Essay topic: Body Image
Beauty Shouldn’t Be Painful
Imagine your best friend skipping lunch at school. Once they go home, they go to their room and spend hours looking at themselves in the mirror, instead of doing homework. Then, they help get dinner ready, but don’t eat. It’s time for bed, but they exercise until midnight. They get ready to go to sleep: get in bed and go on Facebook. On Facebook is tons of popular cheerleaders that go to your school, as well as flawless models from all around the world. You know your best friend has had issues since you two were little, before school and exposure to media. What’s the problem here? Body image: poor body image. Media, peers, and even self influence is to blame for poor body image.
Media is everywhere, and seeing the harsh images 24/7 will have a huge impact on each individual's body image. This teaches younger children growing up in this society that you have to look this way to be considered attractive. Models and photo editing programs are mostly to blame for these horrendous unachievable images. Media plays a big part in influencing all of our opinions of ourselves. In the article “The Issue” in “NYC Girl’s Project” it states “63 percent of girls think the body image represented by the fashion industry is unrealistic and 47 percent think it is unhealthy, yet 60 percent say that they compare their bodies to fashion models, 48 percent wish they were as skinny as the models in fashion magazines, and 31 percent of girls admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy to lose weight.” This is horrendous. A “harmless” advertisement that shows unrealistic images of the ‘perfect’ body. When kids, teens, and even adults, compare themselves to models or actors, it harms their self esteem. Media is essentially destroying our world’s self esteem.
Peers also have a vast play into what we see ourselves as. Whether it's bullying or overhearing a conversation about something negative towards self body image, it can impact you. Peer pressure and bullying are two major issues with society today. When you are bullied to the the point that you don't see yourself how other civilized people see you, it's just flat out mean. As well as pressuring someone to do something they don't really want to do, is just cruel. In the Livescience article “Peers, Not TV, Influence Girls’ Body Image: Study” states, “A new study found that girls might actually feel the biggest pressure to be thin from comparing themselves with their peers.” and "This suggests that peer competition is more salient to body and eating issues in teenage girls." Peers around you can also be a substantial impact on your own body image.
Being born with the natural harsh judgement is also a big reason of having poor body image. In the Livescience article “Peers, Not TV, Influence Girls’ Body Image: Study” it declares that another study including a large survey of twins in Michigan: 343 female twins ages 12 to 22. Some questions that were asked were about how much they wanted to look like women they saw on television, in magazines and in advertisements.
“The researchers then compared how identical and fraternal twin pairs answered the questions. Because siblings are raised in very similar environments, the difference between fraternal twins, who share about half of their genes, and identical twins, who share all of their genes, would suggest a genetic underpinning to body dissatisfaction.” What was found was the more similar genes, the more similar answers. When we start paying attention to our looks, what we think, or what we do, at a young age, we carry that with us throughout our lives. Some people are born with perfectionism, some aren't, but for those who are, it's a curse and a blessing. It can help motivate you to complete a task, or it can stress you out to the point of giving up all together. Either way, perfectionism is a gift, and curse, that can also have a big impact on how you see your body.
In the long run, body image has many influences for each individual person. Body dysmorphic disorder is an impact of negative self image. BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) can lead to other terrible behaviors such as eating disorders, depression, self harm, and suicide. In the article “Body Dysmorphic Disorder” it shows, “In cases of BDD, social isolation can occur if the person becomes too self-conscious to go out in public. This also can have a negative impact on school or work. People with BDD also are at high risk for developing major depression, and the distress associated with the disorder puts people with BDD at high risk for suicide.” From media, to peers, to oneself, body image is poor due to these influences. We can stop poor body image by providing positive feelings toward our own body and spreading that throughout the world.
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