“Drop
pounds and lose inches”, “Cheat, drink and still shrink”, “Change one thing and
shrink a dress size” are the oft-repeated bold headlines on the covers of
glossy magazines catering largely to women. Research shows that approximately
91% percent of Western women are unhappy with their bodies. In today’s world of
media blitz, we are all subjected to the same airbrushed glamorized images of super
thin models over and over.
The
trouble begins when our own body image appears grotesquely distorted while looking
into the mirror. A mere hundred pound
petite Asian woman thinks she can afford to lose a few pounds. Young
impressionable girls are often swayed by potentially dangerous dieting trends.
One such example is the cotton ball diet reportedly followed by fashion models
which involves dipping four or five cotton balls in orange juice or gelatin and
ingesting it in order to feel full. Extreme
dieting, exercise compulsion, laxative abuse, and bulimia have all been associated
with negative body image. Being thin is associated with hard work and self-discipline
whereas being fat is associated with laziness and lacking in willpower. This
size prejudice is widely reinforced by media, family and social groups. “Fat”
is no longer a description of body characteristic—it is an indication of moral
character.
Let
us look back over the past millennium and see how women’s ideal body shape has
changed. In Indian classics, women were
depicted as large hipped, narrow-waisted and in possession of large globular
breasts. Plumpness in women was sought
after and an elephantine gait was considered the epitome of grace and beauty. In
ancient Greece, Aristotle called the female form ‘a deformed male”. In male-centric Greece, the focus was on the
perfect male physique. There was no such pressure on women. Overall full
figured women were considered to be beautiful. In patriarchal Chinese society, sought after
court beauties had flawless porcelain skin and graceful lotus feet walk. In
Renaissance Italy, pale skin, high forehead and a rounded body were the ideals
of beauty. In Rubens’s paintings a protruding belly is often seen through
layers of clothing, suggesting the attractiveness of a well -fed woman. In the
Victorian era, with the advent of whalebone corsets, waists were clinched and
women achieved the hourglass figure at the expense of limited physical
movements. Frequent fainting spells often resulted from artificial constriction
of the ribcage in women’s apparel.
If
we look back over the past 100 years, we will find that the ideal body image
has changed every few decades. The 1920s were the era of flappers and freedom
for women. The androgynous, slim shape and bobbed flattened hair was preferred.
Flappers rarely wore corsets downplaying breasts or hips. By the 1950s this ideal was replaced by the well-rounded
proportions of the Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and
Sophia Loren. Along with the sexual
revolution the 1960s brought a new beauty ideal in the skinnier Twiggy Lawson.
This beauty ideal did not hold constant in the next few decades. Twiggy was
replaced by Jane Fonda’s more athletic body type. Suddenly exercise and fitness
craze had hit the Western world. In the new millennium, leggy models with big
breasts and toned bodies hold sway.
Such
body proportions are impossible to achieve by the average
women bombarded by images of glamour. Often women try to manipulate the one factor
they can exercise some control upon namely diet. Dieting for many women have
become a lifelong second carrier. However, the best kept secret of the 50-billion
dollar a year diet industry is that most diets do not seem to work in the long
run. Many women use exercise as one more
tool in their arsenal for achieving weight loss. It is not surprising that
women in staggering numbers turn to the surgeon’s knife in order to achieve the
desired shape.
Cosmetic
surgery is no longer restricted to the rich and privileged. Breast augmentation
or gluteal implants give women a more rounded shape in those body parts but
have no benefit other than cosmetic enhancement. Less common are procedures
such as tight lacing which can achieve a Jessica Rabbit like waist at the cost
of considerable discomfort. Women with flabby abdomens or postpartum abdominal protrusions
often fail to achieve a flat stomach by diet and exercise alone. As a result many resort to liposuction to
remove excess abdominal fat. The less
invasive tummy tuck is also popular with women seeking abdominal flattening. Needless
to say all surgical procedures come with inherent risks from general
anesthesia, infections, bleeding or nerve injury. Why do women voluntarily
undertake such risks? The answer lies in their poor body image and the desire
for instant solutions. The more a woman obsesses about her body, the more
extreme weight loss control actions she will take.
The
role of appearance and perceived romantic success is an important issue. Women
often wish to change their body shape in order to gain acceptance from their
partners. Another reason for obsessing about body shapes is to divert her focus
from other challenges in everyday life.
Some
prominent news anchors and celebrities have started speaking out against
negative stereotyping of women who are perceived as overweight. One of the
greatest gifts women can give themselves is to accept themselves
unconditionally. Women need to nourish themselves with accomplishments and
positive relationships and make every attempt to disengage from destructive
body image obsessions.
[RIMI PATI]
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