Love Your Appearance Analysis

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

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

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

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.

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,

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.

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

In order to understand what the ideal male body form is, a student was conducted to research the body image concerns of college men. It found that men without eating disorders preferred the V-shaped body whereas men with eating disorders desired the “lean, toned, thin” shape. Surprisingly, all men in the study picked the full-chested, thin-waisted body shape, as well as the look of strength and agility which is explained through Lipman, “the early American value system, which stressed the attributes of physical prowess for men, made sense then because it was anchored in and relation functionality to the frontier and rural society” (Anderson 63). In other words, this old concept of masculinity displays a cultural setback where physical prowess is not a requirement for success in today’s society. An example of media playing the institutionalized male body ideals is through men’s magazines which emphasizes activity, movement, and physical prowess. As a result, men look at their chest, arms, stomach, and legs to try to see muscularity. If physical prowess is desired, being underweight is a much greater taboo than being comfortable with being overweight or within their ideal weight. “Only 77% of underweight men liked their appearance as opposed to 83% of underweight women” (Anderson

For both Americans and Mauritanians, bodies that are aligned with their respective standards are attractive to women because they have an aspect of power tied to them. For example, women from many different backgrounds are exposed to “media and sociocultural messages that idealize thinness as a key to feminine beauty and personal success” (Cheng 821-851). This quote referenced American standards; however, the same can be applied to Mauritanian standards because being overweight shows that you are wealthy and have power. For women in both countries, by fitting into the ideals, they are given an advantage in many situations because they are appealing to the people making the decisions, which in many cases is male. Many women choose to follow such beauty standards because it makes their lives easier since they don’t have to face the ridicule of not following the standards.

The culture in America sends a very powerful message to women. 1“A woman 's sense of self-esteem is dependent upon her perceived attractiveness to the opposite sex, and body weight plays an increasing importance in whether she is considered physically attractive,”

In the mid twentieth century, ladies venerated motion picture symbols, for example, Marilyn Monroe and Camille Clifford. Around 1900s, Camille Clifford began the pattern where the models of excellence were set around 140 pounds, at 5'4" feet tall. In those days, the perfect female body is by having a littler mid-area (e.g. hourglass perfect/bodices). Marilyn Monroe's modest waist and apparently huge bust line activated female fans to begin to connect with additional on physical exercises. The upheaval on slim looking depiction of self-perception started in mid 1960s (e.g. Design symbol, Twiggy). Most western social orders experience huge weights on people to acclimate and accomplish the dainty perfect. This impact by broad communications influences pretty much anybody including guys and females, grown-ups, young people, and youngsters.

“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.

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.

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