Unrealistic Beauty Standards: Impact on Women's Health

I. In my questionnaire I had asked, "Do you think a 'perfect' women exist?" and 87% of you send 'No'. That means 13 of you believe there is no such thing as perfect woman.

A. So why is it that, "Every society has a way of torturing [it's] women. Our way of torturing is to demand perfection. Even very young children might have an intense fear of being fat. It should not be that way. This girl has the right to grow up without her body being criticized" healthunlocked.com.

B. Out of all of you here, except Dr. Mankowski , 80% meaning 12 of you know someone who has some sort of eating disorder.

II. The "slim and thin" portrait of women presented throughout our contemporary American society in beauty contests, fashion industry and in other media sources, is increasing the number of eating disorders within the male and female population, but especially in the female population.

Body

I.

First, we only had competition for sports and grades, now days many little girls and even boys grow up competing in Beauty Pageants.

A. Children's beauty pageants started in the 1960, since then beauty pageant are teaching children that natural beauty is not pretty enough.

1. Due to that children take help from makeup, flashier clothes, and elaborate hair style which lead them to become more mature for their age.

2. Child Psychologist Ann Digirolamo and Suzanne Thompson stated that, "From a developmental standpoint, it's as inappropriate to try to teach a 6 year to pose like a 20-year-old as it is to allow her to drive, drink alcohol or fight for out

country".

B. To become "The Complete Package" some children start accepting some techniques of eating disorder and gradually become victims of some sort of eating disorder.

1. A study conducted by Wonderlich, Ackard, and Henderson,shows that, " Of the 131 females who participated in beauty pageant contests,48.5% reported a desire to be thin- ner, 57% stated they were trying to lose weight, and 26% had been told or were believed to have an eating disorder".

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II. Now days, the fashion industry is demanding or asking for thinner and thinner model, a size that can only be obtain by staving oneself.

A. In the 1980s and 1990s, the average size of a model range from 4 to 6, but now it drop down to 2 or lower.

1. Cindy Crawford, a famous model says, "I also think when I was modeling, size 6 (UK size 10) was a normal size and now it's like 2 (UK 6) or 0 (UK 4). Also, "it is so hard for models to get a job these days".

2. Model never get old due to retouch process.

B. To get into this demanding and tough industry incoming model start starving themselves to reach the imposed weight and later become victim of eating disorder.

1. This demanded weight had lead models like Ana Caroline Reston, Luisel Ramon and her sister Eliana Ramon to become victims of eating disorder and later die cause of it.

2. Concha Guera stated, "fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk".

III. Media and society's attitude towards shape of women bodies plays major roles in causing eating disorders.

A. Many girls wants to look like 'hot' and 'beautiful' actresses and models they see on the television.

1. Carolyn Costin, book author of The Eating Disorder Sourcebook states, "Had I lived in a different culture where there was no emphasis on thinness and where all my friends were not on diets, I believe I would not have developed anorexia".

2. The Fiji Island that has 2,000 year old culture, within 3 year after introduction of television and western culture, 11% of girls started vomiting to lose weight.

B. Women try to accomplish society expectation by torturing their body to even death.

1. Americans spend not millions, but billions of dollars each year on loss weight products; such as pills, drinks and bar.

2. George Krucik, MD, MBA's study shows that weight-loss causes depression, Celiac disease, malnutrition and even cancer.

Conclusion

I. In conclusion, you all have seen how serious eating disorder is and society is to be blame for the increasing such deadly disease.

A. According to National Eating Disorder Association, there are 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from eating disorder in United States.

B. This disease has started to affect kids; NEDA conclude 40% to 60% of elementary school girls worry about their weight, getting fat.

C. We are society! From by survey I know all of you agree that society is to be blame for increasing eating disorders. So, why are you or we are not doing anything about it?