A county’s socioeconomic status has also proven to be a significant factor. Many traditional cultures throughout the world have an extensive history of men who were praised with large bodies. Reasons for this included locations experiencing a lack of food, an issue that continues to plague many underdeveloped countries today. “In places where the food supply is often or cyclically inadequate, fat is a status symbol,” states psychotherapist Carolynn Hillman in her book, Love Your Looks: How to Stop Criticizing and Start Appreciating Your Appearance.10 With neither enough food nor the money to afford it available, seeing a man with a plump figure was a strong communicator that he was both wealthy and well fed. Although this idea has diminished
Julius Caesar stated “Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look, he thinks too much; such men are dangerous.” Cassius’ “lean and hungry look” unsettled Julius Caesar, who preferred the company of fat, contented men whom he believed were more trustworthy and appreciative. When we think of heavier people, we think that they are nice because they have nothing to be mean about and typical thin people will be stuck up and rude to the heavier person because they do not see that heavier person for who he really is. This is a stereotype; heavier people are not necessarily jolly, and thin people are not necessarily mean or stuck up. Stereotypical attributes have had a negative effect on society,
He states that American television has created an aura around the fat man as unwanted, thus creating a culture that shames those who are see has “heavy’ or “big.” The fat man, especially is seen as a figure who is soft and lacking masculinity to be attractive enough to play the big roles. This is evident with gay men, as the show Seinfeld has created an unwanted image of a fat man for the gay
Western society has a relatively strict idea about how a woman should look, think, and act. It lauds thinness and is disgusted by fatness. This kind of notion causes women to seriously question themselves. Ideal bodies and faces are all over the media and are a very large
“Black Beauty: An Autobiography of a Horse” is about a horse named, Black Beauty, who hates breaking in and is being attached to unbearable, heavy equipment. Slowly as the story continues, his miserable pain turns into pride when he carries his master on his back. The excerpt from “The Georges and the Jewels” is about Abby, a horse rider, who has been knocked off by an unskilled horse. Later on in the story, lying on the floor, she is reminded of her favorite horse, a sweet boy mare and how she enjoyed riding her every time. In the excerpts, “Black Beauty: An Autobiography of a Horse” by Anna Sewell and “Georges and the Jewels” by Jane Smiley, the authors use first person point of view to demonstrate the character’s development throughout the story. The first person point of view is very vivid on how the characters feel, which lets the reader thoroughly understand the character’s transitions easily.
With the birth of social media in recent years, body image has become an issue for many. Weight concern is particularly prominent in East Asian countries like Korea (Lee, et al., 2014). Because of traditional Korean beauty standards that often emphasize slimness (Lee, et al., 2014), it is interesting to observe the juxtaposition of mukbangs’ appeal in a society that values the opposite of what is
Throughout history, we see many variations in what is depicted to as the “ideal” body type for women. Historical evidence in literature and art shows that in early centuries, desirable women had voluptuous and rounded figures. In Ancient Greece 500-300 B.C., women were considered “disfigured” versions of men; as shown in sculptures and classical paintings, they were light skin, plump and full-bodied (Dovas, 2015). In the Italian Renaissance 1400-1700, we see fair-skinned women with ample bosoms, rounded bellies, and full hips. In his poem, Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare describes Venus, the Roman goddess, “My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow; My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning”. In Victorian England 1837-1901, women were also full-figured, desirably plump and compressed their torso with corsets to achieve a well-formed shape (Dovas, 2015). From her novel Little Women published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott described a character Margaret, “Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain.” These historical examples show that plump women were considered beautiful and attractive. The thin
Body Image evolves from one look to another. According to The Peel Heritage Complex (www.region.peel.on.ca/health/commhlth/bodyimg/media.htm) we began in the 1890’s with a beautiful “plump body, pale complexion, representing wealth, an abundance of food and a refined indoor life style.” That would be about 5’8” and 132 lbs. Now, a model is no shorter than 5’7” and weighs no more than 115 lbs. Many people need to be reminded that most pictures of the models are airbrushed, possibly to the extent that it does not look like them anymore.
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.
I think that it is all about perception, each culture have their idea of what is beauty, for example in Africa, man are more attracted to woman on the bigger side because they believe they are easier to reproduce. Where in here in america in the media the thin girl are what we think beauty should look like example our
It has not always been this way. As far a field as Europe only a couple of hundred years ago, if you didn't have a bust that could not be ignored or curves that drove a man to distraction, your chances of finding a man were lessened more or less in proportion to your body size. In some cultures today, the big woman is the epitome of good health, love for life and yes, sexiness.
Lieven Migerode and An Hooghe composed “‘I love you’. How to understand love in a couple therapy? Exploring love in context” to show there are different ways to look at the way one feels about love. Many individuals seem to justify that love defines the relationship and in turn the relationship defines love. Love too many is not just an emotion but an actual thought process. As one will explore and focus on the consideration of love and love’s influences, exploring love in the phrase of ‘I love you’ may lead a therapist to consider built-in contradictions. There are many different forms to take into consideration when dealing with love such as: attachment, reflection, and conflict.
Over the course of the novel, one can see that each character has a different attitude and mindset towards the beauty standards created in the early 1940s. Characters like Frieda and Claudia do not agree with the beauty standards set by society. Claudia is seen to “represent an automatic rejection of external standards that were impossible for her to meet” (Gonzalez 210). They find flaws in Maureen Peal to prove she is not “perfect” and they call her mean names. Also, throughout the novel, Claudia has a hatred for what people determine is beautiful. She would dismember her white baby dolls to try and find the beauty in them that other people saw. Claudia would examine each part of the doll, trying to find an ounce of beauty in it until she was left with the metal ball inside of it. In addition, Claudia hates Shirley Temple, whereas Frieda and Pecola find her cute. Claudia hates her because she danced with Bojangles whom Claudia referred to as “my friend, my uncle, my daddy…” (Morrison 19). She was jealous and mad that a little white girl got to dance with Bojangles, a black man. Also, Claudia preferred Jane Withers, who played opposite Shirley Temple in the film Bright Eyes. For the most part Claudia and Frieda do not strive to meet the beauty standards created by society.
The thin body is such a cultural standard and is an unchallenged norm and is rarely questioned as a state of being. Universal media images reinforce and perpetuate the normalcy of thinness. When watching a movie, a television show, or even flipping through a magazine, those with a slimmer body dominate. Even if there is an individual with a slightly larger figure, typically the plot line is centered around that, and it isn’t considered normal. Thin individuals are made to feel welcome and normal in the usual walks of public life. Meanwhile, those without privilege must negotiate daily interactions, sometimes feeling shame, guilt, and anger because of their bodies (Kawn 147). Those without the privilege experience being judged and, at times, verbally abused. These experiences leave them emotionally scarred and weary of any social interactions with strangers in public spaces. If they choose to interact they run the risk of the abuse repeating, and only adding to their
My emotional style is suppression. I didn’t realize how much your cultural environment plays in the role of emotional intelligence, until now. Growing up as a young boy, I was taught that men do not cry nor show emotions because it’s labeled as a sign of weakness. When I was confronted with a situation my brain would tend to go into transactional analysis, and I would react the same way I always did. I did not assess a situation and express the proper emotion associated with each situation. People would often refer to me as robotic in nature, because I would express no emotion. Advantages that come along with emotional suppression is that people are less likely to assume, pass judgement, and ask questions because they are clueless as to what’s going on in your life. At that point in my life I was a rather conservative and very private person and did not need to discuss intimate nor minor details of my life with an
In the Elizabethan Era the heavier someone is, the more wealthy he or she was. Now everyone wants to be super skinny. What is the reasoning for being so skinny the where the outline of the ribs are showing? Does that really have to happen? Everyone is perfect the way they are. Someone shouldn 't be judged before they