Body Image

1. Chapter 1: Body Image Samantha Noonan

2. Quote that jumped out at me! “For women, life can often seem like a beauty pageant. Throughout every phase of our lives, from childhood to maturity, our appearance is judged and critiqued. Our looks are compared to those of our peers, our sisters, the women in the media, or imaginary ideals. We’re rated pretty, ugly, plain-or just plain average. No one has ever asked us if we want to compete in this lifelong beauty contest. Being born female automatically makes us contestants, whether we like it or not” (Our Bodies, Ourselves pg 3).

3. Beauty for Sale Our physical characteristics are, for the most part, beyond our control. Through medias renteless ads and articles, they define what “the look” is and ensure that we feel insecure about our ability to meet it. Too often, the beauty ideal embraced by our culture is a white ideal. In the 1850’s skin bleaching and hair straightening was pitched to African Americans as a way to obtain privileges of white society. These skin whiting products later caused serious problems to users.

4. Beauty for sale cont….. Studies show that people assume attractive women and men are more sexually alluring, sociable, and smart, and that women considered attractive have better paying jobs and more opportunities for advancement. Research has shown that elementary school teachers often give special treatment to children they find cute, and “good looking criminals often get lighten sentences.

5. He Loves me, he loves me not Women are judged intensely on our looks because men have a disproportionate amount of power and control; in patriarchal societies, women gain status through relationships with men, and appearance serves as a measure of our desirability as sexual partners. The pornography industry is focused almost entirely on men's sexual pleasure. Researchers have found that the more we identify with what are considered negative “feminine” traits, like passivity, dependence, and unassertiveness, the more likely we are to suffer from body image problems and disordered eating, regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity.

6. The Media Lies Researchers have found that ongoing exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perceptions of reality. The image of “perfection: we see in the media excludes women with disabilities. The average American sees 3,000 adds per day. Almost all commercial media aimed at women are supported by advertising revenue from the fashion, beauty, diet and food industries, and their survival depends on their ability to please sponsors.

8. The Media Lies cont….. To make a sale, magazine editors only need to play our doubts or create new ones, making us think we have “problems” that don’t really exist.

9. Do I look fat? During the 1800’s, women were expected to be slightly plump. But during the 20th century, this changed. As American women obtained equal rights, the pressure grew to be thin. In the 1920’s, after women gained the right to vote and were given more access to birth control, the flapper ideal took hold. Flappers dieted their way to boyishly slim figure and bound their breasts to appear flat-chested.

10. Do I Look Fat cont…. The emphasis on extreme thinness persisted into the 1960’s and 1970’s, coexisting with the feminist movement. Girls learn quickly that fat is the ultimate F-word. Dieting and disordered eating are wide spread among adolescent girls. This is among all races.

11. Girl Power During adolescence, girls gain an average of 25 pounds of body fat, which is necessary for proper development. Advertisers and other media have reinterpreted this idea as “Girl Power” which tells girls we can wear anything we want and no one can tell us otherwise. In this interpretation, power has nothing to do with character or achievement but it is instead the result of having a perfect body and not being afraid to show it off.

12. Our Bodies growing older Many cultures around the worlds value the aging process. **Ex: In China, the word for “teacher” translated to “old master,” regardless of her age. However in America, aging is seen as a disease that must be cured. Quote from one middle aged women – “I will never lie about my age. Never, I often tell younger women how old I am, especially those who express fear about aging. I feel a responsibility to show them that I’m proud of who I am and what I’ve achieved in my life”.

14. Main Point to take away “You get only one body. Take a look at your hands, your feet, your stomach. Close your eyes and feel your breath flow in and out. This is the body that you were born with, and this is the body that you’ll die with. There’s no escaping it”

15. Facebook discussion Question for the class Think of all the people you see everyday; your friends, your family, co-workers, classmates. Of all those people name one person who has a confident body image and/or a good self esteem. Can you think of anyone? If you can think of someone, who are they? Why do you think they are comfortable in their own skin? Most importantly, what can we take away from this person?