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Body image and its effects
Effect of self evaluation on body image
The effects of body image on adolescents
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Fat Ugly Worthless Bad bodied Gorilla mama What is going in the world today? It’s like we take two steps forwards just to take two steps back. It’s ridiculous! Why couldn’t I be treated as an equal? Why does the color of my skin matter? Why does the measurements of my hips, and thighs matter? Why are people disgusted by the sight of a healthy growing girl? I sighed at the pettiness of humanity. I don’t know why I even try to comprehend why people treat me the way I do. I’m no run way model, I aint so size two, I was never the shade of Beyoncé. I was just me. A dark chocolate, pear shaped girl with a head full of nappy kinky curls. I wasn’t perfect. No one is. Why can’t people accept that? I have been constantly ridiculed because of my appearance …show more content…
ever since I could remember. By my family, by my peers, and everyone else who felt it was there got given right to judge me because of the way got created me. I was never the perfect child. I was a black sheep in my own family. Derided for my dark complexion compared to the rest of my brothers and sisters. Humiliated because of my chunkiness. Left out in the rain while they sat like the perfect family they so highly thought they were in the house all warm and dry. I felt like an outsider. A prisoner in my own life. Why can’t I be beautiful?
I glared hatefully at my chubby round cheeks, my chestnut brown eyes filled with hatred, my plump pink lips pulled back into a sneer. I hated this! Was I not worthy of being beautiful?! Why can people see my glory?! What’s wrong with me? “When will it be my turn?’ I asked my reflection softly, brushing the stray hairs out of my face. My hair stood messily on the top of my head. I fingered a strand and twirled it with my fingers. It was dark brown and course styled in a massive afro. They hated it. ‘She need a hot comb for that shit or a perm …show more content…
one’ ‘Baby got naps for days’ I would hear some say. They thought they were being quiet, but their cackled could go unnoticed. It was no secret that everyone hated my natural hair. Clean, pressed and styled hair was all the rage these days. A girl with my skin tone and hair was seen as unbeautiful. It looked knotty and unkempt. No matter how much deep conditioner and Shea butter I used I could never seemed to achieve the soft curly texture that those mixed girls had. I hated it! Why couldn’t I be beautiful? Was it a crime to love the hair that my ancestors had? Was it a crime that I enjoyed my heritage? Can’t I be different? I sighed, being different only made me an outcast. Being different made me seem like a troubled lost soul. “Someday Minerva” I sighed to myself shaking my head as I continued to stare into those same dull, small brown eyes my face held.
I sighed casting my eyes downward assessing my figure. Like I said I was no Beyoncé. I wasn’t one of those curvy girls you’d see on Tumblr or Pinterest. I was pear shaped with a protruding belly over my waistline. My chest was a bit small, maybe a B cup, compared to the other parts of me it was about the smallest. ‘Maybe you should pad you bra Minerva. You know it might even out your stomach. Make you look thinner’ she remembering one of my older sisters, Charmaine offer. I could still remember the mocking tone in her voice as she patted my head as if I were a dog while I cried to myself while I threw
up. ‘Just stick two fingers down your throat’ Mother made me do it. She said if I wanted to be thinner than I had to do it. She said that if I did it then I would fill better. She lied. They lied. It only made me feel worse. It made me feel like I was slowly dying. Like I was trying to commit suicide when all I wanted to do was be loved. “What makes me so different from the rest” I questioned confusingly. I was human as they, yet here I was killing myself to be something I’m not just to please society. For why? I lived and breathed just as they, yet here I am feeling like a trapped spirit waiting for my time. Why is that? When will I have someone to love and vice versa? When will that be? ‘You’re not pretty enough Minerva. You can’t be love’ Why? ‘You aren’t meant to be loved. You are just meant to be’ Why? ‘Nobody wants you.’ Why? ‘Because you are ugly. You will never be beautiful’ ‘Why can’t I be beautiful?’
"Skin blemishes made it impossible for me to really enjoy myself. I was always worrying about the way I looked" (Brumberg, p. 87). Woman all around the world share the same problem, they feel unhappy and self-conscious with the appearance of their bodies. In The Body Project by Joan Jacobs Brumberg, she successfully illustrates the way adolescents begin to change focus from inner to outer beauty in the early 19th and 20th centuries. Through use of personal diaries and historical research, Brumberg shows her readers the physical differences between girls then and now. Brumberg talks about an array of topics in her book – periods, acne, dieting, piercing, virginity, and sexuality. From their roots in the 1800’s through the Victorian era and into modern society the reader gets a glimpse of the way young women evaluate their bodies and turn them into body projects, and is still to this day sweeping the nation more than ever.
I did not have the perfect body. I suddenly became aware of my appearance and made sure I wore makeup every day, especially on days I had Art I with Eric. Before every class I would brush my hair and put on lip gloss in order to try and fit in. To grab Eric’s attention I thought I had to wear clothes that made me appear slimmer and live up to society’s expectations of beauty. Pipher defines this as “lookism, which is the evaluation of a person solely on the basis of appearance” (346). Every time I talked to Eric I assumed he was judging me by the way I looked and not by my personality or values. I constantly felt like I was not good enough and that my body type was not the kind that guys found attractive. Pipher states that girls “sense the pressure to be someone they are not” (346). Every day I walked around acting in a play where I could not be myself. The more I put forth an act the more I felt that I did not fit in. Adolescent girls find themselves “vulnerable to the hurricane” (346) of judgement and predetermined expectations of women. After a while, Eric finally gave me the attention I longed for and we started to date. I had never been in a relationship before and I never knew how much tension it would cause between me and my
From the time girls are little, they are taught to be pretty. In Fat is Not A Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen, she explains how she has come to understand that all of the glamorous princesses that little girls look up to are all unrealistically thin, with beauty being their most important asset. She tells her point in a sarcastic and bitter way, showing how this anorexic beauty is not something to look up to and want to become someday. She wants to let the reader know that this romanticizing of skinniness is not a reality.
inundated with this idea of what “good hair” is, to the point that it seemed natural to force that same ideal upon me.
People are born with different facial structures, heights, and shapes. But in our current society, most people imagine the ideal woman to be tall and slender. In the poem “Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale” by Jane Yolen, the speaker expresses her view through parody, foreshadowing, and figurative language that a more full-figured image of a woman’s beauty will someday prevail.
Some existing Literature on Natural Hair The existing literature on ethnic and racial studies among African-Americans has focused on issues pertaining to beauty and body politics especially on natural hair. Spellers and Moffitt assert that the body politics that one assumes, guides how one relates to a particular political ideology in a particular society. Black natural hair is considered as a way by which the true identity of African women can be understood (Jacobs-Huey). It is a symbol of power among black women; it influences how people are treated by others.
Visualize a teenage girl watching television, surfing the internet, and reading magazines. She sees beautiful women everywhere she turns. She is looking in her bedroom mirror wondering why she does not have similar beauty. She begins to feel self-aware because she reads and hears criticizing comments about the females who are just like her. She says to herself, “Am I not considered beautiful because my skin is not as clear as Angelina Jolie? Do I not fit in the category “pretty” because I do not dress like Beyoncé? Or am I not referred to as “cute” because my hair is not as straight and silky as Taraji P. Henson?” Now imagine yourself being that teenage girl. How would you feel if you were consistently exposed to a judgmental society that does not accept you? You would want to be considered beautiful because you are unique, you are an individual, and you are a person made with both inner and outer beauty.
Throughout the years we see different trends, styles, and taste's that apply to what society accepts as attractive at their moment. Some people choose more conservative looks whereas other generations were far more liberal in their way of dressing and styling their hair. In order to understand why people would choose certain hairstyles in the 1980's it is important to know more about that year for example,who were the top celebrities or other famous people that had a major influence on society during that time. We know that most fashion and hair trends come from artists in the music industry because they play a major role in everyone's life. People will listen to their music and watch their music videos which will serve as
I’m sitting with my knees tucked under my chin, waiting for my mom’s turn to be finished, so I can climb up in the hairdresser’s swiveling chair and have the big apron tied around my neck to get my hair cut. I’m singing the lyrics to my favorite song by Deseree (softly so mom doesn’t yell at me) while looking through the books of hair designs on the chair next to me. I really like the skinny models with their choppy, short-like-a-boy’s haircuts, and the more pictures I see the more and more I want to look just like them.
In the short story ‘growing my hair again’, the author explains how women in the African traditions are held captive by the traditional culture and their struggles to trying to break away them using the main character Nneka. In Nigeria as well as in the other parts of Africa, culture was and still is given a lot of emphasizes especially when it comes to the traditional practices and beliefs. The culture however vary from one community to the other and ranges from the rights of passage, religious beliefs to other religious practices such as offering sacrifices and the role of women in the community .Nneka was married to a rich man in traditional Nigerian community and as in other areas, women had a role of being submissive to their husbands
I either don’t think I’m as thin as everyone else or as pretty as everyone else. I also have skin problems that I get judged for. Many people have body image and personal problems that they’re
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)
Being beautiful, being perfect, is what most of society cares about in this day and age. For example, people value getting rid of any to all imperfections, like having a bit of baby fat, or getting rid of scars. People are put down by the comments of strangers, and more so the comments made from people of their inner circle. People feel ugly and hate themselves for things that they have no control over. Some do radical things to get rid of these imperfections by getting surgery or taking pills. Even though not all people judge minor blemishes the view of one’s self is the most important view a person could have, and if that identity is under attack it could ruin a person 's self confidence. The story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne also has aspects of self-confidence and identity that are relevant to the current times.
We as humans were told from a young age that you had to be a size 0 to be beautiful. You had to have blonde hair and blue eyes, and you should always know and keep up with the everyday fashion. Everyone strives to look like the models on the cover of their favorite magazine, or their favorite Hollywood star. Society tells everyone from the moment they’re born that they must fit into this stereotype to go far in life, and to be “beautiful”. If someone doesn’t fit into these categories for some reason they are outcasted. These outcasted people aren’t given the time of day. People judge others without even knowing a person, and these judgements are made on appearances. People are put into categories based on how they are perceived by a particular person. There’s more to a person than what’s on the outside though.
There are over seven billion people on earth and every single one looks different. No matter how much people say that being different is unique, they are wrong. Society has set a beauty standard, with the help of the media and celebrities, that makes people question their looks. This standard is just a definition of what society considers being “beautiful.” This idea is one that mostly everyone knows about and can relate to. No one on this planet is exactly the same, but people still feel the need to meet this standard. Everyone has two sides to them; there is the one that says “you are perfect just the way you are”, while the other side puts you down and you tell yourself “I have to change, I have to fit in.” There is always going to be that side that cares and the one that doesn’t.