Written
By: Jenne
Does
my bum look big in this?
If
only I looked like her, he wouldn't have left me, would he?
I
wish I could be a size 6 again, you know like I was before I
had the baby.
How
many times have you found yourself asking or being asked these
questions or questions like them and let's face it there are
a million variations, but all of them have the same meaning
behind them. We are looking for reassurance. Reassurance that
we still fit into the "norm" that society has conviently
created for us.
I'm
willing to bet there are few people reading this article that
are completly happy with their body image, you know what I mean
- I used to hate my flabby bits, feel paranoid about what other
people think, and get stressed out about the size of my hips/pecs/boobs/nose
(insert your hang-up here) as well. So how did I change my body
image and become the person that I am today. The first thing
I did was take a reality check and realised that real life isn't
like the movie, the glossy magazines or the catwalks despite
the way it might appear.
Let's start by looking at some facts:
•
The average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140
pounds.
•
The average American model is 5'11" tall and weighs 117
pounds.
•
Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women.
•
42% of elementary school students between the 1st and 3rd grades
want to be thinner.
•
80% of children who are ten years old are afraid of being fat.
•
45% of women are on a diet on any given day.
•
80% of women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
•
51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves
if they are on a diet.
•
35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting
and/or eating disorders.
•
91% of women surveyed on a college campus have dieted.
•
Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related
products each year.
•
The diet industry takes in over $40 billion each year, and is
still growing.
•
Studies show that plastic surgeries amongst teens increased
by 50% from 1996-1998.
•
Girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear
war, cancer or losing parents.
•
60% of American women are actually a size 12 or larger.
• If shop mannequins were real women, they'd be too thin
to menstruate.
•
Marilyn Monroe wore a size 14.
•
If Barbie were a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours
due to her proportions.
•
More than 50% of women overestimate the size of their bodies,
according to a 1986 study.
•
Research in Canada and the UK suggests that the wealthier you
are, the more likely you are to dislike your body. Experts think
there’s more pressure on the wealthy to achieve the thin
'ideal' because they have the money to do so and because they're
more exposed to media imagery. Europe has much higher levels
of body image dissatisfaction than less developed countries.
I
think you'll agree that all this paints a pretty bleak picture
of our general attitudes towards our bodies. So how can we put
a stop to this confidence-crushing negativity, rid our insecurities
and start celebrating what we’ve got? How about we start
with a severe reality check of where these negative images come
from and why.
The
Media
Each day we're bombared by hundreds of media images through
television, films, magazines, newspapers, websites and advertising.
All most all of these feature beautiful people selling beautiful
dreams. Whether it's an escapist action movie with its muscular
leading man or a designer jeans ad featuring a taut, tanned
babe, they’re saying 'buy this and you can be like me'.
The trouble is, 'me' isn’t that easy to attain. 'Me' is
actually completely unrealistic, for two reasons:
Image
Manipulation Is King.
If you compare magazine covers of 50 years ago with those of
today and you'll see that they're much less polished. You might
even notice that models back then had some 'flaws'. When we
look at cover shots today what we are witnessing is no longer
reality but the often subtle art of image manipulation. Thanks
to image manipulation programmes like paintshop pro and photoshop
to name just a couple, we no longer have to see the models flaws,
flabby parts and imperfections even though in reality though
do exist. What we are presented with instead are perfect images,
flawless skin and a body image that is obtainable easily with
the help of these image manupilation programmes as is demonstrated
here in this before and after.
Don't
take my word for it though, simply click your mouse over the
image below and watch this young lady transform herself into
a princess complete with lightsabre!
Or
try this one
With
the image processes that are available today it's possible to
make anyone looked good!
Looking
good is a models full-time job.
Celebrities and models look great because it's their job to
encourage us to buy whatever they're selling. However, it's
wise to remember that as part of that job, they're fortunate
enough to have access to personal trainers, hairdressers, make-up
artists, stylists and even personal chefs. If you had all of
this, wouldn't you look gorgeous too? The irony is, you might
not like yourself any better. Despite the perks, being a celebrity
or model is a competitive industry and most stars are still
insecure.
These
days, being in the public eye is about wealth rather than health
something again that is worth remembering.
Take
Action
Don't believe everything you see. Start to recognise
the images you see in the media for what they are - constructed,
manipulated, unreal. Even Kate Moss looks like crap first thing
in the morning and has boyfriends dump her.
Stop
comparing yourself with media images. Why spend your life
conforming to somebody else's ideal? Focus on doing what you
can with what you have. Exercise regularly, nourish your body
with healthy foods and remember to relax. Accept that unhealthy
is unattractive. Working out until you feel faint or starving
yourself to get rid of body fat isn't clever, it's unhealthy.
Pale, drawn and lethargic or rosy-cheeked and energetic - which
do you prefer?
Stay
in touch with reality. When you feel bombarded by media
beauties, stop for a second and take a look around you. We come
in all shapes and sizes, right? There's no right and wrong -
just wonderful diversity, and if you for who you rather than
what you think you should be others will accept you too.
Most
people don't learn to appreciate what they've got until much
later in life, I know I didn't which is one of the reasons that
I decided to write this article. Recognising the above can be
a great first step towards excepting ourselves for who we really
are rather than what the media, or our parents, our peers or
even ourselves think we should be. It takes courage to stop
thinking about what you could be and accepting what you are,
trust me I've been there, but the benifits far outway the negatives,
and once you start the journey you'll likely never look back
.
[Special
thanks to Galina and Studpig
for the graphics work and fetishbrokers for providing the image.]
