An Obsession with Body Image Essay

The fashion industry is a major object of body image issues, as they believe clothes look better on more than average height and svelte women. Established on a survey partaken by 13 to 17-year-old in the United States, 90% felt intimidated by trends and media to be sleek, with more than 60% routinely evaluated themselves to supermodels, whilst 46% will endeavor to

I have always been very obsessed with body image. When I was young, baseball was my sport. Soon after, I joined the swim team. During these years I’ve never looked the way that pleased me. When the age of fourteen came around, I decided to join the gym with a personal trainer. At this time, being overweight and unhappy. Never did I think the gym would mean so much to me in the future. Just before the age of sixteen, bodybuilding made a drastic impression on me. The art of building a well symmetrical body. Everything about this sport fascinated me because it gave a chance to create a new me.

I always thought Barbie was so cool; [as] I got older, I learned that it's impossible to be Barbie. She's been everywhere, [even] in outer space. She's the perfect blonde. She has the perfect blue eyes. She's like everything! If she was a real person she wouldn't be able to walk.” (Tara Kuther)

Were all preoccupied with our bodies , and dissatisfied with our looks, that most of us are willing to try anything in order to obtain that perfect figure. The standards that are set are unbelievably high, as they’re unrealistic for what the ‘normal’ body figure should be.

A body image is a subjective combination of all the thoughts, emotions, and judgments that an individual may perceive about his or her own body. Each individual has a unique perception of his or her own body. This image is strongly influenced and often times skewed due to the increasing pressure created from outside, societal factors. With a world that is continuously creating new forms of social media and entertainment, individuals are constantly exposed to images that supposedly define bodily perfection and are then expected to resemble these images in order to fit in and/or please society. The expectations that have been put in place by society has created unwanted pressure on individuals who feel as if they need to resemble these images to get society’s approval.

Picture yourself as the ‘perfect’ woman. Embodying every woman’s dream. You are undeniably gorgeous, weighing in at 100 pounds, standing 6 feet tall and holding nearly 150 careers (barbiemedia.com). Yes, this is the beloved, ever so ‘inspirational’ childhood toy, the perfectly perfect Barbie Doll. Barbie is America’s most beloved toy, considering young girls between the ages of three and eleven own at least 10 Barbie’s throughout their childhood (‘Life in Plastic’). As creator of the Barbie Doll once said, “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices,” (Handler). However, Barbie has proved to serve the opposite effect and

strive for the ideal body so much that it has a terrible impact on their

“Enhancing Your Body Image” (2015) discusses the impact popular culture has on women strive to have Twiggy’s body and men hope to be the tough guy like Clint Eastwood (p.340). People are willing to alter their appearance physically; for example, people try to lose weight or change their personality by playing sports or instruments to find the sense of belonging. Society has a fascination of trying to belong within a social group.

One online critic stated that Barbie is “a tall, tan, and a busty, blonde bombshell that needs to back off” (Dipity line 8). Barbie is designed to be approximately six foot tall and super skinny with pearly white teeth. She always looks good because of her makeup, and think about it. Do not most young girls want to experiment and dabble in the art of makeup at a young age? The connection is to constantly seeing Barbie’s unfailingly flawless face and wishing they could be more like her. In 1965, Mattel came out with a “Slumber Party Barbie.” The set came with a bathroom scale set at 110 pounds, and a book entitled “How to Lose Weight.” Inside this book, the advice: “Don’t Eat!” was given. Who wouldn’t want their young child seeing something like

Over time, society is putting more and more pressure on people about their body image and how they should look. According to society, women ideally need to be thin with flat stomachs to look good and be happy. “Thus, the extent

Self-esteem plays a big part of body image. People have to feel good about themselves and be comfortable in their own skin to be happy. In today's world, it feels almost impossible to be happy, this generation is all about the media which makes having self-esteem 10x harder. Millions of pictures are posted of expectations of how women should look. In an article written by Pavica Sheldon, she states that ”The average American woman is 5’4 and 140 pounds, whereas the average female model portrayed in the media is 5’11 and 120 pounds”. Women are placed into a box telling them they have to look a certain way and if they don't they're simply not good enough. Besides being put into a category women numerously get called nasty names like slut or whore if they show too much. Piggy and fatty if they're overweight. Or “stick” if she's too skinny. Nothing is ever good enough is what it feels like. For example, Kylie Jenner, if you grew up watching “Keeping up with the Kardashians” you know how she looked before all the plastic surgery she got done, she now looks completely different. An account wrote, “What are they giving Kylie?” and someone quoted the tweet and said plastic. So even if women try to fix their imperfections they still get shamed down for it by calling them fake.

Body image is a major concern amongst the majority, primarily the youth of the female population, ranging from as young as five years old to tertiary students, ’74.4% of the normal-weight women stated that they thought about their weight or appearance ‘all the time’ or ‘frequently’’ (Brown University, unknown).

Thesis: The purpose of my speech is to convince you that the perfect body image shown on the media is unrealistic, therefore we shouldn’t praise it.

It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that critics began “comparing Barbie to a Playboy Bunny and calling her a corrupter of youth” (”Bad Girl” 3). One woman commented, “She’s an absurd representation of what a woman should be” (“Bad Girl” 3)-–and that’s exactly what many others thought she was, too. With such impossible real-life measurements of 5’9” tall, 36”-18”-33” bust, waist, and hip (Benstock and Ferriss 35), it’s easy to see why mothers across the country banned the doll from their homes and refused to let their impressionable young daughters be influenced by a piece of painted plastic (Bestock and Ferriss 35). Since dolls have often been responsible for teaching children what society deems important or beautiful, many concerned parents wondered why Mattel did not design a doll that taught more valuable lessons than dressing pretty and being dangerously skinny (Edut 19)? Who said a runway model was best suited for teaching a child what is beautiful anyway? “According to a Mattel spokesperson, a Kate Moss figure is better suited for today’s fashions” (Edut 19), and that is one reason why Barbie must be so disproportional. Actually, another reason for Barbie’s anorexic figure can be traced back long before Kate Moss and the fashion runway. Barbie was

To me personally Ken looked way more realistic than Barbie. I wasn’t fully for it because I think the idea of a doll helps to ignite a child's imagination. That they are able to be anything they want to be with enough willpower and imagination. But after fully analyzing the article and seeing it from both perspectives I can see the need for this. When the author spoke on his venture to conform society's pressure to get a six pack it allows the audience to see a vulnerable part in the creator's life and making them sympathize with the creator. The campaign video also hosted a video of children agreeing that this doll was very life changing and they could really relate to this doll. By using the children's and parents testimonies the campaign should be able to acquire a large amount of funds in order to reach their goal of five thousand