Julia Savacool The World Has Bodies Analysis

     Plato once said, "We behold beauty in the eye of the mind...." What some people consider beauty others may not. From the actresses that are shown on television, movies, models that are in magazines, and the pop stars that create hip and modern music videos, one could be under the impression that to be beautiful you must thin. Actresses such as Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Michelle Gheller, Clarista Flockheart, Courtney Cox and Debra Messing all have staring roles in their own television shows and are all extremely thin. The audiences of these shows being mostly women and adolescent girls, what kind of message about body image are they sending out?

In society, women relate to friends, models and actresses which are actually people who are in the industry portraying the ‘ideal body.’ Women think too much about what others think of them instead of just caring about themselves. They also choose to take the unhealthy approach and gain all these bad habits to obtain the ‘ultimate’ body image of this ‘ideal woman’ society has created.

In the article “Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness,” author Susan McClelland’s mainly focuses on how many young women idolize the women they see on T.V. The media is making many women feel as if they need to look a certain way to fit in with the world. Also the fact the western culture is spreading to other countries is a big issue because sicknesses, like bulimia, were not an issue before. Many women in other countries are starting to look at the women in the United States and want to be just like them. In this article, the author says that television, magazines, and media show

However, we live in a society where women are being exposed by the media. Typical stereotypes suggest that woman are suppose to be beautiful, skinny, and have flawless bodies. Carl’s

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

A study was recently done to determine how body image was viewed in society several years ago and how it is viewed in today’s society. When comparing the average model and the American woman, it is stated by Dr. Jonathon Rader, PhD, chief executive and clinical officer of Rader Programs that “twenty years ago, the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less” (Rader). Twenty to thirty years ago, full figured women were accepted and also admired. Being voluptuous was a sign of wealth and beauty. Women were not obsessed with diet fads, or trying to look a certain way, but were more concerned with eating healthy and were comfortable with the

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) between 2009 and 2010 more than 35 percent of adults across the U.S. and Canada were considered obese (Mcguire, 2011, pp. 368-369). While the rates of obesity in adults has been slowing over the past decade or so the world population has become more media centric and the idea of the ideal body type has certainly been affected by the mass media and the influence of Hollywood movies, sports and television. This change in the perception of the ideal body image has almost certainly affected the rates and types of discrimination as well. As ideal body image changes to leaner more fit athletic and “underwear model” looking individuals the more overweight and obese individuals pale in

It is a little strange that this should be so. After all, these are not the conventional images of nudity that society judges as beautiful. In her essay “Beauty (re)discovers the male body”, feminist philosopher Susan Bordo explores the female stereotypes to which I refer. In a world ruled by images, she claims, women portrayed in the media influence the average woman’s notion that she must be seen. Further, media’s emphasis on displaying women with thin figures signals to society that this is the normative body type, the ideal. Even those advertisements which are meant to highlight women’s “great careers or exciting adventures” (216) are pervaded by thinness: “The plots may say: ‘The world is yours.’ The bodies caution: ‘But only if you aren’t fat.’” (Bordo, 216) Thus, it is unsurprising that women internalize these messages and reproduce them with rigor, criticizing others’ who might not live up to this stereotype. When obese women do appear in the media, such as in diet commercials, their bodies are portrayed as undesirable. Thus, the everyday obese woman is prompted to be ashamed of her body. She is signaled hide it, with or without clothes, when she knows herself be the object of assessment.

Physical beauty is constructed by the society that we live in. We are socialized from a very young age to aspire to become what our culture deems ideal. Living in the United States, as in many other Western cultures, we are expected to be well-educated, maintain middle-class or upper-class status, be employed as well as maintain a physical standard of beauty. Although beauty is relative to each culture, it is obvious that we as Americans, especially women, are expected to be maintain a youthful appearance, wear cosmetics and fashionable clothes, but most importantly: not to be overweight. Our society is socially constructed to expect certain physical features to be the norm, anything outside this is considered deviant. Obesity is defined

There is a notion throughout not just American popular culture, but everyday life that if you want to be seen as a beautiful and accepted woman you must be thin. Women

The pressure to have a perfect body is even greater due to media. But the truth is, most public figures are 15% below a normal and healthy BMI. This beauty standard is becoming increasingly difficult because most women (96%) are not born with this specific body type causing women to take extreme measures to accomplish this ideal. Media exposure of the thin-ideal body and materialistic values is causing eating disorders, body dissatisfaction and affecting a person's well being.

It is a topic that the everyday women is likely to have experienced, but may not have named. When an individual internalizes a culture’s beauty standard, such as the prevalent Western thin obsession of the past few decades, they are likely to attempt to conform and alter their behaviors to meet this standard (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 2001). This altering of behaviors can include disordered eating such as extreme dieting or restrictive food intake as well as increasing physical activities to levels resulting 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.

An example about this issue that I found very interesting are the models of Victoria’s Secret. They are one of the strongest role models for many women around the world, in an article published by Uloop Inc. it is state how 99% of the population has a negative view of their body image, women being the 56%. This negative view can lead to anxiety, damaged relationships, and depression; these numbers have become alarming in a worldwide level. In the past Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show the numbers of viewers were 9.3 million; imaging this excessive amount of people thinking that those models are what perfection is, and what every women should aspire for. This article also talks about the average weighs (BMI) of a model in the Victoria Secret Show, this weigh being 23% less than the average female.

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?