Body Image

BODY IMAGE: HOW YOU SEE IT, HOW YOU DON`T

DUSTY A. JESTES

DEPARTMENT OF PYSCHOLOGY

Missouri Western State University

Sponsored by BRIAN CRONK(cronk@missouriwestern.edu)

ABSTRACT

Henry David Thoreau once stated that the perception of beauty is a moral task. Does this make the perceptions we create accurate and on target? Probably not. However, the image that individuals create for themselves is of definite interest. Our society is obsessed with the weight and shape of their bodies, especially in women. Therefore, do women have lower body satisfaction than men, or is this concept one that has become out dated? Findings from the surveys in this study indicated that female body image satisfaction is not significantly different from their male counterparts (F (1, 96)= 1.087, p = .30). It seems as if the times may be changing, as body images of both males and females are becoming more similar.

INTRODUCTION

Mirror, mirror on the wallÐ'...who's the thinnest, prettiest, strongest, best looking, most perfect of them all? While the answer to this question may be tough for a mirror to decipher, today's society seems to have the answer, as there are certain expectations everyone must live up to. Many are left wondering who sets these standards that are so difficult to achieve. Apparently, the answer is a combination of the individual, their peers, and the community in which they live. Are you happy with what you see in the mirror?

Body image refers to the attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs that an individual holds about their physical appearance. Research on body image examines a number of aspects of an individual's feelings about their physical self, such as the person's overall satisfaction with their body, or their opinions on various body parts (Abell & Richards, 1996). It is a combination of these things, added in with how the person views others as seeing them, that leads to the development of their body image. This image will have an enormous affect on an individual's life ranging from self-esteem, personal happiness, and health.

Dolan (as cited in Sanders & Heiss, 1996) asserts that body image is dictated by the surrounding culture, and that this culture communicates the norms for body weight, size, shape, and physical attractiveness. Cultural norms and values set the stage for what is accepted or for what is not accepted. For instance, in westernized culture, only a limited range of body shapes is acceptable (Grogan, Williams, & Conner, 1996). Apparently, the preferred body type has gone from the voluptuous endomorphic look of the 1950's and 1960's, to the lanky ectomorphic look, which is very hard to obtain for most women. Men, too, have felt the change of time as washboard abs, silky skin, and massive muscles have emerged as the forerunner in body shape distinction.

It seems that from childhood, men and women are besieged with media images that shape our thoughts and perceptions and urge us into conformity to gain acceptance by society. Furthermore, emphasis on physical appearance and body type is prevalent even in children's television commercials, and popular teen magazines heavily emphasize fashion, beauty, and stereotypical gender roles (Turner, Hamilton, Jacobs, Angood, & Dwyer, 1997). Thus, it seems that these ideas fester in children, especially females, and lead to a strong desire to measure up to what is idealized, so as to fit in and feel good about themselves.

Frederickson and Roberts (1997) argue that girls and women (at least in American cultures) tend to see themselves through a veil of sexism, measuring their self-worth by evaluating their physical appearance against our culture's sexually objectifying and unrealistic standards of beauty. For instance, the media often portrays women as a body with no face, while heads and faces are used to portray men. This in-depth focusing on the body can have serious impact on women because of a correlation between body image and self-esteem. Women are assaulted by notions about what they should look like in magazines, in advertisements, and by those around them in our society, much more often than are men. In fact, researchers have argued that when me are faced with idealized male images they may not react with body dissatisfaction as a woman would (Grogan, Williams, & Conner, 1996).

Once we get past outside influences on our body images we must look within. Comparing ourselves to others is a habitual part of life, as we are critical and competitive creatures by nature. Competition among individuals is often positive, but in the case of body image, it can be grueling and detrimental. We tend to regard physical attractiveness as a status symbol, a procedure that begins when we enter elementary school. For example, the children who are attractive are often most popular. This engrained notion seems to carry on throughout life as we continue to strive to meet the standards and be "popular."

Self-esteem is also one factor that comes from within the individual and has strong repercussions. Uncertainty about ones body can lead to lowered self-esteem for both males as well as females. Self-esteem is how an individual views him or herself both internally and externally. It is an individuals overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth. Researchers have actually found that women who express greater dissatisfaction with their weight and body shape tend to have lower self-esteem scores than others with a more healthy body image scores, even more than men with lower scores (Turner et al., 1997).

In American society, fat is considered synonymous with bad (Monteath & McCabe, 1997). Thus, a negative stereotype exists in our culture. This belief places heavy strain on many to struggle to change their bodies. However, if a person's body fat percentage falls below a certain point, they are in serious danger of illness or death. For women this point is below 22% at which time they become more susceptible to infertility, amenorria, ovarian and edometrial cancer, and osteoporosis (Turner et al., 1997).

In general, women want to be more slim than they are even when they are at or below ideal weight according to objective measurements (Goldberg, Bailey, Lenart, & Koff, 1996). Which means that even if an individual has a body that is acceptable in terms of society; they often feel as if they are still not good enough. Negative body image is a real problem that affects women to a greater degree than men, mostly because women are placed under