Fat Women Research Paper

“We are, despite our efforts at resistance, conditioned to see thin as beautiful and, more to the point, beautiful as necessarily thin. As Regina Casper points out, early in our teen years we notice that ‘female socialization emphasizes good looks above everything else, and good looks demand what is difficult to achieve in out surplus society, namely a thin body. The pursuit of thinness hence is considered an acceptable and socially desirable goal’ (1994). Furthermore, fat women are not only deemed unattractive, but also lazy, slovenly, dirty, undisciplined, and unsuccessful”

With the condition being body image distortion amongst women increasing, this condition is becoming more widespread as the media continues to portray unrealistic expectations. Considering that this condition is being fueled and promoted by the media with its use of Photoshop and models, it is something that can be changed and even reversed. The media’s portrayal of women and beauty should be modified. Instead of aiming for perfection, the media should provide a representation of women that is realistic, and will no longer provide young women with the perception that their personal body image does not reach the standards of beauty. Current standards of beauty in the media encourages an extreme thinness that is often unachievable, and the extreme desire to reach this ideal body image can lead to anorexia nervosa and bulimia

Many times cultural pressures glorify “thinness” and place value on the “perfect body.” Social media also plays a big role in narrowing the definition of beauty to include only women and med of certain body weights and shapes.

These women are depicted as gorgeous, stunning and in the eyes of young girls, they are perfect. This makes it hard for young girls to accept themselves as being beautiful when the women that are known to be beautiful are as thin as a stick. Throughout the most popular magazines, there aren’t any pictures of an average girl that weighs a little more than a size one. The women who appear to be thin are the ones who make it to the forefront while the women who weigh a little more than what is labelled as the perfect body, are the ones that are used as an example in the before picture on a weight loss advertisement. Due to this, many young girls have attempted to seek other outlets in order to feel accepted in

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

We all know the idealised characteristics of masculinity and femineity: men are strong, powerful and protective while women are delicate, beautiful and dependent. However, this repetition desensitises us to gender disparity and encourages us to conform to the role dictated by the media.

I have been fat since I was in fourth grade. Before everybody starts to say and think “you’re not fat!” I just want to say that I know I am. I am only 5’4 and 235 pounds, and I am not under any impression that I am thin or normal weight. Everybody thinks it, but nobody wants to tell the fat girl she is fat. Maybe that is because everybody is under the impression that fat is something negative, but it isn’t. Everybody acts like you can’t be pretty and fat, or feel self-worth if you’re fat, but I entirely disagree. I think that fat and beautiful shouldn’t be antonyms, in fact I think they can perfectly coexist. That doesn’t mean I love being fat or recommend being fat. Being bigger comes with a set of health risks, and it can bring on a lot of self esteem issues. I still think you can be a beautiful person, big or small, but I want to lose weight

Seeing overly skinny models in the media does not enhance women’s self-esteem, self-worth, or self-image. The degree of thinness exhibited by models is both unachievable and biologically inappropriate and provides unhelpful role model for women.

How many men do you see ogling over the ultra skinny models on a Vogue magazine? They aren’t, most men are ogling over the centerfold of a Playboy magazine. So why do young girls and women all over the world struggle psychologically and physically to look like those models? And what effect does this have on our society? Should the use of models with a low Body Mass Index (BMI) be banned from fashion, media, and print? I will answer all of these questions and more, to support my view on why there should be changes placed on the limitations of BMI’s on fashion models and how these changes will promote healthier body images in women.

Beauty standards have been a major issue for many years now and women have been willing to change their bodies over and over to please themselves and others. Beauty standards are often defined in terms of hairstyles, skin color, and body size. The measures involved in having to live up to these standards are often risky in nature. For decades, what is seen as beautiful is centered around a women’s weight and size. Today, that standard is often defined as being thin. Women often resort to drastic means to attain that ideal image. However, achieving these standards can be expensive, can lower self-esteem and can be a threat to a woman’s health and life.

Women have let the idea of looking beautiful take over their self-confidence and life. Healthy Place, an online magazine teaching women about living a healthy life, says that, “today's fashion models weigh twenty-three percent less than the average female, and a young woman between the ages of 18-34 has a seven percent chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a one percent chance of being as thin as a supermodel.” So why do women push themselves to be excessively thin when these models are anomalies? They do it because the media tells them that this look is the only look that can attract men. Even if a woman is “beautiful” according to the media’s standards, she will always find something about her body that she hates, whether it is her hair or her belly button, no women is completely satisfied. Our society is very accepting of different religions and lifestyles, so why can we not accept different types of beauty as well?

Every generation has a set of values that they believe make a person beautiful. In the 1940’s and 50’s it was considered beautiful to be a voluptuous woman. A woman with a large chest and full hips was the ideal woman, such as Marylyn Monroe. The difference between then and now is, young women could escape this image if need be. Today it is impossible to ignore the stick thin super models on bill boards, TV, and in magazines. The influence of society on teenagers is so much that men actually expect a woman to be that stick thin model or they are considered “fat”, “tubby”, etc. The average fashion model is 5'9" to 6' tall. The average American woman is 5' 4" tall. The average fashion model weighs 110-118 pounds. The average American woman

Everyone wants to look good; that is a given. What steps must people take in order to look their best? Does it only take a little bit of make up or maybe a nicer dress shirt? Or does it require missing a few meals a day or purging what had been eaten previously? Society is growing fonder of the idea that a perfect woman or man is skinny, most of the time skinnier than what is considered healthy. For example, when choosing between a skinny and a larger woman for an ad about “the perfect body”, people watching the commercial could not accept the larger woman as a suitable candidate. That is just how society is currently. The stronger question, however, is whether pictures of skinny models in the media affects someone’s self-esteem, or is the

What is beauty and who decides what is beautiful? It seems that beauty is no longer in the eye of the beholder but in they eye of media. Media has influenced the perception of what is being considered beautiful today. Media constantly portrays tall thin women and this is what many women strive for. This phenomenon has come to be known as the Thin Ideal. Although, it is unclear where this term originated from, Harrison (2008) describes this term as the way that media has “glamorized” the thin body. They create a fear in girls of even a little body fat because this ideal woman has little to no body fat. This review examines research on how the Thin Ideal is affecting women; specifically, its effect on a woman’s body image, weight satisfaction, gender differences, age differences and eating habits.

Portraits of an ideal and excellent body are exposed and shown ubiquitously. The usage can be diverse from an advertisement of a clothing product to a social charity campaign. Because of that, advertisement becomes very popular and common in the society. Advertisers and those in beauty industry, however, have notoriously promoted the ideals of beauty, persuading people across continents to follow this concept. The idea of having a weight below one hundred pounds regardless of the height or weight has encouraged people, especially women, to use various ways to whittle away a few inches of fat in their body. As a result, there is no doubt that women from different ages feel the burden. It is obvious that media has been criticized and blamed