Body Image & Beauty Ideals

Desires & DisordersThe body as a social canvas

The Beauty Ideal

• Beauty is socially constructed– Changes over time and between cultures

• Reflects social power and relations of inequality and privilege– Corporate interests & mass media define

beauty

• Enforced through disciplinary practices– Complex and irregularly enforced based on

position in society

Disciplinary Beauty PracticesThe taken-for-granted routine

behaviors surrounding how we maintain or improve our appearance

Exist throughout Western history and most cultures worldwide

These everyday practices, routines and rules of appearances reflect social power

Beauty—why do we do it?

• Being normal = conforming to norms• Being accepted is less stressful• Serious, not strident

– Women’s power comes from appearance

• Survive in sexist culture– Lesbian baiting

• Health– Conflation of health with beauty

• Bonding Rituals

Criticisms Of Beauty Practices• Double standard of beauty• Imposes considerable cost in

time and money• Standards are established by

multi-national corporations and the media

• Fashion and beauty negatively impact women’s health

• Combined effects of standards lead women to low self-esteem

The Social Construction of Beautiful Bodies

• How are bodies socially constructed?– For what purpose?

• How are eating disorders socially constructed?– For what purpose?

The Social Construction of Beautiful Bodies

• Body image—how we perceive our physical appearance, as well as how we think others perceive us.

• Images formed through:– Parental and peer messages– Socialization – Mass-media and cultural messages– Cult of Perfection

Ideals through History

Throughout history, emphasis has focused on different parts of the body with an increased emphasis on thinness in the late 20th century

In 1940s the cultural ideal figure for women became significantly thinner as compared to the actual female figure

Eating Disorders

• Anorexia• Bulimia• Compulsive• EDNOS

– Food jags & phobias

How healthy is our image of health?

What is healthy?

Corporeal Schizophrenia

• Food as comfort in an uncomfortable world

• Food as control in a chaotic world

• Food as a commodity in a materialistic world

• Thin as an ideal• Obesity as a reality

Theories of Eating Disorders

• Bio-medical model– Silver bullet cures

• Psycho-social model– Culture of thinness

• Social constructionist model– The personal is political

Body Awareness vs. Body Image

Self Regard over Objectification