The Perfect Body

The Perfect Body

  • Submitted By: aliaaa
  • Date Submitted: 06/19/2010 12:45 AM
  • Category: Social Issues
  • Words: 1261
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 1

"Feeling guilty when eating a brownie? Well, just throw it up " "Want to be thinner? Just don't eat." "Don't you like your breasts? Well, just get them enlarged!". This is the attitude that the media gives women today, and it isn't good. In today's society, women are plagued with images of the so-called "perfect body”; this causes many negative effects on women of today's society. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, and a rewarding career.

Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger and more mature than any of the models? The roots, some analysts say, are economic. By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. And its no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between forty to a hundred billion dollars. On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls. But where do we draw the line between selling and brainwashing? Advertising not only sells products, it sells ideals, morals and standards for society and communicates what it believes is acceptable and favored behavior. A generation ago, the average model weighed eight percent less than the average women, while...

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