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Grant Price
Joined: Jul 3, 2001
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Body Image
June 27, 2002 - 12:19 PM
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Having a fit and "healthy" body shape in recent times is what people have wanted...
so why are people willing to do such "unhealthy" things to get there?
Look at http://www.nypost.com/health/51111.htm
Clearly such an idea totally contradicts the notion of a healthy body...
I think many try to simplify this problem as many do as being media influenced, when it is just as possibly an issue of man's inherent insecurity...
I got an example of something I wanna put here, but I gotta think of one first...Be back for that tomorrow  
So what drives people to such extremes?
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Umi A.
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Re: Body Image
June 27, 2002 - 06:47 AM
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OK, here is a lil response:
Firstly, the people portrayed in the article are more focused on weight loss than on healthy bodies. Being healthy and being thin are two completely different things, and the latter is the one that causes problems. Now to illustrate, lemme remind you that one of the people who lost weight was now on a diet of Jell-O and scrambled eggs. This just goes to show that healthy bodies are the last things on these people's minds.
Now, since they are more focused on weight loss than on healthy bodily development, they find the healthy tasks associated with weight loss straining and treacherous. For example, if you were focused on leading a healthy lifestyle, you would be more accepting of healthy eating. People who simply want to lose all the weight would rather not go through that process.
Therefore, these people search for "quick fixes" or "shortcuts". Why do people do it? Because our silly society has set up the following equation:
THIN = BEAUTIFUL = LOVED
 Depressing isn't it? Now it is rather appealing for overweight people like me: Be healthy or be thin. For most people that equates to the same thing. However, one connotates a higher level of commitment and dedication to a regimented plan, while the other is simply for vain purposes.
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Grant Price
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Re: Body Image
June 27, 2002 - 11:26 AM
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Hmmm...i'm unsure what you got from my post...
Just to clarify - Im saying that such an obsession and such lengths are clearly unhealthy (sorry - for a moment i thought u thought i was advocating these "diets"
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Marcus Bingemann
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Im not sure if this is what you are suggesting but ....
June 28, 2002 - 12:35 PM
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Originally posted by Grant_Price
So what drives people to such extremes?
There are two main factors which contribte to an individuals response to "healthiness". Both have been alluded to already:
* The Media; and
* Dominant Western Ideologies
Health is a cultural construct and is commonly associated with beauty. In the Western World, it can be categorised into the following dichotomy - healthy/beautiful and sick/ugly.
In other parts of the world however, these opinions vary. In the Amazon for example, those who have Pinta (a skin condition which produces legions and is partially disfiguring), are viewed as "normal" and those who do not are viewed differently. In this instance, the social and cultural environment have shaped peoples reactions and opinions to what is beautiful and what is healthy (or vice versa). The same goes for Western societies.
Both the media, and western perceptions of health, feed off each other and generate peoples responses to health.
Therefore, what we see in this article is the result of constant pressures from the social and cultural environments in which we reside. This is further reinforced by the media who frequently present "unhealthy" images as normal.
This problem requires rigourous and comprehensive change in peoples attitudes towards what is beautiful and what is healthy. We need to remove ourselves from dominant ways of thinking and take a more holistic approach to the way we look at things.
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Julie Baker
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Re: Body Image
June 29, 2002 - 09:51 AM
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I think one of the most prominent issues that this article is displaying is that when people have low self esteem in regards to their body, the most "accessible" way to "quick-fix" this problem and regain their life is to do short term damage to themselves in the hope that people will notice. Yes we can blame culture, modern western ideologies, the media etc, but clearly it is obsession and pure vanity that drives the effort. We all do it to some extent... I am certainly not guilt free of this, I admit to trying similar drastic techniques to regain a previous clothing size lost to "exam cravings". It is not sane, its is not natural, but we all think it is and it drives us to strive for perfection (which also is in the eye of the beholder just like beauty)... is certainly is a contradiction
This is just my opinions... I don't think it is THE response you were hoping for Grant, but I hope it seems truthful, I'd love to hear from you soon mate...
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emily churchill
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Re: Body Image
July 12, 2002 - 03:54 AM
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i agree with grant that we cannot entirely blame a person's preoccupation with achieving the 'perfect' body on the media, and that human beings are prone to insecurity. however, the majority of the media does nothing but confirm a person's conviction that his or her body are inadequate. magazines, newspapers & tv churn out images of what is supposedly 'beautiful' - & how can any real person be anything compared to these 'perfect' images? industries play on human insecurities by convincing us that we will be more attractive (and therefore happier) if we buy their products.
personally i don't think that persuing a 'perfect' body or image is worthwhile, and i sometimes think that society's priorities are ridiculous - we spend so much time and money on how we look and think so little about life itself. i don't think that changing body shape would make an insecure person much less insecure - they would simply find something else about them that they wanted to change.
i think that the whole media system is pretty fked up but i also think that if we stopped letting it control us that it would lose its inegrity and more importantly, its power.
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Jennifer H.
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Re: Body Image
July 12, 2002 - 10:21 AM
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Have you ever heard anyone tell you that God makes us just how we are, and he loves us, even if we are ugly in the eyes of the world? Well, it's true. I used to spend so much time trying to make myself look like the girls in the teen magazines, you know? Then, I tried a little experiment. I decided to spend a week concentrating on my health instead of the way I looked. Instead of saying, I wish I had some ripped abs, I thought, God thinks I'm beautiful, so what does it matter if I don't have a perfect body. Now, I'm not saying that I always think positively about my body and stuff, but it is easier to like myself for who I am, than to strive to be what the media and other sources want me to be. I hope this helps someone, cause it helped me;.)!
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Meow
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women vs. men
August 14, 2002 - 11:02 AM
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What really makes me angry is how much harder the media is on women. Now I know men get pressure to look good and all that stuff, but turn on the t.v. and you'll see what I'm saying. If you've ever watched a music video lately, you'll notice the girls are eighty-percent naked in some skin tight outfit and weigh about 3 pounds, then the guys are wearing some loose baggy clothing and look normal. You'll be more likely to see a normal looking guy on t.v. because he supposedly represents everyday life, the female equivalent of that is some underweight beauty queen with a D cup chest and perfect abs.
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