Historical Context for Negative Body Image

Different body shapes have been ‘in’ for women during different eras

Only a century ago the ideal female body was the opposite of what it is today. Dimpled flesh, today’s cellulite, was beautiful. Fatness was viewed as a sign of energy and health. The thin silhouette sought today was considered sickly and a sign of a poor bet for a bride.
Around the turn of the century slenderness became more fashionable although it would still be considered too fat by today’s standards.
By the 1920’s the Victorian hourglass gave way to the thin flapper who bound her breasts to achieve the washboard profile that looked so good doing the Charleston.
Just as the girdle achieved its technological maturity the voluptuous Marilyn Monroe in the 1950’s set a new standard for women. Now they needed to rebuild the curves they had tried to stave, bind and restrain.
Short lived was the respite for the 1960’s saw the arrival of Twiggy. She weighed a shapeless 91lbs.
The 1980’s beauty ideal remained slim but required a more toned and fit look. Women could no longer just diet into the correct size; there was new pressure to add exercise to achieve the right look
The 1990’s body ideal is very slim and large breasted an almost impossible combination.

The result of all this is that most women suffer with negative body image

Why Negative Body Image is a Problem

The inordinate emphasis on women’s external selves makes it very difficult for women to appreciate their internal selves. When women are so focused on their body they are not able to devote much energy to other aspect of their lives.
Attempts to meet the ideal are often ineffective in the long run and can lead to physical and psychological behavioural problems, including binge eating disorders. Other psychological effects of the pursuit of the perfect body include low self esteem, feelings of failure and inferiority, irritability, loss of libido and memory problems. Body dissatisfaction is also associated with depression, anxiety, relationship problems, self contempt and social introversion. Women pay a high price for being at war with their bodies.
Most women cannot physiologically nor psychologically attain the ideal. Yet for failing to do the impossible they are viewed as irresponsible. Their belief is that if only they worked hard enough at dieting they would be thinner and more attractive. This is a myth.
Only a small minority of women are genetically designed to naturally fall within the narrow weight range currently ideal.
When women deprive themselves to lose weight their body retaliates by slowing down the metabolism. This makes it more difficult to lose weight and intensifies the problem. Some researchers believe that repeated dieting attempts means dieters have to work harder each time they diet, increasing the likelihood of failure.

Weight as a Measure of Self Worth

In our society the thin is beautiful and beautiful is good belief prevails. This means that women often use weight as a yard stick with which to measure self worth and attractiveness.
It is common for women to enter a room and assess their status by assessing which women are thinner and which are fatter than they are. As a result being female often means feeling inadequate.
Attractiveness is not the prerequisite for masculinity but it is for femininity in our culture. We use the word handsome to describe attractive men. Handsome is derived from the Middle English word ‘handsom’ which refers to the ability to manipulate or do. It is first a word about action and secondly about appearance. It is associated with qualities of achievement and strength. How often do you associate these attributes with beautiful or pretty?
Women are expected to have far more control over the body, its function, shape and size than men.

What Role does the Media Play?

The media presents a thinner than average women as ideal and implies a strong connection between being thin, using beauty products and being happy.
In both entertainment and advertising, thinness is typically associated with status, wealth and success for women.
Although there is no evidence that happiness is directly related to weight that is the message that is pounded home and females learn the lesson well.
Unrealistic and changing body standards breed a society of women who cannot accept their bodies as they are, even if they are within a normal healthy range.
The media is not responsible for the body dissatisfaction epidemic but it is an integral part of it

General Information

Thin women are not happier than other women – research has shown that women who meet the body/ beauty ideal are just as likely to be unhappy about their looks as women who do not.
Interestingly women who have had a mastectomy for breast cancer feel more satisfaction with their body than women who have not had breast surgery or disease.
Despite not meeting the societal ideal the women with the mastectomy report they become more appreciative of their body and less likely to treat it as an object to manipulate into a particular shape.
The drive for thinness recedes as women become older – 40’s and 50’s. Although this may reflected in women being kinder to themselves on the dieting front

To be a productive and happy member of society women must be well nourished and have energy to channel other pursuits. This is not possible if they are obsessively counting calories, restricting their intake, daydreaming about food and weight and futilely whipping their bodies into an unobtainable shape. It is essential for women to consider the effects that the pursuit of the perfect body has on their lives and to challenge their beliefs about weight and appearance.

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