The Ideal Body Image
Living in a first world country such as the United States has many benefits: wealth, health, and guaranteed education all being part of them. However living in a heavily Eurocentric based society creates problems for people as well. Body image being one of them. As a society, there are rules in which you can only fit into two genders, as well as act, and look in a certain manner. This creates unrealistic standards that others based themselves on. Always questioning the characteristics of the body they were born into, and how it can be changed in order to fit into the majority's ideal body type.
WHAT IS CIVIC ENGAGEMENT?
- Allison Hendricks defines civic engagement in the article “What is civic engagement? Definitions, examples, how tos, and more,” as an engagement that focuses on participation in political activities, community activities or both.
- In the article “Civic Engagement: Why Cultural Institutions Must Lead the Way” Deborah Cullinan says “At its essence, democracy in the United States is a system of government rooted in a belief in liberty and justice for all. This system depends on the consent and participation of the people. It depends on citizen engagement.
- My definition of Civic Engagement is being involved in the community in order to create a change for the better, or at the very least start a conversation towards change. For this class I believe it would be defined as using public art in order to use it as a tool for social impact.
Findings
Based on research conducted by Subhashini Ganesan, she has found that "Among the 1220 students who participated in the current study, 791 (64.8%) of them had undertaken at least one weight control measure in the past 1 year. Of which 157 (19.8%) were satisfied and 634 (80.2%) were dissatisfied with their body image.This study also showed that 64.8% of the college students had undertaken at least one weight control measure in the past 1 year. It also showed that girls who were dissatisfied with their appearance tend to do more weight control measures and the most common weight control measures were eating small meals, skipping meals, and avoiding certain foods. It also showed that the majority of students have cited improving the appearance and to look better in clothes as main reasons for going in for weight control measures. This was also found similar to other studies which showed that appearance was a major motivation for dieting practices."
In order to fall into these ideals, we go to extremes to do so. As long as our society continues to show diversity through the screens, we will be able to see there are other people who look similar to us. From childhood to adulthood we are guided through advertisements and films on how to look, and act. Advertisements such as Project Body Hair by Billie shows a diverse cast who represents not only different ethnicities but different body shapes as well.
OUR EXPERIENCES AND THOUGHTS
Viviana Bautista
As a shorter, not skinny, brown skinned girl, I've
found myself lost in thought for hours trying to
come up with ways to, in a way, fit into the
Eurocentric ideal for beauty. Whether it was
through buying products for skin correction, or
falling into negative eating habits. Growing up I
never felt beautiful in my city, it was prominently
a Caucasian neighborhood. However moving to
LA has exposed me to communities who are
more like me and I’ve learned to cherish that. I
find myself following pages with people who look
similar to me, or who don’t fit into the norms,
as a reminder that people with different characteristics
are out there the media is the one who prevents us from seeing them
Kari Flores
I was at my worst around three years ago.
Growing up I never had to deal with acne. I think
after moving out of my parents for college, it
put my through a lot of stress, so my face started
to break out. I would try creams promoted to clear it, but it just wouldn't go away. My self positivity differs day to day. On some days I feel very confident, whereas on other days I don’t want to leave home. I feel like Instagram has had a huge impact on my self-consciousness, everyone looks so perfect in their photos, but when I take some, I find myself being more critical. As bad as it may sound my standard of beauty is still skinny and clear skin, but only to me, those are my own goals.
Kassandra Navarette
Due to society’s ideal image of what someone should
look like, I feel overweight. I remember at the age of
15 feeling ashamed of my body. Victoria secret
models are skinny and perfect in my eyes, so it made
me insecure to compare myself to them. However I
do think we are all beautiful in our own way based
on our personality.
Leslie Ramirez
In this day and age, I feel like people are heavily criticized based on their looks. You would thing
our generation would be more aware of things
such as appearances. I believe everyone is
beautiful in their own way. I remember being
super self-conscious around the age of thirteen,
ever since I’ve been working hard on accepting
my body for what it is.
Abraham Albiso
Today’s society bases beauty off of mainly the body structure of a person. To fit into the body structure of an ideal man, I would have to be tall, skinny and strong. I personally don’t fit into the ideal characteristics. That bothered me growing up, but I’ve changed my view ever since. I think as I grew older I found that no matter what you look like, beauty and attraction do not always correlate.
Citations:
Ganesan, S., Ravishankar, S. L., & Ramalingam, S. (2018). Are Body Image Issues Affecting Our Adolescents? A Cross-sectional Study among College Going Adolescent Girls. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 43, S42–S46. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_62_18
SIDES-MOORE, L., & TOCHKOV, K. (2011). The Thinner the Better? Competitiveness, Depression and Body Image among College Student Women. College Student Journal, 45(2), 439–448. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=61863673&site=ehost-live
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