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Is Your Body Image Realistic?
While it is true that many of us, in this day and age, have
a genuine need to lose weight, it is also true that there
are many more women on diets than really need to be. The fact
is, women have a tendency to see themselves as fat even if
they aren’t. Unfortunately, this is a syndrome that does not
affect just women – young girls are also very susceptible.
Sadly, it is now commonplace for young girls, as young are
ten or eleven, to be going on diets and expressing dissatisfaction
with their bodies. This is setting them up for a lifetime
of body-loathing that occasionally becomes deadly.
By now, we are all well aware of eating disorders such as
anorexia and bulimia. Though these disorders have deeper underlying
causes – they are not caused only by unrealistic body image
and our weight conscious culture, but by underlying psychological
conditions – body image does play a central role. Many people
with eating disorders – in fact, some studies would indicate
that the correct word to use is not ‘many’ but ‘most’, or
even ‘all’ – suffer from an unrealistic body image and/ or
body dysmorphic disorder, in which they see their bodies as
different from how they actually are. In most cases, girls
and women suffering from anorexia and bulimia see their bodies
as larger than they actually are. These women can look in
the mirror, and ‘see’ something that is quite different from
what is actually there.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a different, though related,
problem. With body dysmorphic disorder, people feel as though
parts of their bodies are much larger in proportion to the
rest than they actually are. A woman might fixate on the size
of her thighs, for example, feeling that they are immense,
though in fact their size is quite normal and in proportion
to the rest of the woman’s body.
Why do some young women (and a very few men and older women)
develop these disorders? There are multiple answers to this
question. For one thing, there are often deep seated psychological
reasons. For example, if a woman is depressed, or has been
abused, or just doesn’t feel good about herself, she is likely
to focus on her body as a target for self-hate. On the other
hand, some of these disorders can be the result of depression
or even borderline personality.
On the other hand, many media critics allege that the images
we see in the media play a very central role in young women’s
body image problems. Consider the following: the average American
woman today is a size 12 or 14, and the average model is a
size 0 or 2. There is a very large difference between an average
woman’s body – even the body of a healthy woman, with little
or no excess weight to lose – and a model’s body. True, there
are some ‘plus size’ models today, but they are just a small
minority. The most beautiful women in our society (according
to popular opinion) and the most admired and acclaimed are
not built like women at all. Most of us were a size 2 when
we were 12 or 13 years old, if at all, and never again! So,
in comparison to the most of the models we see in the magazines,
we may well be overweight, even if our weight actually falls
within normal parameters.
There is a need, therefore, for more realistic role modeling
(no pun intended!). One way to get a more realistic picture
of what real women look like is to go to a pool or gym changing
room, and have a look at real women’s body. There’s a great
range of body types. You may be surprised to see that the
women who look the best in their clothes don’t always look
so good naked, for example – too bony!
There is a lot to be gained by exposing ourselves and our
daughters to realistic images of the female body, if only
to counteract the media images that we are all bombarded with
all too often. This is a serious matter – girls and women
have died from anorexia and other eating disorders. Those
are serious problems, but if we can counteract them by simple
means, it’s well worth our while.
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About the Author:
Michael Bens - Article Source, click
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