement in the pursuit of thinness demands. These demands resemble those behaviors commonly associated with cult hood. Three main “tools” are used in order to achieve this goal or ideal. The Cult of Thinness invests in thinness through primary rituals. The rituals are followed through by the obsession of a particular “ideal” body. There are also extremities or positions of higher authority with extreme involvement in cults, much like the level of devotion in The Cult of Thinness.
Daily actions of checking and critiquing can be performed in many ways. Body monitoring offers an array of resources. Constantly weighing one’s self is a way of achieving quantitative precision. Being able to pinpoint an exact gain or loss is a necessity in this cycle. To be able to have an ideal weight and to accurately compare yourself leaves no room for misinterpretation. Counting Calories helps maintain discipline to be sure not to exceed the limit. If one eats certain “restricted” food, it is seen to be sinful or as breaking the rules. This restriction of food intake is in a highly disciplined way. This is part of a larger process of dieting and exercising which is used in an obsessive manner to obtain the “perfect” body. These diet rituals can go as far as to fast for days at a time. Another “tool” of monitoring is food watching, monitoring the intake of “good” and “bad” foods. Nutritionally healthy foods are considered good. Anything else, from sweets to foods with fat, are considered bad foods.
Other rituals are performed through comparisons. By evaluating and examining old pictures and using them as motivation. Having a constant reminder of previous slimness can push a person to regain what might be an unrealistic goal. Mirrors provide a selective image to the viewer. You only see what you want to. This is particularly important, as most members to this Cult of Thinness have low self esteem. A mirror can be used to scrutinize and dissect physical flaws. “’A mirror reflects the virtual image of an object placed in front of it.’” This provides an analogy for how society fosters women’s obsession with their weight and body image. These rituals can serve as a reminder to ones self that one is not meeting the standards, guilt and self penance are results.
In a cult, there is an object or ideal to “worship.
In the article, “Too ‘Close to the Bone’: The Historical Context for Women’s Obsession with Slenderness,” Roberta Seid goes in depth on the emotionally straining and life altering trials women take on to try to portray society’s “ideal” body over time. She delves far into the past, exposing our culture’s ideal body image and the changes it has gone through over time. The article brings to light the struggles of striving to be the perfect woman with the model body. On the other hand, in the article “Rethinking Weight”, author Amanda Spake, details the many differing views of obesity. Spake voices her opinion on the idea that being overweight, and not losing weight, is caused by laziness. “Too Close to the Bone” and “Rethinking Weight” both deliberate about weight issues that are
The article “Rethinking Weight” was written by Amanda Spake, and is about the hardships of losing weight and keeping it off. She makes note of the fact that healthy weight loss (medically supervised, slow and gradual weight loss) is in a completely unfair playing field against fast weight loss. She also talks about whether obesity should be classified as a disease so that it will get better treatment in the medical field. The article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” was written by Mary Ray Worley, and is about learning to live in a “new world” as the author, Worley, describes it. This new world is one she experienced while at a NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) convention. The articles are really about addiction
Self-objectification leads to body dissatisfaction which is recognized through the constant evaluation and criticizing of one’s and others size, shape, and weight and diminishes woman’s sexual health through the hypersexualization and sexual objectification of the female body. I argue that self-objectification is a social problem that instills in body dissatisfaction from the perpetuation of the thin white female image in the media.
thought. Jay Gatsby is an enormously rich man, and in the flashy years of the jazz age, wealth defined importance. Gatsby’s close friend Nick Carroway once explains that he respects his streagth and unselfishness of his idealism. For example, “Can’t repeat the past? He cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” (Gatsby 110). However, Gatsby’s expression may not be a possibility, but it is a motivation toward positive idealistic thinking. It is because humans are selfish beings’ which are simple minded and think of their own self. Also, Young Gatsby is an over achiever by becoming a quite wealthy, but there were many doubts about his past that holding him from moving forward. Nick Carroway state’s, “Gatsby believed in the green light,
For five years, Gatsby was denied the one thing that he desired more than anything in the world: Daisy. While she was willing to wait for him until after the war, he did not want to return to her a poor man who would, in his eyes, be unworthy of her love. Gatsby did not want to force Daisy to choose between the comfortable lifestyle she was used to and his love. Before he would return to her, he was determined to make something of himself so that Daisy would not lose the affluence that she was accustomed to possessing. His desire for Daisy made Gatsby willing to do whatever was necessary to earn the money that would in turn lead to Daisy’s love, even if it meant participating in actions...
Have you ever been in a situation where you have almost met your goal, but something in the way is preventing you from fully accomplishing it? Jay Gatsby, one of the protagonists in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, loses the love of his life, Daisy, due to years of separation and is trying to win her back. Daisy’s husband, Tom, however, won’t let her go that easy. Gatsby fights his way to get back the lover he waits so many years for. Preceding Gatsby’s risky quest, his main goal in life is to obtain a great wealth in order to impress the beautiful Daisy. He only thinks about Daisy and their life together. He will do anything to be reunited, no matter the consequences. Jay’s shadow side is revealed and anima is present throughout his journey. Gatsby appears to be an altruistic, benevolent, stately young man. Upon close scrutiny, it’s unveiled that he is malicious and selfish because he wants Daisy for himself and he is wiling to ruin a family for her. But, his anima shows how caring, romantic, and vulnerable he really is through his devotion and passion for Daisy. Gatsby is unsuccessful in completing a traditional hero’s journey, but he does create his own unique version of the archetype. In this unorthodox interpretation, Gatsby learns the repercussions of wanting what you can’t have and dishonesty throughout the course of his battle for his lover.
Though out his life Gatsby has worked so hard to achieve one single goals: to get Daisy to love him again. The one goal was ultimately who Gatsby was. All that money, the party's, and the nice things were all to get Daisy's attention “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (83). He knew that Daisy wanted to continue living that lavish lifestyle she had been accustomed to all her life. So Gatsby worked for years to build himself up to be the “perfect” man that she could not refuse. “Oh, you want too much!” she cried to Gatsby. “I love you now — isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” She began to sob helplessly. “I did love him [Tom] once — but I loved you too” (139-140). At this point Gatsby thought his dream would become reality, he would get the love of his life back. But in the end that's not how it turns out. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (189). This is the part of the quote that represents Gatsby's struggles to get Daisy, and how in the end he's beach to where he started, with nothing. In this quotation, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… . And one fine morning —— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”
(Basic) From worshipping Gods to worshipping nature, cults form another way of forcing people into acting in ways they wouldn’t originally. The cult of thinness worships the ideal body. Women must have a size zero waist; men must act dominant. Society gives its members regulations for “normal”, and its members have to follow those regulations.(Bal. Comp.) The members of society who do not conform to the expectations society sets receive labels as “freaks” and “abnormal”. From a young age, children learn what society claims is “normal” thinness. As they mature into adults, society expects “normal” weight. The cult of thinness states that weight regulations must be followed, and rebels require rejection. People feel inclined to fit into the the cult because it judges them on appearances rather than their personality and morals. People need self-confidence and free expression without the fear of rejection in order to shut down the cult of
Gatsby encompasses many physiognomies such as ambitious. Ambitious outlines one who is eagerly desirous of achieving or obtaining success, Jay Gatsby. It is evident that Gatsby generates his own fantasy world, a realm where he is not the underprivileged James Gatz, but the fantasized Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald conceives him as, “… the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (98). This quote expresses how he dreams up a new world to escape the blandness of his own existence. But his imagination and turmoil pays off because he ends up making his dreams reality. He personifies a man who goes from “rags to riches” because he strives to better himself as opposed t...
As the seasons come and go, characters develop into the people they become. Gatsby, the true expert on fighting for what he believes, exemplifies that through his life, there comes many struggles, but the way that you deal with those struggles is what makes you the person you are in the future. The greatest lesson that Gatsby can teach us is the when life throws a curveball, you have to get up and and keep swinging!
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.
In the novel, The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, the character Santiago is able to be condemned and justified for his actions toward Manolin, however Jay Gatsby of the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald is only able to be condemned for his illegal practices. In Hemingway’s acclaimed novel, the protagonist Santiago battles against a giant marlin for several days. The two are locked in a grueling rivalry that tests their physical and mental strength. Santiago eventually won the fight, but his victory was short-lived; sharks began to eat away at the marlin. But the sharks were not the true cause of the marlin’s death, but instead, it was Santiago’s pride that truly brought the fish’s life to end. He turned down the request of the boy who was willing to help him.
Everyone loves food, but not everyone loves what it does to their body. Society has put such a huge emphasis on body image that many males and females are concerned with what they eat and how it makes them look. This has lead to many people with eating disorders and trying multiple diets. According to LiveStrong approximately 45 million Americans diet each year (Uzoma). Not everyone sees the results they wish when dieting, which makes them frustrated and some give up. The reason the diets are not working may be due to the fact that they are not partaking in the right diet for their body. One effective diet for all is tracking what you eat.
Women are bombarded by images of a thin-ideal body form that is extremely hard, if not impossible, to emulate. Comparing themselves to these women can lead to feelings of inadequacy, depression, and an overall low self-esteem. (Expand on, need a good opening paragraph to grab the reader’s attention)
Due to the media’s influence, women establish perplexed views of their own bodies, leading to the development of eating disorders. Eating disorders are massive issues within today’s society. The author, Sheila Lintott emphasizes in her article, “Sublime Hunger: A Consideration of Eating Disorders beyond Beauty”, that eating disorders are the “most dangerous mental disorders, resulting in a six time more likely risk of death, which is four times the death risk of major depression” (Lintott 78). Because women are striving to look thinner, they tend to follow an unhealthy lifestyle. They begin self-starvation in fears of becoming fat. Unfortunately, due to beauty related pressures, there has been an increase in body dysmorphic disorders. Body