The Ugly Side of Beauty

We hear it often enough and it's constantly reinforced by multiple media messages - image is everything. Love it or hate it, the media has a very good idea of what it considers to be beautiful, and measuring ourselves against those values can either boost or destroy our view of our own worth, along with our confidence and self-esteem.

Images of the 'size zero' models of yesteryear cause many people today to balk, but the standards by which we measure ourselves are still reminiscent of the Photoshopped and airbrushed fashion shots from countless magazines. In a society where the average woman is 5'4" and 140 pounds, it seems unfair to try and compare with the average model who is a towering and an unfeasible 117 pounds.

Still, these images come at us from all angles - television, the Internet, movies, magazines and adverts flooding our computers, iPads and latest generation smart phones.

The Kaiser Family Foundation produced a study in 2010 that revealed the staggering statistic that 8 to 18 year olds consume around ten hours (and up) per day of media content. This equates to something in the region of 5,000 advertisements, many of them containing models with 'aspirational' attributes, and the worrying message that: To be loved, you must be beautiful, and only thin people are beautiful.

While there are many good sides to the technology that has allowed this, we cannot ignore that there is a darker side, and one that sends this destructive message that equates beauty and body image in such a powerful way.

And it's everywhere - messages telling us what to wear, what to eat, and what to drive - and it affects everyone. Young women, however, are more vulnerable than most. They have yet to really form proper opinions about their own body image and outward appearance, and the message that they have to be thin to be loved causes a worrying number of them to go for size zero, whatever the personal cost.

I overcame my own battle with anorexia in my early 20s, and have specialized in eating disorders for over 30 years; treating people with anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorders. My own battle gives me an insight into the pressures that lead to the onset of eating disorders.

There are, in the US alone, an estimated 24 million people fighting anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorders so extreme that they have become life-threatening. Girls in the 15 to 19 year old age bracket are responsible for a staggering 40% of new cases of anorexia.

This is no real surprise as they represent a target audience actively pursued by merchandisers willing to use tactics centering on their shape, size and outward appearance to sell their products.

Ashley Judd has put herself clearly at the front line of the battle against such practices, with an essay that condemned the "pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic" expectations of beauty pushed forward by the media. She goes on to say that these expectations "affect each and every one of us in multiple and nefarious ways."

Her articulate arguments impressed me to the point that I forwarded a copy to everyone I knew.

We have a choice - judge ourselves against the media's view of what true beauty is, or look at ourselves as individuals and embrace those distinctive features that make us special. We can listen to the media and spend our lives trying to live up to an unrealistic ideal, or look for our own beauty.

Where you look, you will find, and it will change the way you look at others, too.

Patricia Pitts, PhD Licensed Clinical Psychologist ~ Founder & CEO of The Bella Vita Eating Disorder Program
http://www.thebellavita.com

For many patients it's hard to know where to turn when seeking help for an eating disorder. They want to find someone who understands them, someone who has advanced training and experience... someone they can trust.

Thousands of people have successfully found that understanding and help from Dr. Patricia Pitts and The Bella Vita, A Beautiful Life Psychology Group, Inc. Visit http://www.thebellavita.com now, for more info.

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