For all those poor people who get eating disorders i wrote an essay that i hope to submit to be published....
Tailoring Your Clothes or Your Body?
Body image, the thing that makes so many women hate scales and mirrors, that makes “some mothers remove their daughters lower two ribs”(Ensler), that makes many men starve themselves, or people to purposely contract tapeworms to attain the “ideal” body (Ensler). The California Department of Health published statistics that showed “models today weigh twenty-three percent less than the average woman” so mirroring them are the average women who believe that they should look like these underweight models. They feel that something is “wrong” with them if they don’t look like the models. Yet mainstream society does not make it widely known that an average healthy woman 5’5 would weigh between 120-150lbs. According to the American Psychiatric Association approximately 50,000 of the women and girls diagnosed with eating disorders will die from complications caused by the eating disorders (“Weight Management”, par. 12). Men as well are hurting themselves with unhealthy body images as forty percent of the people with eating disorders are men (“Weight Management”, par. 5).
Why do these men and women so desperately want to have these specific looks? Why are they hurting themselves for a physique that will be gone by the time they reach fifty and sixty years old? Media and fashion industries are the main contributors. They hire models that are under weight and/or sick, where as in Europe those models are turned away. They use techniques with lighting, angles, and airbrushing to make their models appear flawless, toned, and tan. They erase pores with computers and make up. They tailor everything to one body type. Female subjects are busty and slim. Male subjects are brawny and athletic. This is part of the problem; they cater to one body type and no others. The hourglass shape in women is the most desired and is only one of many body types women can have ranging from pear shaped, inverted triangle, “h” shaped, and triangle (“Female Body Shapes”). For women who are born with these body types other than the hourglass, what do they do? They see hourglass shaped women modeling all of the clothes, clothes designed to emphasize that shape and so these other women try to tailor their bodies to that shape. To illustrate this, picture an average woman, not too thin, not pudgy. Now picture her wearing a tube top shirt. The shirt’s material is made to be tight and emphasize the bust and slimmer waist but on an average woman this result is not achieved. Fat, muscle, and internal organs are pushed about and bulge at the top and bottom of the shirt in a very unflattering manner because the shirt was not made to fit her non-hourglass body type. So is it because the woman is “fat” that the she does not look attractive? No, it is because the shirt was not made for her body shape and she is trying to force herself into a shape that she is not, like a circle trying to fit into a triangular hole, it doesn’t work. The fashion industry does not make many attractive clothes for women of different body types. When they accommodate to the different body types, the clothes are far less advertised.
While some may argue that parents and peers are solely to blame, the fashion industry is the most influential and publicized of the factors for people having an unhealthy body image. The solution to their part of this issue comes with creating and promoting lines of clothing geared towards more diverse physiques. The industries have taken some steps in this direction with plus sized models however they are not as prevalent as the dominating hourglass models. It seems logical that the fashion and clothing industry should create lines of clothes that are suited to different body types and advertise accordingly. Actresses and models of more varied shapes could promote the clothes. The fashion industries would save time and money leaving out airbrushing. Women would more easily find clothes that suits their own body shapes. It is more comfortable to have clothes that fit you rather than tying to fit you in the clothes. Women would have greater comfort with their clothes and themselves. This appeal would encourage them to go out and buy more clothes that fit and look flattering on them. Why would a woman try to get her body to fit another shape of clothes when there is an attractive one she can buy just as easily? If only the fashion industry would implement reality in their portrayals, then real people who are the consumers would stop trying to tailor themselves into an unreal image.
Work Cited
Eve, Ensler Preface. The Good Body. New York, NY. Villard 2004.
“Female Body Shape.” November 4, 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_body_shape
Weight Loss Resources Ltd. “Healthy Weight Chart.” Published: May 23, 2006. http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/body_weight/healthy_weight/chart.htm
"Weight Management." Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery. The Gale Group, Inc, 2005. Answers.com 07 Nov. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/weight-management
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