Body Image and Eating Disorders within LGB Women’s Populations
All around the world, there are diverse communities with different perceptions of body image. One particular community very diverse community that is unique is the LGBT community. Just focusing on the lesbians and bisexual women, there is lots of variation of body image ideals. Within the lesbian community alone, there are lots of Diversity within the community some stereotypes, which are solely based on body image and presentation that include the lipstick lesbian, the Chapstick lesbian, Butch lesbian and the boi lesbian. However, within the bisexual community, there are not as many stereotypes based on solely on body image due to the fact that these women wish to attract both
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According the book called Lesbians, Levis and Lipstick, There are some pretty clear differences in homosexual and heterosexual appearance norms (Cogan & Erickson, 15-25). Considering appearance and beauty norms, there are a variety of different styles that some lesbian embrace. Also when looking for a partner they might prefer different style/ body image. The standards of the different style based on body image and clothing. The butch style is based on the male body image, the standard lends toward that they should be able to pass as a man. The butch subculture body image ideal focus on having a flat chest, small hips, short hair (normally a crew cut) and broad shoulders. However the femme style/subculture, tends to dress more hyper-feminine in their dress. For body image they embrace main culture’s body ideal, and they tend to wear makeup and have longer hair. There is also androgynous subculture, focuses more on the clothes of the individual. Androgynous lesbians normally have shorter hair, but they dress more gender neutrality. These subcultures tend to be expressed more stereotypical when one of the subculture is actively dating. There was study conducted discussing the visible lesbians and invisible bisexuals: appearance and visual identities among bisexual women (Haywood, N., Clarke, V., Haliwell, E., and Malson, H.2013). With the use of qualitative …show more content…
However, what eating disorders are prevalent in the LGB communities? There have been a multitude of studies looking at whether homosexuality is a risk factor for eating disorders, and looking at what eating disorder present in the LGB communities. A study was conducted looking at the sexual orientation among in cis-identifying adolescents and how sexual orientation can correlate with body image specifically weight concern and eating disordered habits (Austin, S. B., Ziyadeh, N., Kahn, J. A., Camargo, C. J., Colditz, G. A., & Field, A. E., 2004). They used data from the Nurses’ health study in 1999. This study showed that there was more of a concern of appearance and weigh concern within the heterosexual participates. Also the study showed a correlation between more likely body satisfaction in homosexual and bisexual females. Overall this study concluded that the other study showed that identifying as homosexual or bisexual is not a risk factor in terms of eating disorders. Since, homosexuality is not consider a risk factor for eating disorders, is there higher prevalence for certain eating disorders in LGB women compared to heterosexual women. A study conducted by Karen Heffernan (1996), examined data from 203 women using questionnaires to determine if there were any disorder with a higher prevalence in homosexual women. The
Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the negative effects it has had on the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. What negative effects do the media have on male body image? When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience both physical insecurities and emotional issues related to body image. This paper will address these facets of the media’s negative
Hudson JI, Hiripi E, Pope HG, Kessler RC. The prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.Biological Psychiatry. 2007; 61:348-58.
The study consisted of “450 female patients who were evaluated at their Eating disorder clinic and subsequently diagnosed with either anorexia nervosa, or bulimia nervosa. The patients ranged in age from 11 to 56, with mean ages of 23.16 years for anorexics and 24.58 years for bulimics. All but 12% of the patients were white” (Wiederman et al., 1996a). Participants needed to complete a Diagnostic survey for eating disorders, some of the questions asked were, whether they had every had sexual intercourse ...
When considering the relationship between gender and eating disorders, more than 90 percent of t...
At first glance, it appears that body image researchers have not just focused on the individual. Nearly every researcher in this field acknowledges the essential role that cultural norms for appearance play in the development of one’s body image. They have even gone as far as recognizing the gender differences in appearance norms in our culture. Men are held to a standard of a moderate, muscular built that generally matches the size and shape of the average man, but women are compared to a cultural ideal that has thinned beyond belief (Wolszon 545). The Miss America contestants have become so thin that most are fifteen percent below their recommended weight for their height, a sympt...
The female gender is more often linked, as being at risk for eating disorders and this statistic does not change demographically within the aging population with occurrences and/or reoccurrence of eating disorders. Females represent about 90% of eating disorder diagnosis (Patrick, & Stahl, 2009). The percentage of men, including a new sub-category on the brink of being studied, homosexuals who suffer eatin...
Before understanding the effects of body image on contemporary women, one must first comprehend the term that is body image. According to Psychology Today’s definition, “body image is the mental representation one has for themselves. It is the way one sees their physical body. However, this mental representation may or may not always be accurate.
Body image is the perception, both thoughts, and feelings concerning an individual’s physical appearance. Research has suggested that exposure to an ideal standard of what it may mean to be beautiful is the norm for the media to expose a woman to. The results of an idea of feminine beauty can be disastrous for women, leading to depression, and an unrealistic body image. According to Posavac & Posavac in the article titled Reducing the Impact of Media Images on Women at Risk for Body Image Disturbance: Three Targeted Interventions...
Throughout time, the most controversial subject among female’s health has been body image. Society and our culture molds females’s brains into believing that being thin is what will fulfill complete happiness. Being thin means you are more successful, loved, attractive, and overall truly beautiful. Thin women are seen as having an altogether perfect life. However, there is another female figure that is seen as undesirable, hopeless, mainly disliked by most. This type of woman is the curvy or larger female. If one were to go out on the street and gather a group of men and women and show them the thin vs. large female and which one is more attractive, most would say the thinner is. Thus, we deny the larger women because they do not fit societies norms. Thin women are timid to turn into this other that is not widely accepted. To this extent, society and our culture have constructed a monster.
Body image is a subjective picture of one's own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by noting the reactions of others .Individuals treat the body like a language. “It is a sign, text to be read and interpreted. Big breast speaks fertility. Long neck is elegant. Full lips are sexy. Fat is slothful. A big nose is awkward. Nappy is unhappy. Bald women are unfeminine.” (Edut, Walker 1998, p.xiii) The importance of attaining the ideal image is about power .Ophira Edut (1998, p.xx) discusses “body image goes far beyond weight and it runs deeper than skin color.” She states, “Our bodies have become arenas for feelings we don’t deal with, for unresolved traumas and injustices.” It’...
It happened suddenly, surprisingly and overnight. One day I was a child and the next I was a sex object. Catching everyone from friends to teachers, parents to siblings off guard I had grown into a women and to some, a piece of female specimen that welcomed sexual advances, harassment and jokes. The one thing that has defined my womanhood more then anything else has been my breasts. I was thrown, unarmed into this situation at the tender age of 13, since then my views have changed. At 13 I viewed my buxomest body as a toy, an advantage, but after 5 years of being viewed as a sex object my views have changed. Changing my views ever further was reading Chapter 9 in Julia Woods Gendered Lives, this chapter dealt with the stereotypical roles of both sexes. One female role that applied directly to me was the sex object stereotype. Even after 5 years of continuous harassment I feel empowered and proud of my sexuality, I love my body, including my breasts. Wood described a sex object as something that was wrong, something that shouldn’t be a part of our society. Wood inadvertently made me feel like I was harming other women by embracing my sexuality. Wrong, I say, society has made me a sex object and I will do everything I can to make society deal with what they have created.
Body image, according to Webster’s dictionary is a subjective picture of one’s own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by noting the reactions of others. Body image refers to people’s judgment about their own bodies and it is molded as people compare themselves to others. Since people are exposed to numerous media images, these media images become the foundation for some of these comparisons. When people’s judgment tell them that their bodies are subpar, they can suffer from low self-esteem, can become depressed or develop mental or eating disorders.
Studies of body image in the past have gained varying results as to the groups that are affected, as well as the amount of impact body image has with these groups. There has also been much debate over the validity of methods used to judge body image, and how well the measurements used actually correlate participants’ actual views of body image (Cash, Morrow, Hrabosky, & Perry 2004). Some factors that have led to this discrepancy in answers are questions that were framed to be more suitable to attain the attitudes of one gender over another. The initial studies of body image focused upon simply body shape which seemed to be more important to women, whereas body image affects were seen for men when questions of muscle definition were included into the questionnaire process (Ridgeway, & Tylka, 2005).
The importance of body image and the idealisation of the ideal body have become more dominant in society today.
This stereotype is still relevant in lesbian fashion today and has survived centuries of change. Modern day lesbians still choose to dress and conform to this “masculine” lesbian