The idea of the "perfect body." What does that mean to you? Does it mean being tall and thin? Short and curvy? Average sized? The definition of the ideal body has changed dramatically. Women look a lot different now than they did hundreds, even thousands of years ago. More than ever, the influence of the media has impacted how women in particular want to look. This has a damaging affect on self-esteem. I will not only be discussing the harmful aspects of striving for perfection, but I will also be inserting my own personal experiences with my body, and how those have influenced my overall attitude toward life.
First, let's start off with the unrealistic standards celebrities set for regular women. Celebrity bodies are a result of rigorous exercise, insanely strict diets, and photoshop (on magazines). They essentially eat very little and do impossible workouts. Many women see what their favorite celebrities are doing, and think that they need to do the same with their bodies. They see looking incredibly thin as the ideal body, and being a size zero. This mindset can be very dangerous, because it can lead to serious eating disorders which can put women's health at risk. Eating disorders are life threatening, and can lead to death.
Second, I myself have had issues with my body in the past. Going through puberty, I gained quite a bit of weight. At 12 years old, I was a little bit bigger than other girls my age. I felt a little self-conscious of how I looked, and basically went on a diet. I healthily lost a few pounds, but then took it to the extreme. I got down to less than 100 pounds, and was told by a doctor I needed to increase my intake of fats and carbs. It wasn't easy for me initially though. For some reason, it was easier for me to lose the weight than it was to gain it. I remember going to Disney World with my parents and basically not eating that much, which concerned them. However, slowly but surely, I began to eat normally again, and I gained muscle as well from doing Tae Kwon Do.
Quite a few years later in my senior year of high school, I began to go back to being scarily thin again. I weighed only 113 pounds, and a lot of people told me I was too skinny. This weight-loss was during a stressful period of my life where I was applying to colleges and trying to keep up with schoolwork at the same time. I eventually got back to being healthier through eating a little more each day, and not limiting myself to tiny portions. But the influence of seeing other girls being really skinny and celebrities being really skinny affected me a lot. To this day, I still think I may not be as thin as other people, but I try to be my own person and make smart decisions.
Third and lastly, the concept of being "plus-sized" has become controversial. Plus-size starts at a size 10. The average woman in general is about that size, maybe a little more. I personally think that the term plus-size should not exist, because it is somewhat insulting and unnecessary to use. It makes women feel bad about themselves, and creates more unhealthy problems. Sports Illustrated model Ashley Graham was supposedly the first "plus-size" model to be on the cover of that magazine, but she herself has said before that she wants to represent healthy and strong women, and doesn't think of herself as plus-size. To me, a size 10 is healthy and normal, and the fashion industry and celebrity culture has some extremely warped views on size and weight. I think as long as a woman is happy with herself, then it should not matter what size she is. It's all about balance and moderation in the end, and being true to yourself.
In conclusion, the idea of the "perfect body" is constant in our society. Images of weight losses and weight gains are everywhere. But we need to make some important changes. We need to stress that looking healthy and being happy is more important than trying to be a specific number. We are all different, and that is what makes the world great.
