Perception And Weight
by Scotch Q. Ennis
Though it may be hard to imagine, there was a time when excess body fat was not a stigma at all; in fact, excess body fat was once considered an indicator of status. The thinking went that a person with body fat had the means to eat well and to do so regularly. It should be noted that this perception existed during a time and in places where food shortages and famine could and did occur.
Times have certainly changed.
Excess body heft, especially in Western nations, not only isn't seen in a favorable light any more, there's now a broad negative stigma connected to overweight. This stigma is demonstrated in the fact that, in most Western nations, food is abundant and easily found (though not always acquired easily, depending on one's current existence). But food abundance isn't the only answer for a turnabout in beliefs about body fat. Two other circumstances also offer understanding: it's now well known that excess body heft is damaging; and the mass media regularly exhibits imagery of slender people.
The media's presentation of lean is a forceful image-maker. The image of lithe bodies, often exhibited in highly pleasing ways, leaves a substantial imprint. And the media presents these visuals time and time again, so perceptions are retained.
This isn't an effort to suggest the media is pushing visuals as a means of poisoning society's values. We must all accept that we are responsible for that which we believe, and how we respond to our values. Still, it's illusion to argue that the media's wide reach doesn't impact belief.
Generally speaking, the media's portrayal of the thin, sculpted body type is used for commercial purposes. The media wants to present a desirable image and attach a product to it. They want to sell, and they're using body type to do it.
But difficulties can happen when people effort to equal the "perfect" body image they observe through the media. Eating difficulties are a possible end product. The broad reality of eating disorders in Western nations is certainly a product of consistent media imagery of slender, and the implication that a lean, trim body is particularly alluring.
There is also the emotional pain and suffering suffered by those whose body type is in contrast to slender. Overweight people can take a psychological pounding because of their appearance. They're at the opposite end of the ideal. They're inferior -- or so the thinking and the treatment sometimes goes.
A well body is a positive thing. A shapely body is a positive thing. But, difficult as it may be to do when dealing with so much imagery coming straight at us, each of us individually must put together our own principles when it comes to what's a pleasing body look, and what is not pleasing. When we allow the media to establish these sorts of values for us, we fix ourselves into an exposed, and potentially harmful position.
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