History of Body Image

History of body image

The idea of what is beautiful has captivated women throughout history. With the rise of our consumerist society and popular culture there has been a great increase of women striving to exemplify what is considered beautiful at that time.Women are bombarded with messages  telling them that they are not ok how they currently look, and then they are offered solutions  that, more often then not, come with a fee. A womans body image is directy influenced by how she is socially conditioned through means of the media, her parents, and what her experiences in her day to day life. Here is a look at what women idealized at certain times in history:

1800's:
Women of this time period wanted to be plump and natural because this was a sign of wealth and therefore an ability to eat well. Women of this time wanted to accentuate their women curves in order to attract men, and pear shape was what men sought.

1900's:
Thin women started to become the ideal, In the 1900's women were first able to compete in the olympics, and they also could work more outside of the home. This sporty, working woman became the new image of a woman.

   [1912, British womans freestyle swim.]

1950's:
Marylin Monroe was a major icon of this time period, and also playboy was started in 1954. During this period the hourglass figure was what was idealized.

[Marlyn Monroe]

Today:

Throughout this blog we will be showing contemporary examples of the unrealistic ideals of what a woman should look like in our society today, and the effect this has had on womens body image.


For more information on refer to http://www.medicinenet.com/beauty_and_body_image/article.htm

http://www.ivillage.com/renaissance-runway-body-shapes-over-ages/4-a-106826

-Lindsey

BMI and the average woman

BMI and the average woman

 

  *Bmi<19= underweight * 19.3<Bmi< 25=healthy *25<Bmi=overweight

 BMI or Body Mass Index is used to estimate the healthy weight, height, age range of women. Bmi was first used internationaly in the 1980s, It was a tool created for doctors to estimate the body fat that is found on someone. This chart is currently used to help doctors and physicians estimate their patients current and future health potential based upon how close they are to what they should weigh for their age and height. As we know being overweight as well as underweight leads to many important medical problems.

Current Averages:

American Woman (20 and over):

• Height: 5 ft 3.8 in
• Weight: 166
• Bmi (for woman 35): 28.7 considered overweigh

American Men (20 and over):

• Height: 5 ft 9.3 in
• Weight:195.2
• Bmi (for men 3): 28.5 considered overweight

The average man and woman today is considered by the medical realm to be overweight. However in a unique comparison many social figures are far from the norm:

*Gisele Bunchan, Victoria’s secret model is 5'11 and weighs 115. Bmi: 16. Extremely underweight.

 

*Angelina Jolie: Height, 5'8 weight, 116, Bmi: 17.6. Underweight



Carrie Underwood: Height, 5'3, weight: 108. Bmi:19.1. Underweight

 

* Marlyn Monroe: 5'51/2 118, Bmi:19. She is seen as a curvaceous model, however, she would be considered underweight in our time.

*Beyonce: 5'6 and 130, Bmi of:21. A healthy example.

 

*To see where you fit in go here: http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/av.htm

*For more interesting stats go here: http://www.raderprograms.com/causes-statistics/media-eating-disorders.html

*http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/bodymeas.htm

*http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html

-Lindsey

 

 

Poor Body Image and Age

Poor Body Image and Young Girls

 

[Collins, 1991]

A poor body Image seems to be the norm in our western society today. A poor body  image leads to many complications for young women including a number of life threatening mental disorders. Surprisingly, the negative effects of poor body images are shown in extremely young girls. In  Jennifer Harriger, Rachel Calogero, David Witherington, and Jane Ellen Smiths article, "Body Size Stereotyping and Internalization of the Thin Ideal," they discuss their experiment that tryed to answer the question of when women accept the positive socialized attributes of being thin, and then use this to measure their own self-worth.

They conducted a study of 55 girls between the ages of 3-5, the first test they were given a piece of paper with three women that were identical except for weight (only A, D, and G were used in this study), the children were then asked a series of questions such as "point to the girl you think is...nice," (smart, neat, ugly etc). In the second study they let the children choose to either play candy land of chutes and latters, and then they chose which game piece to use, the pieces were changed to identical women figurines, except with different weights (thin, average, big).

The results of the experiment conclude that the young girls attributed negative comments to the larger women, and the positive comments to the thinner women. Even in girls that are as young as 3 believe that thin women have better qualities, this could lead to poor body image in oneself later in life.

Reference:

Harriger, J., Calogero, R., Witherington, D., & Smith, J. (2010). Body size stereotyping and internaliztion of the thin ideal in preschool girls. Sex Roles, (64), 609-620. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier on November 28th, 2012.
http://web.ebscohost.com.silk.library.umass.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e97100e6-70d8-41ea-bb82-ecf0cbc92e15%40sessionmgr10&vid=5&hid=7

-Lindsey

Poor body image and eating disorders

Poor body Image and eating disorders:

*2.5% of women in America suffer from anorexia or bulimia at some point in their lives
*Most of which are women ages 10-30
*Most eating disorders start out as a simple diet

Body Image, the media and eating disorders are all connected; the medias unrealistic portrayal of what women should look like can negatively affect a woman's body image, which could lead to an eating disorder. Throughout history women have always strived to have the ideal body the political climate and cultural ideas have shaped. However, currently there have been incredible increases of instances of eating disorders. For example in a 1998 Fiji study which showed the rapid increase of dieting from 0%-69% among women after the arrival of television.

Criteria that psychologists use to diagnose the three main eating disorders:

Anorexia:
Person that is refusing to maintain 85% of a expected body weight, they have a fear of gaining weight and a distorted body image. Also, a lack of 3 consecutive menstrual cycles.

Bulimia:
Someone who participates in binge eating unusually large amounts of food, and vomiting, using laxatives, or excessive exercise 2 weekly for 3 months. Also a distorted body image.

EDNOS:
Binge eats, as well as periods of avoiding eating, common trends of anorexia and or bulimia however without missed menstrual cycles or the use of purging/laxatives/excessive exercise twice weekly for three months.

Binge-eating:
Eating unusually large amounts of food often.

[Switzer, 2012]


Reference:
Schwitzer, A. (2012). Diagnosing, conceptualizing, and treating eating disorders. Journal of Counseling and Development, 90(3), 281-289. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier


-Lindsey

Demi Lovato and Her Body Image Struggles



Demi Lovato and her body image struggles.



 

Disney actress, singer and host of x-factor Demi Lovato has recently become very vocal about her struggles with anorexia and bulimia that stemmed from her poor body image. At 5'3 1/2 in, weighing 143 she is a perfect example of a beautiful, healthy young woman. She, like many other women in our society today, has an underlying feeling that they are not good enough because of their weight. However, Demi Lovato has turned her trouble with her body image into something positive. Her story gives all of her young fans with their own poor body images the confidence to come forward by her opening up her own life and her own dark side in order to tell girls that they too can rise above their body image issues.

 

 

-Lindsey