Module 8

The media has created (or continues to propagate) the ideal image of men and women. I wrote in an early entry that the attributes that were typically blown out of proportion were those that highlight the reproductive traits of the individual.

Both men and women are subjected to unhealthy routes to obtaining a "desirable" figure. Women in particular are expected to be "thin" and "dainty" and the quickest (and least healthiest) routes include anorexia and bulimia. Men face the opposite and expected to be chiseled and extremely fit. The DSM IV deinfes anorexia nervosa as follows:

1. Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height : Weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight <85% of that expected or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected.
2. Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though under weight.
3. Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
4. The absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles (amenorrhea) in women who have had their first menstrual period but have not yet gone through menopause (postmenarcheal, premenopausal females).

As a person who experienced peer pressure throughout his life, I understand why it would be easier to conform to the norm rather than reject it. Unfortunately, the media has a stranglehold of what beauty is, and in a since, it always has. From books and paintings of yesteryear, women have been featured as portraying certain qualities deemed feminine. And although these traits have changed with time, they have been determined by humans. I would like to see humans raised outside of society and see how they determine who they choose as their mates (these tests would be devoid of any products that enhance one's looks).

I think confidence in oneself is the best way to reject the standards of physical appearance.