The Thin Ideal Body Research Paper

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.

like they do because they feel that is the only way to be accepted in

The first reason for promoting a healthy body figures in women is because fat Acceptance Promotes Well-Being .When people are accepted they are happier. a robust, laughing 12-year-old from University Heights in the Bronx, says. The ads show girls of different races and sizes, some playing sports and one in a wheelchair. that it is beautiful. girls are getting more happier with their bodies, accepting themselves girls are not depressed it helps

For young girls and women in America, an unattainable standard of beauty is set. This ideal image of beauty even comes equipped with a specific ratio of female anatomical measurements. A 36-inch bust, 24-inch waist, and 36-inch hips. Women go to great lengths to achieve this thin yet curvaceous physique, from eating disorders, to diet pills to plastic surgery. Despite human efforts, for most, these goals are unattainable because we cannot change the physical ratios of our bodies on the skeletal level. This is something that does not come along with the “thin is in” message, so instead our country has nearly half of its females from ages 6-8 stating in studies that they would like to be slimmer. We are programming our children to believe that beauty is outward and is achieved through being aesthetically pleasing instead of educationally enriched and of sound

How should I look like to have the ideal body? An increasing number of women ask themselves this question many times in their lives. Deborah Sullivan’s essay, “Social Bodies: Tightening the Bonds of Beauty”, discloses the different cultural traditions that require various methods of body modifications. Women should undergo such modifications to obtain social acceptance. Similarly, “Pressures to Conform” by Celia Milne discusses the effects of media and society on women, and how women view their physical appearance. The media gives women a plethora of choices for the perfect body and even provides ways on how to achieve them. There is no escaping. There is no excuse of not getting the ideal body that ranges from that of a stick-thin ramp

The result of portraying this unrealistic woman lowers one’s self-esteem especially among adolescent and young females. These images make them view themselves as ugly and plain. Consequently, they desire this false perfectness and thus alter their bodies to achieve the so-called perfect figure by starving themselves, taking medication and drugs or doing cosmetic surgeries on their bodies. Unfortunately, the outcome for a woman who takes such drastic measures to achieve the immaculate body is an ill and unhealthy woman with lowered self-esteem. The question then becomes, why do we still believe in such

In movies, one always sees the thin women living great lives and looking happy. In contrast, there are the not so thin women who seem to struggle and be unhappy. This has shaped the moral of women today. Women are beginning to feel ashamed and discouraged of their bodies if they do not look like the next Victoria Secret model. According to society, thinness is associated with being happy. So if one wants to be happy and accepted by society, they must be no larger than a size four, and that might be pushing it, this is the world we are beginning to live in. The pressure is not just on women, but men too. For men, their ideal body is a little different compared to women. To be viewed as having a perfect body for a male, they need to be extremely muscular with ripped abs and defined muscles. “… a man takes off his shirt and you see a low percentage of body fat, rippling biceps, and 6-pack abs. That’s the

The “ideal body” has been constructed by a male-dominated culture and is not only supported but also strengthened by multibillion-dollar industries. Beauty ideals additionally encourage competitiveness and jealousy between women. The patriarchal and social conditioning women experience daily consequently contribute to low self esteem which is many times manifested by the deflection of one’s own insecurities and negative feelings about oneself onto others. Women particularly in the United States have been taught at an early age to hate fatness and have in turn internalized the perfect body as being thin with the dominating negative demeanor towards the overweight population best described as sociocultural phenomenon. This is shown by artwork as recent as the Renaissance period, where one can see that the female body was portrayed in a number of different ways through numerous paintings and sculptures, many including a more chunky and voluptuous figure. A figure that at different times and in different places was considered beautiful by popular opinion, a foreign concept to many people now. American’s are inherentley taught to loathe fatness with the “ideal body” type only further limiting and objectifying women through lowering self-esteem and self-worth. It is critical to fight widespread and detrimental negative body

Since the early twentieth century, Americans have adopted an obsession with the “thin ideal” - the concept of the ideally slim female body. As displayed throughout advertisements, magazines, television, and social media we are constantly bombarded with images of the ideal “skinny woman”. This, however, is not an accurate representation of the average woman’s body and can have an

Sharon Capuano, Nurse and Manager of the Health Center at Salve Regina University believes that different cultures perceive the ‘perfect body’ in different ways. Capuano says,” The idea of the perfect body has gone through an evolution.” She adds, “When you look back in history, women were heavier but as time goes on, they become skinnier.“ Magazines are starting to portray women it a negative way and it gives people false perception. Capuano says it makes women think to themselves, “ Oh, I want to look like you because everything is perfect.” False perception gives women unrealistic expectations and they will constantly live in a world where they are striving to be something that they are not. This leaves many women with no other choice but to struggle with insecurities on a daily basis.

Millions of women, day in day out, are bombarded with the media’s notion of the “ideal” female body. These impractical images are depicted within women’s magazines worldwide, sending out the message to women that they are not thin or pretty enough. Magazine companies spend billions of pounds yearly on diet and exercise advertisements to include in their magazines, having their readers buy into body dissatisfaction through unrealistic imagery of women, accompanied by dieting and exercise information. Many years ago, Marilyn Monroe, being a size 14, was considered to have the “ideal” body shape and size. However, today’s standard is much smaller and as our society’s beauty ideal continues to shrink in size, body image within women continues to deteriorate. Magazines interpret and associate happiness with being thin; consequently having some women feel if they are not thin, then they are not happy.

These are just some of the comments I stumble upon on someone’s body positive Instagram post. The post is often a photo of the said person - be it a selfie or a full body photo - along with hashtags such as “#bodypositivity,” “#loveyourself,” “#bodyacceptance,” and other hashtags along those lines. It also isn’t uncommon for me to come across body positive articles by media outlets like Buzzfeed or Huffington Post on my timeline, with headlines such as “X Star is a Huge Inspiration for the Body Positive Movement” or “X Star Opens Up about Body Positivity” appearing more frequently on my news feed. People are starting to talk

Overweight, underweight and imperfect all over. Body image is an issue that affects the way women view themselves. Young women are basing their desired appearance from photoshopped photos of celebrities, fashion magazines and society's stereotypes about a woman's physique. There has been an extreme amount of pressure on young women to have their desired figure since the beginning of time, different eras in time have created a body image for women that has become the standard for women’s appearance. In today's society there is too much pressure on young women to have a perfect physique because the media and entertainment place an idealistic image of what they should look like. Girls judge and envy each other on their body figure and are often

There are several possible ways of producing change in the way media and society portray the ideal female body and the consequences of this standard. First, the media has a large influence on women’s body image that they should change the images and messages that the media present and use a much wider range of models of different sizes and shapes. This change would discourage the idealization of the unattainable form, and would encourage readers and viewers to see a wide range of body types as acceptable (Dolan, 1994, p 51). Second, Jean Chow PhD RN suggest that education may be an approach to reducing the media’s impact on an individual’s self image perception that women are more than objects of beauty and success in life is not dependent on one’s dress size (2004). Another solution may be for women to be more selective of the media they choose to read, such as magazines with ads that attribute similar positive characteristics to heavy and thin people.

It is impossible to flip through a magazine without seeing advertisements or articles with slender models trying to manipulate readers into bettering their body. Due to the consistent viewing of articles and advertisements covered with half-naked, bony models, the idea that being thin is the typical body image of women today is set into the minds of the readers. The images of thinness are used to symbolize such things as happiness, success, and beauty.