Essay, Research Paper: Body

In today's society, there are women being controlled by expectations of being slim
and having that "perfect body". Women have to face the publicity of magazines, talk
shows concerning weight, weight-loss programs, and so on, all influencing them to lose
weight and be thin, or society won't accept them. Katherine Haines says just this in her
article, "Whose Body Is This?". She argues against and blames society for the
insecurities and the dissatisfaction of women and their bodies. The "look" that is
presented to women today as being "healthy" is; tall, slender, and beautiful. Most women
cannot reach this point unless they resort to other means of dieting to attain that "beauty
queen" image. These ways are through anorexia or bulimia, both of which are life
threatening or deadly. Unfortunately, there are many women taking this path.
Society plays a very important role when it comes to the image that a woman is
supposed to uphold. Haines states that weight loss programs, television and magazines
are a "propaganda that happiness is in a large part based on having that 'perfect
body'...". For example, one could be purchasing groceries and catch a glance of a recent
magazine such as "Elle" and they see this beautiful model on the cover. This is appealing
to a woman's or a man's eye, so of course they pick up the magazine and look inside.
They might think there is an article that reads, "How to look like a million dollars." Of
course there are many women who long to look like Cindy Crawford, or Kate Moss, so
the magazine is looked into. What does that say about women in society today? Many
models are portrayed as having that "perfect" life due to their looks because that's what
society's image of women has come to. It is a big competition with women in the
clothing world. They feel good about themselves if they have just the right styles. This
again, ties into the model scene. On the runway, clothes are being modeled by the
"perfect" woman. Tall, thin, and beautiful. This entices women to buy these types of
clothing, just as it is advertised to do. For most women, this look will not be possible
unless other means are incorporated.
The issue of weight doesn't begin in a lady's teenage years, as most think. It
begins in her young adolescence. Small children are very vocal with their feelings and
thoughts of other children around them. The words, "you are fat," could come out of a
child's mouth without them thinking twice about it. If that certain child was being
singled out in that way, could this be where it all begins? For example, Haines makes
some very interesting points when she speaks of her younger sister who is influenced by
her peers to be thin to fit in with the "right crowd." Her sister continually eats little to
nothing to have the perfect body to fit in with the rest of the girls on her school's drill
team. She eats very small portions of food, or none at all. During this time, she doesn't
realize the harm she is doing to her body until she becomes ill and is diagnosed as being
malnourished. There are too many instances of young teens putting their bodies through
this torture just to fit in. For instance, I have been around beauty pageants a great
deal in the past two years and have seen nothing but harm, not accomplishments from the
girls involved. I would say that eight out of every ten girls at these pageants had an
eating disorder. These girls, which were started out at a very young age, were anything
but pretty, they were sick. It was as if the older population, men and women, were
consenting to the harm that these girls were doing to their bodies, and their minds. The
girls were needing to take control of the crown, and to do so, they would do anything
possible to get it. They were slowly losing control of their minds, and their bodies were
suffering. In doing so, they didn't realize that the diseases they were facing would be
with them for the rest of their life, unless they were bold enough to admit that there was a
problem. That is where the problem with eating disorders comes in. Admitting that you
have a problem is the hardest and possibly the most embarrasing thing that any person
can do.
Low self-esteem, Haines argues, is one of the main parts of weight problems and
disbelief in yourself. Of course there are other factors that lead to the insecurity of being
overweight, although peer pressure is more and more evident as one passes through the
stages of adolescence and on into adulthood. Self esteem should be the issue society
focuses on instead what a woman looks like on the outside. The inside of a woman is
what gets a her, in most cases, to where she wants to be. Unless, of course, the lady's job
is consumed by the way her body looks.
There are many problems concerning the outlook on women in today's society,
but not enough will from women to make a change. We, as a society, need to come out
with the causes of the weight problem with the female body. Whether it be because the
women are dressing for the men, or if it is because they wish to show up other women.
The issue will not be resolved unless, in Haines' words, " This mixed message will never
give women the power they deserve over their bodies and will never enable them to make
their own decisions about what type of body they want." If women feel they are being
discriminated against because of their weight, or because they don't look "perfect", why
isn't something being done? We are going to see a loss in development and productivity
if the outlook on women and weight isn't solved.