Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
An Essay On Body Image
Psychological effects of body dysmorphic disorder
External and internal beauty
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: An Essay On Body Image
For countless ages, people have never stop pursuing the characteristic and definition of beauty. It is the power of beauty that makes something attractive to the others. One of the greatest writers in English language, William Shakespeare (1598) said 'Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye'. Although inner beauty is undeniably important, but does it still weigh much in this current society? If it does, how do people judge an individual when first met? Halo effect experiments had shown us that physical beauty plays a significant role in judging a person (Dean.J., 2007 ). Cognitive bias exists where our overall impression give influence to what people think about our character. Perception of “What is beautiful is good” is not something new. As the role of physical beauty expands, people start to investigate the causes which include genetics, facial proportions and symmetrical effects. It has become a trend for people to invest in the process of enhancing their physical beauty. For …show more content…
While people care too much on their physical beauty and seek different ways to change, they unconsciously ignore their health issues. It was found that American women have the most negative body image of any culture studied by Faludi (1991). When the feeling of dissatisfaction of body image becomes more serious and affected the daily lives, this concern has turned into a psychological illness. One of the illness is called body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which a person suffers from his/her own uncontrollable feeling to stare and think about their real or perceived flaws for hours. This obsessions make them difficult to pay attention and thus affect their daily performance in society, either at work or school. People with severe BDD tend to be pessimistic with their future because their imperfections are prominent to them and often cause emotional distress. Attempt of suicides may even happen when it comes to an extreme
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.
In the essay “What Meets the Eye”, Daniel Akst explains scientific facts about the beauty of men and women matters to people. He argues that attractive individuals receive attention, great social status, marries, and gets paid more on a job. One can disagree with Akst’s argument because anyone with the skills and knowledge, despite the appearance, can gain a decent relationship and can get paid well. Akst looks at beauty as if it can lead individuals to an amazing and successful life, but he is wrong. Nancy Mairs’ and Alice Walker’s views on beauty are explained internally and through self-confidence. Both women’s and Akst’s arguments on beauty share some similarities and differences in many ways, and an
Body image is the perception, both thoughts, and feelings concerning an individual’s physical appearance. Research has suggested that exposure to an ideal standard of what it may mean to be beautiful is the norm for the media to expose a woman to. The results of an idea of feminine beauty can be disastrous for women, leading to depression, and an unrealistic body image. According to Posavac & Posavac in the article titled Reducing the Impact of Media Images on Women at Risk for Body Image Disturbance: Three Targeted Interventions...
In every magazine and on every page there is another source of depression, another reason to skip a meal or two or a reason to be self-conscious. In present society people are overly focused and determined on the perfect body that both the fashion and advertising industry portray and promote. Through diction, pictures and celebrities presented they are trying to convey a message to their viewers that is “suppose” to be used as a source of motivation and determination. The message they are truly conveying is self-conscious thoughts, depression, and the promotion of eating disorders. It is estimated that millions of people struggle with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem; concentrated on dissatisfaction with their body image (Ballaro). The advertisement and fashion industry are conveying a message that creates an internal battle for their viewers, though they should be creating a fire in their viewers that provides motivation to be healthier, take better care of themselves and a source of inspiration for style.
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.
The 1997 Psychology Today Body Image Survey revealed that Americans have more discontentment with their bodies than ever before. Fifty-six percent of women surveyed said they are dissatisfied with their appearance in general. The main problem areas about which women complained were their abdomens (71 percent), body weight (66 percent), hips (60 percent) and muscle tone (58 percent). Many men were also dissatisfied with their overall appearance, almost 43 percent. However body dissatisfaction for men and women usually means two different things. More men as opposed to women wanted to gain weight in order to feel satisfied with their bodies (Ga...
Body dissatisfaction is so common among women that it is considered a normative female experience (Knobloch-Westerwick & Crane, 2012). Nearly half of American women experience poor body image (Peterson, Tantleff-Dunn, & Bedwell, 2006). Not only does body dissatisfaction prompt women to attempt to control their weight and shape through dieting (Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002), but it is strongly correlated with eating disorder symptoms (Peterson et al., 2006). Furthermore, body dissatisfaction has been associated with psychological issues such as depression, sexual dysfunction, social anxiety and suicidal behavior (Myers, Ridolfi, Crowther, & Ciesla, 2012). With so many women affected by body dissatisfaction and the associated risks being so severe, it is important to discuss and examine possible interventional methods.
Body Image of Women ....Depression, Eating Disorders, More. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2013, from http://www.mirror-mirror.org/body-image-of-women.htm
At no time in history have women been so pressured to be thin. Inner beauty and personality is no longer enough. Women all over the world look at themselves and can only find imperfections. Media constantly shows thin, youthful, and “perfect” women, whom in reality have just as many imperfections as the average woman. Body image in the media tends to be a controversial topic on whether or not it has a negative effect on women in today’s society. “. . . this obsession has contributed to an increase in eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression among women in the United States” (Point: Body Image In The Media Is An Unhealthy Picture). What the public sees as beautiful has constantly changed over the decades. These changes have transformed the messages of the media to “you must be this size or you are not beautiful.” Many women have spent and wasted their lives with diets and starvation in order to reach the standards the media sets. A controversy has evolved from the question as to whether media is the real cause of these problems. Women now see themselves in a negative light due to the change in what is seen as beautiful in society and a constant use of airbrushing in advertisements. This has resulted in an increase in eating disorders and self esteem issues.
“...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.
A recent study shows that women’s body dissatisfaction is influenced by peer competition with others rather than depictions of women in the media. Muoz and Ferguson (2012) developed a study in order to further understand the influence of inter-peer pressure on body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction refers to any "negative self-evaluation of one’s own appearance and the desire to be more physically attractive. " The problem of body image has long been shown to be a concern for the American Psychiatric Association or APA, (Muoz & Ferguson, 2012, p. 383). It raises so much concern because an unsatisfying body image has been known to cause problems such as eating disorders, depression and self-esteem.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental illness involving obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in appearance. People who suffer from this have no self-confidence about their body or in themselves. Victims of this disorder constantly tear themselves down and point out all the flaws about them. This can lead to dislikeness of any part of their body (often with their hair, skin, nose, chest, or stomach), emotional distress and difficulties in daily functioning, obsession about their appearance. These symptoms can prove life threatening as people who suffer from this can fall into depression as listed before.
Most of us recognize people by physical attractiveness, but why do we immediately let appearance translate to a judgment of character? In the midst of an inevitable time, humankind has entered upon a new colony in which we are dependent on conformity, especially when judging someone by their appearance. That is to say, we are simply complying with standards set by our society’s stereotypes. The controversial conformity in question is, of course, physical and inner beauty. According to the article, “Marketing inner beauty,” it states that, “Inner beauty is internal, intangible elements of one's being; perhaps as a reaction to ‘the myopic male tendency to fixate on female physical attractiveness above all else,’ many women are now saying that
The phenomenon of “lookism” has been a running topic of discussion for a long time. The term is a culturally formed word used to describe the treatment of people who are thought to be physically attractive. As far back as 42 BC, Publilius Syrus declared that “A fair exterior is a silent recommendation” while Shakespeare said that beauty in itself persuades people without another form influence (Cavico, Muffler, & Mujtaba, 2012). A perfect example was given by James (2008), that when two women of similar qualification apply for the same job, the employer would likely pick the most attractive of the two. This decision is purely based on and informed by the notion that physical attractiveness is accompanied by other favorable
Since the expectation for women is so unrealistic, girls are starting to develop eating disorders, anxiety, depression and many other illnesses. “If negative body image alone caused anorexia then every person on the planet would develop anorexia” (Farrar n.pag.).