The idea of the perfect body is based on current opinion and has little to do with what the present “average” body size is.  Those who obsess over body image and weight are buying into the narrow and unhealthy standards society places on beauty.  These ideals dictate how they feel about their own body.  The methods we use to obtain such ideals (what we personally wish to look like) is unfair and unconcerned with the body structure with which we are born.  Every day, in order to reach such goals, individuals are risking their health.  By altering our distorted personal and societal beliefs as to what represents a beautiful body, we can greatly reduce the incidence of eating disorders and self-destructive attitudes towards our bodies.

No BODY is safe from the demands our culture places on appearance.  Children, adolescents, and adults, regardless of gender are expected to look a certain way. It may seem slightly cynical to assume that society changes what is considered the ideal body type based on how attainable it becomes.  Meaning, if too many people have the ideal body, the criteria have to change to preserve its unique quality.

There is no better example than this study done to assess the affect of the media and society on a woman’s self-esteem and body image:

Until 1995, the people of Fiji saw the ideal body as fleshy and plump. After watching America’s creations “Melrose Place”, “Beverly Hills 90210” and other similar shows from the western culture for three years, teenage Fijian girls displayed signs of eating disorders.

TV, magazines and billboards have us looking at the “beautiful people” everyday.  News channels highlight specific diet trends and advertise special reports on the nightly news regarding the obesity “epidemic” in America.  The checkout counters at grocery stores and pharmacies have magazines with celebrities all talking about how they stay so thin, who trains them, and how even you can get J. Lo’s butt or Madonna’s arms.  Their faces are staring down at us from the racks, right next to the books of special recipes which all have one common theme: LOSE WEIGHT- LOOK GREAT!  But the truth is, we can’t possibly look like them unless we have all our pictures airbrushed or are able to hire people do our makeup, hair, force us to exercise and chose our wardrobes every single day. 

Women especially have always endured a lot to get that perfect look- a look that just keeps transforming itself over and over.  During the 1800s, the image of a beautiful woman was full-figured-  A corset was used to restrict the waist and draw attention to the hips and buttocks, creating that classic “hourglass” figure.  But this look was tough on a woman’s body- they had deal with issues of breathing and digestion due to the tightness of the corsets.  As the 1900s rolled around, women were participating in athletics and a more slenderized physique became popular.  During the 1920’s flappers were slim and maintained active lifestyles.  Flappers would bind or squeeze their breasts together to flatten their silhouette.  A larger build was no longer the norm, but rather indicated a lack of self-control.  Just 30 years after that, thin women with large breasts- “Barbies”- became the ideal body type.  When the model, Twiggy arrived on the scene in the 1960’s, the perfect female body was ultra-thin and stick-like.  A flat figure with absolutely no hips or breasts were what women strived to achieve.  Each of these looks has dominated our society at some point or another and yet each of these looks is unnatural to the average woman.

In a culture of beauty pageants and pinup beauties, how else could women compete for the attention they deserved?  Year after year, pageant contestants got thinner.  In the new reality televisions show Top Model, a girl that even on camera (remember it adds 10 pounds) appeared thin in my eyes was told to either gain weight to become a plus-size model or lose weight.  Her current weight would not meet their requirements.  Talk about triggering an eating disorder.  Yet, she would have been perfect in the 1980s which boasted the slim yet toned athletic body type.  Exercise was in and so began the craze of Jane Fonda and Kathy Smith workout tapes.  Unfortunately stories of actresses and other media stars (yes even the biggest of stars!) being asked to thin down or give up are in the news almost every day now. 

The 1990s, I would say was the start of what I now call the “cosmetic era.”  Once again women were expected to have a tiny waist and a large bust line.  Without surgery, how can anyone expect us to look like Pamela Anderson and the rest of the “Baywatch” crew?  Not everyone is born curvy.  Today, guess what?  THIN IS IN and our society could not be anymore obsessed.  Even the dolls our children play with have perfect bodies.  We are flooded with supposedly healthy food products, weight loss gimmicks, and quick-fix, no exercise necessary methods of losing weight and, if all else fails– there’s always surgery!

Reality shows about body image are taking over.  So now, ever though many individuals are smart enough to realize that beautiful men and women in the entertainment industry are a “special breed,” we’re getting to watch as common people are being made to look beautiful.  Now we are competing with our neighbors in one big beauty contest.  We are all being served the not-so-subtle message several times a week- “Don’t worry; you too can be happy and well-adjusted if you’ve got the money or the luck to buy a new body!”

Until people realize that nobody’s perfect and that appearance doesn’t make one person any better than the next, we are going to live in an age of impossible standards, cosmetic surgery, eating disorders, and negative self-perceptions.  Are you going to be the one to stand up to the world and say, ENOUGH!!