Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Body image for women
1 comments
By: Hina Bhai - from the series of guest posts written by Dr. Baldwin's students at Michigan State University.
Why have women always been so concerned about their bodies? Every day people (especially women) ask question about how they can flatten their tummies or increase their boobs. This type of behavior starts from very young age - how they are supposed to look or dress to act as a female in the society, and that is why many are more likely to develop eating disorder in order to maintain their body shape. The pressure to fit in society for appearance lead women to psychological consequences such as appearance anxiety. Indeed, women are more serious about their body image than men because they are judge on their appearance which is based on society standards, i.e. perfect figure and ideal face. Thus, we can see many women around us, who are very much conscious of their body weight and attractiveness but why not men? Why do they are so relaxed and have positive behavior about their body? So it’s very essential to think about it and understand that how societal norms affect women’s lives and make them feel their own body image dissatisfaction.
Why have women always been so concerned about their bodies? Every day people (especially women) ask question about how they can flatten their tummies or increase their boobs. This type of behavior starts from very young age - how they are supposed to look or dress to act as a female in the society, and that is why many are more likely to develop eating disorder in order to maintain their body shape. The pressure to fit in society for appearance lead women to psychological consequences such as appearance anxiety. Indeed, women are more serious about their body image than men because they are judge on their appearance which is based on society standards, i.e. perfect figure and ideal face. Thus, we can see many women around us, who are very much conscious of their body weight and attractiveness but why not men? Why do they are so relaxed and have positive behavior about their body? So it’s very essential to think about it and understand that how societal norms affect women’s lives and make them feel their own body image dissatisfaction.
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March 28, 2010 at 11:01 AM
I definitely agree with this article. I think that women worry about their appearance a lot more than men do. Almost every time a women sits down for a meal she's counting calories or wondering if what she's eating is healthy for her or not. I feel like most men aren't concerned about things like this. A lot of times men are trying to eat as much as they can and get bigger, and bigger and bigger. Whereas women are the complete opposite. They want to eat as little as possible and be as small as possible. Which one do you think would be easier?