“Imagine us shaping that new woman, dream of the future, out of the transformed obsessions that presently rule our lives.” - Kim Chernin, author, The Hungry Self Originally written on November 29, 2017 To complete my masters in social work, I had to perform a full presentation on how I could change an aspect of the world, i.e. a certain population, a specific occurrence, etc. using the core values and competencies that WSU taught us.... in 10 to 15 minutes. Piece o' Cake. (Note: I should say/warn you on my first post that I am a sarcastic writer, but you'll catch on) I was very proud of my research, I thought it wrong to let it sit on my hard drive for years until it magically gets lost over time. I chose to write about how our modern society demands a world where one must meet the impossible standards of beauty and flawlessness. Because of this, I believe that body positivity and self-care are much needed within everyone's lives, but especially here in America. We've grown far too comfortable with our go, go, go mantra that we have lost sight on silly little things like our character. What can't be posted to our timelines and feeds no longer has importance within our lives. We're no longer concerned with others' well being but more focused on how our lives must appear to others on their screens. Now throw youth into the mix and consider what message they can receive from our normal behavior and surroundings. On that note, let's just dive right in... What is Body Positivity? A movement that first emerged in the early 1990's that challenged society's negative view on beauty and thus invites people to live fully and intuitively in their lives without a focus on the waistline. This movement mirrors Strengths-Based theories practices of evaluating one's strengths to use as a tool for empowerment, in this case seeing your strengths as beauty. This movement also encourages connection with others to motivate empowerment. This movement shifted from attempting to "fix what's wrong" to practicing improving and maintaining self-care behaviors motivated by positive forces. I want to stress that this movement does not encourage unhealthy practices but rather encourages the practice loving yourself. Through self-care and through self-awareness we can unleash the natural creative energy we all possess! How's that now? By finding a balance between food, exercise, and rest (adequate self-care) we can find our genetically determined set point weight, our natural weight. How so? By not having our appearance be an obsession or on a pedestal we can focus on other aspects of ourselves. This new ideology of health is based on balancing self-care and self-love, inhabiting your body to life FULLY. How do I know this works? Why am I such a believer? Because I walked this path, I walk it every day. Read more about my journey here. Is This Indeed a Social Issue? Let's look at some major studies...'The Real Truth About Beauty' campaign by Dove in 2004 where 3,200 women, aged 18 to 64 were asked how they defined beauty, how satisfied they were with their beauty and how it affects their well-being. Of these women, "2% considered themselves beautiful. 68% of these women agreed that the media sets unrealistic standards of beauty that most women cannot attain" [2]. 76% of the global respondents (ages 18-29) of Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign agreed in wishing female beauty depicted in media would be defined more than physical attractiveness and 75% agreed with wishing the media included more diverse physical attractiveness such as shape, age and size. When including all ages and asking only respondents in the United States, there is an increase to 85% in wishing female beauty depicted in media would be defined more than physical attractiveness and 80% who wished physical attractiveness being represented as more diverse. According to Body Image, Second Edition: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention, girls, by age 6 begin to express worries about their weight or shape. In fact, "40-60% of elementary aged girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or about becoming too fat. This concern endures through life" [1]. The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), found that 40% of teenagers who were found as heavier than average experience teasing and bullying in school by peers and/or family members at home. Such teasing has direct correlation to weight gain, binge eating, and extreme weight-control behaviors. “The best-known contributor to the development of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is body dissatisfaction” [6]. According to The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, in discussing a study performed, they found that over half of the females interviewed (ages 18-25) would “prefer to be run over by a truck than to be fat, and two-thirds would choose to be mean or stupid rather than fat” [4]. This is a real statistic, I have even attached a link for your viewing. Have we indeed created a world where females would suggest these extremes just for beauty? Females would rather attain negative features than to attain negative physical features. There is a clear need for change....why not body positivity? Call it proper self-care if you'd rather; but to answer the initial question, who cares? I hope for our future sake YOU do! Next time.... Let's get real about BMI. Resources:
[1] Cash, T.F., & Smolak, L. (2011). Body Image, Second Edition: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention. New York NY: The Guilford Press [2] Etcoff, N., Orbach, S., Scott, J., Agostino, H. (2004). The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report. Findings of the Global Study on Women, Beauty and Well-being. Dove: a Unilever Beauty Brand. [3]Kronengold, C. (2016). The Body Project. National Eating Disorders Association. Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-involved/the-body-project [4] Maine, M. (2000). Body Wars: Making Peace with Women's Bodies (An Activist's Guide). Carlsbad, CA: Gürze Books. [5] Sobczak, C. (2014). Embody: learning to love your unique body (and quiet that critical voice!). Carlsbad, CA: Gürze Books. [6] Stice, E. (2002). Risk and Maintenance Factors for Eating Pathology: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychological Bulletin. Vol. 128, No. 5, 825–848
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