Society's Body Image Ideals

Society’s Body Image Ideals, Media, and its Effect on Women

There is a saying that beauty is only skin-deep; this skin must be very deep because beauty seems to affect every woman’s life. Why is that men are judged by what they do, what they drive, possess, etc, while women are judged by how they look? We live in a cruel, cold world, where a woman is not a complete package if she does not meet the society’s standard of beauty. For a man, their mind matters, where for a woman, the outer matters so much more. This, unfortunately, is the superficial world we live in. Women have become slaves to this ideal beauty, and it has affected women negatively physically and emotionally. The truth is, the more beautiful a woman a regarded, the better
Women have sacrificed comfort, health, time, and money in pursuit of meeting the ideal image, and it is continues on to this day. An extreme example is feet binding of Chinese women in the name of beauty in the early history.
Chinese foot binding is an ancient tradition of beauty and torture, passed from mother to daughter, generation to generation, that lasted for almost 1,000 years. Foot binding was seen as a sign of beauty and attractiveness. Once a girl was of marriageable age, prospective mother-in-laws would come around and pick a wife for her son by the appearance of the girl 's feet. Foot binding was the act of wrapping a three- to five-year old girl 's feet with binding so as to bend the toes under, break the bones and force the back of the foot together. The bound foot was also a symbol of identity and virtue. A bound foot signified that a woman had achieved womanhood, and served as a mark of her gendered identity (Mao). The fact that many young girls had to endure this pain to be considered attractive is horrendous, but even more shocking is the fact that their parents enforced it. Perhaps the parents thought t they were preparing their daughters for a better future with the tiny feet, so that their
It is a cry for help, yet the society keeps this going by the media and social support. The influence of the U.S. media is perhaps the most prevalent agent that negatively affects body image. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, approximately 10 million people today suffer from some form of an eating disorder; eating disorders are most common among women. Eating disorders are not just a “fad” or a “phase.” People do not just “catch” an eating disorder for a period of time. They are real, complex, and devastating conditions that can have serious consequences for health, productivity, and relationships. Unlike other self-destructive behaviors, eating disorders are especially unique. Humans by nature have to eat to survive, but for women and men with eating disorders, it is more than practicing "moderation”. The conditions of an eating disorder are very complex, and for many individuals, recovery is literally a matter of life and death. Various types of eating disorders include anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating, where people feel like they have to control their intake, purge what they consumed in fear of gaining weight, and obsess over their