Culture’s pressure on body
image Jonathan Fiedler/ Columnist
In today’s society, I have a lot of sympathy for young
women, who are growing up in a world that emphasizes
unhealthy body types as the desired regular.
We are bombarded by images featuring the elite women in our
culture looking undernourished and unhealthy.
As girls grow up and become women, they are spoon-fed ideas
about what makes a woman desirable. Let us take a look at
this perception.
Eating disorders are a definite problem today and more than
90 percent of people with eating disorders are women.
Further, the number of American women affected by these
illnesses has doubled to at least five million in the past
three decades.
Currently, 1 to 4 percent of all young women in the U.S. are
affected by an eating disorder.
Many of the famous celebrities and Hollywood women today are
creating this trend of glamorizing neo-skinny body
ideals.
Yet, these are the same women who get married and divorced
multiple times and go through various mental health
problems.
For these reasons, I want to theorize that it takes much
more than an ideal body to find fulfillment in life.
Beauty and attraction are some things that are important in
relationships, but eventually these physical attributes
change and fade.
The most important thing about a person is not his or her
outward appearance, but rather inner beauty and
spirit.
These things are the attributes that should really define a
person, not his or her physical attractiveness.
I do not want to pretend to be a romance expert, but let me
please make one suggestion to the young females: any
potential significant other who cares only about your looks
and not about your heart and soul is not worth your
time.
That is just my humble opinion.
It is hoped that women today will feel less pressure about
their outward appearance and spend more time worrying about
ways to make themselves beautiful on the inside.
Contact Jonathan Fiedler at pendulum@elon.edu or
278-7247.
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