Today’s slim body perception poisons and leads many to dissatisfaction with their bodies, harmful effects of dieting, and extreme measures of weight control. Dissatisfaction is inevitable for many men and women due to extreme slim standards. The 1997 Psychology Today Body Image Survey shows there’s more discontent with the shape of our bodies then ever before. Fifty-six percent of women being questioned are dissatisfied with their overall appearance. Their self-disparagement is specifically directed toward their abdomens, body weights, hips, and muscle tone. Men show escalating dissatisfaction with their abdomens, weight, muscle tone, overall appearance, and chest. The overwhelming majority of women—89percent—want to lose weight; by contrast, 22 percent of the men who say they are dissatisfied with their bodies want to gain weight. Slim body image becomes poisoning in prospective of health hazards. David Garner, Ph.D., the director of the Toledo Center for Eating Disorders, has been researching and treating eating disorders for 20 years, heading one of the earliest studies linking them to changes in cultural expectations for thinness. Considerable research indicates that anorexia and bulimia are outgrowths of a negative body image and, further, that today’s epidemic increase in eating disorders is related to the intense pressure put on women to conform to ultra slender role models of feminine beauty. Vomiting and laxative abuse seem to be increasingly accepted as “normal” methods of weight control. A sizable proportion of respondents say they have resorted to extreme and dangerous weight-control methods in the last year: 13 percent of women and 4 percent say they induce vomiting; more than a third of each of these groups vomits once a week or more.
There is another strong perception that governs perfect world we live in today: we have to look toned and muscular. The magazines sort of force this body image on everybody of what it means to be physically fit person, whether we want to admit it or not, this image is what we want to look like. The idealized male body image nowadays is beefy and muscled, as epitomized in the Calvin Klein underwear advertisements show casting the bulging pecs and rippling abdomen of Antonio Sabato Jr. Hundreds of thousands of men in Canada and United States are flocking to gyms and health clubs in the quest to look buffed and toned. Whether or not exercise is effective as a method of weight control, it does tend to make people feel better about their appearance. It also improves both health and mood. While achieving toned body men tend to overpower their capabilities often injuring their ligaments and other muscle joints. Some men are taking the image to extremes. Statistics on steroid use show an alarming number of male teenagers across the country are using the substance illegally simply to put on muscle mass. And plastic surgeons report a general increase in men seeking their services to improve their appearance. In Halifax, Canada, plastic surgeon Dr. Kenneth Wilson says one of the most common surgeries he does for men is liposuction and muscle-mass implant.
The very ancient myth is still alive today that a person has to look young and beautiful to hold a respectful position. Most men and women alike do not think they are beautiful or youthful. Thus medically altered youthful look causes many to rise and shine for only a short period of time, while the alteration procedures are still at work, and hide ashamed as it wears out. The Botox injection procedure is one of the latest discoveries, and is spreading very fast across the United States. Many have been participating in house parties where Botox injections taken place and have been caught in this illegal procedure since the National Medicine Association approved Botox for medical observation only. Facial plastic surgery is going to extremes when people in search of firm and young look will change their facial features to the unrecognizable degree of Michael Jackson. There are still some women and men who use the ancient remedies of keeping their skin young, these include: avocado mix with oatmeal mask, milk moisturizer spritz, and yogurt mix with egg whites mask. Yet dissatisfaction and disappointment follow fast with the new altered look.
All of the above facts prove that popular modern image discriminates realistic standard. Modern image has to be aligned to the needs in a given environment. There are many illnesses and diseases already in existence and there is no need to develop any neo sicknesses by setting supernatural body image through ultra slim for ladies, beefcake look for men and super-young looking skin complexion. Diet is one of the longevity tools in ones life, and yet, it needs to meet body requirements for all vitamins and minerals for health and prosperity.
REFERENCES
- Rabak-Wagener J, Eickhoff-Shemek J, Kelly-Vance L. The effect of media analysis on attitudes and behaviors regarding body image among college students, Journal of American College Health; 07-01-1998
- Garner D, The 1997 body image survey results, Psychology Today; 01-11-1997
- McClelland S, Cover: The lure of the body image: In their quest for the beefcake look, some men try extreme measures: Maclean’s, 02-22-1999
