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Society's perception of beauty essay
Society's perception of beauty essay
Society's perception of beauty essay
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Society is fascinated with perfection. Perfection being the newest version of a high-end car, perfect hair, makeup, and most importantly for women; a perfect body. Women have become obsessed with having the best figure possible, believing this is what we will make society accept them. Magazines show women daily how they should look; tall, skinny, and perfectly toned with no fat. Naturally, an average women will compare herself to these photo shopped models and naturally will have no confidence or self-esteem. Many women are classified as over-weight; whether you are a man or woman, stress is now relieved with the comfort of food. But how does the food industry influence how women feel about themselves and their bodies? The connection is stronger than some may believe. Foods containing certain drugs can impact the way our mind works, and can either help or destroy how women see themselves when looking in the mirror. …show more content…
Specifically by the foods that women consume in our western society today. In our industrialized society, fast-food is an extremely convenient way to have meals. Skipping breakfast, artificially flavors and colors, and processed foods are the normal diet for women in America. However, this diet is extremely lacking in the nutrients and foods that our body needs. This deadly combination leads to chronic diseases, and even on some studies, can cause a rise in juvenile crime. The influx of preservatives, antioxidants, thickeners, and homogenisers has been added to almost all foods in society today. “Over the last century, some three million chemicals have been produced in chemical laboratories.” (Food and the Consumer). Chemicals in our foods influence how we feel about our bodies. For instance, when we eat something loaded with high fructose corn-syrup, it will take an effect on our body. Whether it will be by guilt, comfort, or what have you, there is an effect on our
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
An average American is bombarded daily with random propaganda to try to sell what some would consider "perfection". Most American citizens try to emulate those fictional characters in celebrity magazines. The truth is a lot of those pictures are air-brushed and some of the individuals have had extensive cosmetic surgery and other medical procedures done to look that way. This media manipulation is the main cause for the many eating disorders and the people addicted to them. For most people eating is a satisfying experience. But for some, eating is an impulse. Men and women of all ages force themselves to eat too much or too little, and experience incredible psychological pain when they do. Body weight and image become a fixation that damages relationships and has severe health consequences. Food addiction is a disorder characterized by obsession with food, the accessibility of food and the expectancy of pleasure from the intake of food. Food addiction involves the recurring consumption of food against the individual’s better judgment resulting in loss of control and anxiety or the limitation of food and obsession with body weight and image. In today’s society the worth of a female is based upon her age, her body size and her looks. The male’s worth is based on the amount of money earned or inherited, and athleticism. These images of “perfection” have been engraved in people’s minds, forcing them to believe that if they can’t live up to the same standards it will mean that they’re not good enough. This is a main cause of most disorders and addictions. Some addictionologists believe that society contributes to the development of addictions by establishing unreasonable or unreachable criteria for worthiness. Individuals who are under chronic emotional distress like negative feelings of self and inappropriate methods for dealing with emotional stress use food disorders.
Social pressure to have a perfect body is experienced by many women and young girls. The perfect body has been constructed by society and by the media and women and girls is expected to conform to it. “The American Anorexia and Bulimia Association states that: 1000 American women die of anorexia each year and that people with eating disorders have the second highest fatality rate of the psychological disorders”. Women are dying each year because of body image disturbance disorders and discovering the link between media images and perfect body image could be helpful in finding a successful intervention.
Body image is among of the top reasons for developing psychological conditions in the country based upon the bias of what is shown through the screen. Since the nineteen-nineties an alarming trend has come to pass as a result in the growing epidemic of obesity in the United States, to oppose this the exact opposite became popular to become skeletal in appearance with bones showing naturally through the skin. Becoming an accepted notion to starve in order to attain this new angelic appearance, rising above the notion of overly plentiful food by not eating until the body became undernourished. Even the naturally thin models were not skinny enough trying to appeal to this new craze. The resulting effects became depression in this pursuit of perfection, with competition becoming higher among women with finding mates, with this idealized persona becoming the image to men of what women should
Next, media has an overwhelming power over women’s opinion of their own body. Everyday, the media does not have a problem displaying women that are extremely skinny, which may be a product of an eating disorder. Young women begin depriving themselves from food because they view these women on advertisements as acceptable and desirable to society.
Nutrition and health have become more popular in today 's society. Our generation is becoming more and more indebted to the idea of being healthy and eating nutritious meals. However, in “The American Paradox,” by Michael Pollan he argues that our unhealthy population is preoccupied with nutrition and the idea of eating healthy than their actual health. He also mentions the food industry, nutrition science and how culture affects the way we eat and make food choices. While Pollan is right about all these factor that affect our eating habits, there is more to it than that. Convenience, affordability and social influence also affects our food choices making them inadequate.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our society today, people would rather see what celebrities are up to than what is going on with our health plan. Watching the news makes us aware of the latest trend, new gadget, who’s in rehab, or who has an eating disorder. In the eyes of society, women like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Fox are the epitome of perfection. What girl wouldn’t want to look like them? Unfortunately, this includes most of the girls in the US. Through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which women emulate. The media has created a puissant social system where everyone must obtain a thin waist and large breasts. As a society, we are so image obsessed with the approval of being thin and disapproval of being overweight, that it is affecting the health of most women. Women much rather try to fit the social acceptance of being thin by focusing on unrealistic body images which causes them to have lower self esteem and are more likely to fall prey to eating disorders, The media has a dangerous influence on the women’s health in the United States.
Food science has also done some damage to people’s diets by replacing fresh food in our supermarkets to aisles of boxed and frozen food that lack nutrients in them This problem was noticed in 1977 when a document called Dietary Goals for the United States was created after rates of coronary heart disease had soared in America since World War II. In 1977, the lipid hypothesis, it proposes that dietary or saturated fat causes heart disease by raising the concentration of cholesterol in the blood. Government has been changing the Dietary Guidelines for the United States quite often which proves not even scientists know everything about nutrition. Nutritionism has led to the creation of processed foods which has been
Advertising is always about appearance. It is also about information and what really satisfies people. Undoubtedly that advertisement of woman has been increased dramatically and obviously in such a way that turn out to be an important part of people’s lives. Recently, with advertising developments, there are more and more prospective is shown to the public. It cannot be denied that advertisement consist of negative scenes that shape females identity. Nevertheless, majority of individuals in modern societies deem that, such advertisements can caused so many harmful effects to women gender identity, such as low self-esteem. Also, it can cause depression to the women advertising due to the lack of confidence. Whereas, minority of people believes that, it is all about the women own decision whether to be exposed in such kinds of images or not. As well, it may benefit both parties, women who advertise and the advertising companies organizing them. It can be assumed that, this issue so-called advertising shapes female gender identity, has both benefits and damages, and damages can occurred more than advantages. This essay will attempt briefly to argue the damages and benefits of how advertising shapes women gender identity.
The media has one of the most influential impacts on what is seen as beauty in society (Bromley, 2012).Women spend thousands of dollars on products and cosmetics to achieve the unrealistic and unhealthy look of models on advertisements (Valenti, 2007). In most extreme cases, women who feel that their unhealthy weight goal is not achieved turn to extreme eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating (Cunning, 2011). However, despite the unrealistic frames of models on advertisements, women are still lured and pressured into the “perfect” image that is portrayed by the media using race, youth, and sexuality (Bromley, 2012).
The poor food choices that men and women make is the cause of many illnesses, disease and chronic health conditions. Men and women generally have different thoughts and choices on the topic of healthy food. People’s bad health may be genetically occurred or their exposure to their past nutritional education was not helpful, but their bad health is primarily based upon the poor choices that the individuals choose in daily life.
Food has been a common source of necessity in our everyday lives as humans. It helps gives us nutrition and energy to live throughout our life. Over several decades, the development of making foods has evolved. They have changed from natural to processed foods in recent years. Nowadays natural ingredients are barely used in the making of foods like bread, cheese, or yogurt. The food industry today has replaced natural food making with inorganic ingredients. The cause of this switch is due to processed foods being easier, cheaper and faster to make. Artificial nutrition and processed foods have been proven to last longer in market shelves then natural foods. Also, due to artificial additives in processed foods they help satisfy consumers taste more than natural ingredients. The method of producing processed foods is common in today's food industry and helps make money faster and efficiently for companies. Examples of this can be found in all markets that distribute food. Even though processed foods may be easier and faster to make, they are nowhere near as healthy for consumers compared to natural foods. Natural foods are healthier, wholesome, and beneficial to the human body and planet then processed foods.
Food is “composed of synthetic chemical additives, such as colorings, preservatives, sugar substitutes and trans-fats” (Fitzgerald, 2006, p.72). Fitzgerald reported that by the “1970s most meats and dairy products that were factory farmed were laced with growth hormones, antibiotics and a range of pesticides” (p.72). Furthermore, food that is frozen, packaged and canned is considered processed food. A brief explanation of the chemical additives in processed food. 1.
It became so clear that junk foods lead to a punch of catastrophic diseases like obesity, type two diabetes, vascular diseases and cardiac disorders. Those kinds of diseases cost more than $150 billion annually, just to diagnose, treat people who suffer from them. That disease is chronic and leads to many health-related issues, for example, obesity considers a risk factor for type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, joint disorders and many others (The Denver Post 2012). The key of preventing many chronic problems is nutrition. Low income plays an important role of limiting most people to buy and eat a healthy diet and in the other hand, it is easy for people budgets to purchase junk foods. So controlling the prices of healthy foods to be suitable for all people make good nutrition available for everyone. Adequate diets mean decreasing the epidemic of those serious diseases, and stopping the spread and break the bad sequences that may happen. Long-term exposure to junk foods that are full with chemicals like additives, preservatives have led to chronic illnesses difficult to treat. Also, the chemical added to junk foods are tasted unique and made millions of people becoming addicted to them and are available everywhere for example in restaurants, cafes, lunchrooms (The Denver Post
One of the chief causes is unhealthy diets. On one hand, there are high-calorie foods in daily diets like chocolates, sugar, cheese and butter. Teenagers eat more and more high-fat burgers and pizza in fast food restaurants. For example, according to Altman and Leitch (2012), in Mexico, students drink cola rather than water due to the short of hygienic drinking water. Coca cola made agreements with many schools that they would exclusively sell Coca cola inside the schools. Therefore, Mexicans are considering being the most obese country which will have 70% overweight people including 30% obsess in the future. (Altman and Leitch,2012). The foods most commonly eaten by over 80% of kids are white bread, savoury snacks, chips, biscuits and chocolate confectionery. Besides, almost 20% kids do not eat any fruit at all. In general, kids eat about half the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. On the other hand, some people judge traditional food healthier; however, some traditional foods are extremely oily as well. For example, Chinese pay attention to use oil to heat the ingredients quickly. This makes the food fairly oily and high-fat. Furthermore, diets today are changing according to ...