Do Physical Rituals Done By Women?

In America today, there are unrealistic beauty standards women must face daily. When women can not meet this idea of perfection pushed by society, some women will risk their health just to fit a cultural stigma. Women are held to an insanely high criterion when it comes to beauty which tends to lead to negative body image. Ten percent of women in The United States of America report symptoms consistent with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Which concludes that a total of 75 percent of all American women endorse some unhealthy thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to food or their body image-UNC Medical Department Although eating disorders are not subjective to women only, after reading “Beating Anorexia and Gaining Feminism” Marni Grossman and “Feminism and Anorexia: A Complex Alliance” Su Holmes, I will discuss how eating disorders coexist in the lives of women who struggle with body image, and what feminism can do to give these women a second chance.

Walking into the library at most high schools brings to the eye an array of fashion magazines in the front shelves. Most schools acknowledges that fashion has a large audience, but the skinnier and skinnier models have created a large group of people with eating disorders and bad self-images. In her article “What’s Wrong with Skinny?” that discusses eating disorders linked to the fashion industry, Lisa Hilton states that women are “so pathologically stupid that they are unable to distinguish the fantasy of the runway from the realities of their own bodies”. Fashion is something that many girls let influence them into changing how they dress, feel, and eat; the skinnier the models are (or are “retouched” to look), the more it supports eating

To continue the discussion about her idea surrounding women and girls and their preoccupation with beauty standards it is easy to segue the conversation into the dangers of this preoccupation. The numerous repercussions of this preoccupation with unrealistic beauty standards is manifested in both physical and mental effects. One of the effects that was discussed to a large extent is eating disorders, which affects both the physical and mental aspects of a woman’s (or man’s) well being. The effects of eating disorders, in particular anorexia which is categorized by restrictive and obsessive eating behaviors, can be catastrophic. As Naomi Wolf discussed in a person story about her own eating disorder

“Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies... Unfortunately, only 5% of women naturally possess the body type often portrayed by Americans in the media” (Palmer). Major corporations and industries such as Disney, Mattel, and Victoria's Secret, consistently display and advocate women with the “ideal” body type, when in reality, this is only feasible for a small percentage of women. Therefore, women and girls are forced to assume that it is necessary for their physical features to be as flawless as those portrayed through large corporations and the media. These cultural icons of flawlessness and beauty lead women to have an unhealthy obsession with body image or a severe mental illness. Major corporations should be held responsible

Eating disorders have become a major problem throughout the world, specifically in the United States. The key factor that has an influence on eating disorders is the media. Including people of all ages and genders, up to twenty-four million people suffer from an eating disorder in the United States (ANAD np). This is a huge problem in the world today but what makes it so much worse is the fact that it can be prevented and it is in our control to change it. Young adults look to these celebrities, which are often their role models, and try to look just like them. What they fail to remember is the fact that celebrities have a lot of money, money that can afford nutritionists and personal trainers. They also fail to remember the extensive measures the celebrities may have to go through to look the way they do. An example of extensive measures can be considered plastic surgery. Ultimately, this creates a false goal that is almost unattainable for the “average” or “regular” person. Overall, the media has overtaken a huge impact on what the “ideal” body image has become today. Eating disorders are still on the rise and it is proven that an eating disorder such as anorexia affects up to 5 percent of women from ages 15-30 years old ("Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association np"). This may not seem that significant but it is also not considering other eating disorders such as bulimia. All in all, eating disorders

Eleven million women in the United States suffer from eating disorders- either self-induced semistarvation (anorexia nervosa) or a cycle of bingeing and purging with laxatives, self-induced vomiting, or excessive exercise (bulimia nervosa) (Dunn, 1992). Many eating disorder specialists agree that chronic dieting is a direct consequence of the social pressure on American females to achieve a nearly impossible thinness. The media has been denounced for upholding and perhaps even creating the emaciated standard of beauty by which females are taught from childhood to judge the worth of their own bodies (Stephens & Hill, 1994). To explore the broader context of this controversial issue, this paper draws upon several aspects influencing

Literary Analysis of “Barbie Doll” In “Barbie Doll,” Marge Piercy describes a young girl’s struggles throughout her adolescence because of her preoccupation with appearance. Her unhappy situation reinforces how negative a young life can become when society ignores the inner person and highlights physicality instead. As Piercy observes, “Everybody said, doesn’t she look pretty?” (23).

The first is anorexia nervosa, which is described by the National Eating Disorder Information Centre as a neurological disorder characterized by “a powerful fear of gaining weight,” with behaviors that include restricting caloric intake, and distorting the perception of one’s body (“Definitions”). Bulimia nervosa is a mental illness that includes a cycle of “binging and purging” (“Definitions”), or binge eating food, which is then meant to be expulsed from the body through methods such as self induced vomiting, excessive exercise, and the misuse of medicines (“Definitions”). Both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have become prevalent in young women and teens around the world. In a study done by the journal Current Opinion in Psychology, it was revealed that worldwide, “the prevalence of anorexia and bulimia is estimated to be 0.3% and 1.0% among adolescents and young women respectively (Hoek, 389). Additionally, the rate of eating disorders has been rising within the young, female population steadily each decade since 1930 (Hoek, van Hoeken, 388). These alarming statistics demonstrate that eating disorders are a growing issue in society today, but it is debatable whether the fashion industry can be

Anxiety, stress, and depression are merely a smidge off the surface of anorexia nervosa. Upon researching Anorexia, a compelling ad for anti-anorexia appeared. It stated, “You are not a sketch. Say no to anorexia,” and in this ad, it displays an image of a model in a fashion design sketch and an image of an “authentic” model right beside it. The sketched model consists of overstressed proportions and extended lines typical of fashion illustration. The “actual” models are illustrated with the same meticulous proportions. Even though the models have been painted to impersonate the idealistic sketches, it’s petrifying how intently they resemble authentic models seen every season at Fashion Week. Arizona State University recently published research that revealed that women are more observant to guilt-inducing advertising messages about weight than they do to the judgments of their peers, even when those peers do not deem them obese. The fashion business is predominantly the leading cause, as it habitually uses under-age girls as models for clothing intended for adults. While those girls may merely be slim and not anorexic due to their youth, it subconsciously influences anorexic adults to replicate those appearances when purchasing items off the rack. Anorexia is a form of punishment, but within the community, it is thought of as a lifestyle and the only penalty is set into motion if

Because of the fashion industries portrayal of beauty in advertisements, a value system that focuses on looks and external beauty is built by the men and women that are exposed to them (Sheehan 108). Although the word "fashion" is often used in a positive sense, the Fashion Industry itself may have some significant negative impacts. Many studies connect the exposure to such advertisements and media coverage of thin models to women with a negative self-esteem and issues with body image. The images of women that are presented by the Fashion Industry, especially in magazines, represent an image that is nearly impossible to achieve. As a result, many women and even men turn to eating disorders in hope to become the image of beauty that has been created for them by the Fashion Industry and the media. So, it can be argued that sociologically, the Fashion Industry indeed has a negative impact on the values, self-esteem, and the perception of women and men such as listed below. factor

Throughout the United State and across the globe more females then males are affected by body dissatisfaction that leads to serious problems such as eating disorders and other unhealthy methods of body change. Due to this there is much more information available on female body dissatisfaction and the problems associated with it then there are for males. Though male body dissatisfaction and body image is not as often talked about, it still an important topic that should be discussed. It is important to clear up misconceptions that body dissatisfaction is a female only problem. In a study by Furnham and Calnan (1998) they discussed the fact that about half of males would like to gain weight while the other half would like to lose weight. While

In a study done of female beauty icons, two time frames were studied, 1959-1978 and 1979-1988. In the research, the women who were portrayed as beautiful, and the icons in the media, were observed and over half of them had fit into the standards of having one of the eating disorders, anorexia nervosa (Vonderen & Kinnally, 2012).

A large contributing factor to this problem is that many people in the fashion world encourage the use of overly thin models in editorials and fashion shows. For example, as Kathryn Shattuck, What's On Today: [The Arts/Cultural Desk], mentions that Kelly Cutrone, world renowned fashion publicist, encourages, “Clothes look better on thin people. The fabric hangs better” (1). The fashion industry’s emphasis on being thin and its use of extremely underweight models in unacceptable. Many people would agree that the fashion industry plays the majority role in eating disorders, but Lisa Hilton, British Vogue writer, disagrees. Hilton argues, “Its objective is selling clothes, and the consensus remains that in order to achieve this, models need to be thin . . . Fashion is about fantasy, about impossibility, about, dare we say it, art. Most women can’t tell the difference” (1). Hilton condescendingly continues to refute the criticisms that models are too thin and the fashion industry encourages eating disorders.

Evidently, beauty depicted in the media is represented by attractive physical features. The new generation, and generations to come, will grow up with the internet right at their fingertips. With celebrity news articles explaining that what makes these famous people beautiful is their physical appearance, may have a huge toll on young people growing up. For this reason, the media should not portray beauty as only skin deep. Subsequently, the media promotes an unhealthy image of beauty, in particular, of women, that is damaging to society. The changing perspectives on body image since the late-twentieth century have ultimately developed into an obsession with super thinness. According to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), this obsession has contributed to an increase in eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression among women in the United States (Chittom 2). For instance, a girl growing up may see an image of someone they see online and believe them to be beautiful. The young girl will grow up thinking that in order to be the ideal definition of beautiful, you must fit the criteria of that one person or multiple people. The young girl will believe that she will not be beautiful despite her kind spirit, morals or personality unless she looks like the one hypothetical beautiful girl she saw. Continuously, the young girl’s spirit would break in attempt to becoming “perfect” as it can lead to anger with oneself when they

The United States of America has always had this ideal of what the perfect women should look like in today’s world has this idea that being the perfect women is the most essential inquiry in today’s world. Photographers in the fashion industry spend hours and hours editing pictures, taking off beauty marks, shrinking curves, and taking away women’s flaws, changing their looks to the ideal body we all have in our minds, completely flawless. There’s this stereotype of the white perfect girl having a slim figure, no curves, crystal clear blue eyes, ravishing silky long wavy hair, and sculptured cheekbones. This is the main reason why women have self-esteem and body image struggles. They look around at today’s supermodels and start question their true identity and if they’re enough. Eating disorders start rising from here; females try to reach a certain number in the scale and look up to a model so much that they try to copy their body figure and starve themselves until they reach that goal. Weight loss, vitamins to lose weight, diet pill and plans, and many more of these are turning into commercials streaming on TV worldwide. The rate of eating disorders has been rising since 1950 and 69% of elementary school girls that read and look at magazines have reported that these pictures do influence how they feel about their body and their ideal body image while 47% of them said these pictures make them want to lose weight and indulge in a weight loss plan. (Martin) Your identity also