Is your Body Image Realistic?

By now, we are all well sensible to of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Though these disorders have deeper underlying causes - they are not done only by unrealistic body image and our weight conscious culture, but by underlying psychological conditions - body image does play a outstanding role. Many people with eating disorders - in fact, some studies would indicate that the correct word to use is not 'many' but 'most', or even 'all' - suffer from an unrealistic body image and/ or body dysmorphic disorder, in which they see their bodies as different from how they unambiguously are. In most cases, girls and women suffering from anorexia and bulimia see their bodies as larger than they genuinely are. These women can look in the mirror, and 'see' something that is quite different from what is really there.

Body dysmorphic disorder is a different, though related, problem. With body dysmorphic disorder, people feel as though parts of their bodies are much larger in proportion to the rest than they de facto are. A woman might fixate on the size of her thighs, for example, feeling that they are immense, though in fact their size is quite normal and in proportion to the rest of the woman's body.

Why do some young women (and a very few men and older women) develop these disorders? There are multiple answers to this question. For one thing, there are often deep seated psychological reasons. For example, if a woman is depressed, or has been abused, or just doesn't feel good with regard to herself, she is likely to focus on her body as a target for self-hate. On the other hand, some of these disorders can be the result of depression or even uncertain personality.

On the other hand, many media critics warrant that the images we see in the media play a very pre-eminent role in young women's body image problems. Consider the following: the equidistant American woman today is a size 12 or 14, and the customary model is a size 0 or 2. There is a very large difference among an median woman's body - even the body of a healthy woman, with little or no excess weight to lose - and a model's body. True, there are some 'plus size' models today, but they are just a small minority. The most attractive women in our society (according to popular opinion) and the most loved and cried up are not shapely like women at all. Most of us were a size 2 when we were 12 or 13 years old, if at all, and never again! So, in vicar to the most of the models we see in the magazines, we may well be overweight, even if our weight unambiguously falls within normal parameters.

There is a need, therefore, for more realistic role modeling (no pun intended!). One way to get a more realistic picture of what real women look like is to go to a pool or gym unstable room, and have a look at real women's body. There's a great range of body types. You may be surprised to see that the women who look the best in their costume don't every day look so good naked, for example - too bony!

There is a lot to be gained by exposing ourselves and our daughters to realistic images of the female body, if only to counteract the media images that we are all bombarded with all too often. This is a serious matter - girls and women have died from anorexia and other eating disorders. Those are serious problems, but if we can counteract them by simple means, it's well worth our while.


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