Body Image Research Paper

Body Image Research Paper Chris Browns Body Image has been a struggle women have been faced with for decades. Recently the fad has changed. Women have been drilled with media and the states of mind that only size zero women are beautiful. With the constant reminder of the skinny fad by models, actresses and other women famous in media women are reinforced of the worlds narrow view of beauty. This desire to be thin has driven many women to do drastic things to their body. There are many shocking statistics showing the amount of women in the world have done something negative to their bodies because they were not happy with them. Body Image has played a huge role in womens lives and has changed through out time, causing women to have low self-esteem, which in some cases develops into eating and health disorders. Through out time societys definition of beauty has changed drastically. In the early 1900s women were praised for having voluptuous bodies; wide hips and large breasts were considered sexy. In 2008 that changed radically adult women were weighing between 90 and 110 pounds; a very unhealthy weight for a full-grown woman. What the worldviews as a beautiful woman is absolutely no body figure, basically the skin and bones look. This thin obsession began as early as the 1800s. In 1840 Doctor Sylvester Graham announced that a diet was the keys of health(Wolchover 2012). Once women started realizing that others were starting to lose weight because of this fad every one else wanted to get in on it. Within the years of 1890 and 1920 womens average body weight went from a voluptuous weight to where fat is pronounced gross by American society. Women have been faced with this issue only in recent years and the struggle to be at peace with their own body has become worse and worse. In previous ag es women did not obsess about every calorie they eat and how much time they spend at the gym. The only mindset they had was to make their family and husbands happy. It all started when dressmakers and seamstresses starting making the average dress size a lot smaller. Women who did not fit into these smaller sizes started to find themselves at less worth and began obsessing over their weight and waistline (Wolchover, 2012). Another factor in the change of womens body figure had to do with the industrial revolution. When dress sizes started becoming standard sizes women became more aware of their size. Starting during the time of the revolution dresses started coming in specific sizes: Small, Medium and Large opposed to dresses coming in number sizes according to the height and width of a womans body. Also America was urbanizing around that time. That meant second-class women had more access to different varieties of food. Slowly this caused the average American to become overweight. In the early 1920s the calorie was discovered. Along with that came the act of counting them as well as fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Soon after this discovery American started doing anything they could to start lose weight and burn calories. Soon after America discovered the act of dieting the weight scale was invented to put the final touches on Americans realizing their body mass. Due to this, in the late 1920s, dieting and counting calories became a daily routine in the lives of Americans (Wolchover, 2012). Another contributing factor to the change in beauty was the famous Twiggy. In her times the requirements in becoming a model were not as ridiculous and degrading as they are now. Twiggy was the ideal British model. She was thin, with gorgeous round eyes, long eyelashes, and most importantly her thin body figure. Twiggy is often the blame of the favoring in extremely thin model and appearances. Due to her naturally tiny frame and her great success as a model models in following generations often admire her. Her body figure set the standards for models to be in order to be successful. Even women who are not models are thriving to have a body like Twiggy. She was definitely an icon and narrowed the worlds view of beauty (Examiner.com). Body Image and self-esteem issues are most common among teenage girls but it has occurred in all ages. The reason teenage girls are the biggest target for these issues is because they are the ones who get most caught up in modern media. Among many teenagers the desire to be model thin has driven them to go to extreme measures to obtain that image. Studies have shown that recent T.V. shows have focused on body figure and have been changing the self-esteem of girls as young as 5 (Hueback, 2006). Girls of this new generation are bombarded with images in media of celebrities and models that have this ridiculously thin figure, they feel they need to be the same to be beautiful and have the Hollywood Shape. Teens now feel like they have to live up to the American standards of what they should look like. Young girls look to these anorexic models and celebrities as role models because they appear to be happy with themselves and girls feel like they need to have the paper-thin look to be happ y as well. Mothers also play a huge part in girls body image hundred percent of girls look to their mom as their role model and too often moms obsess over their weight so their daughters follow in their footsteps. Girls who grow up with brothers and dads who have a preference for thinner women are also victims of this issue. There is an overwhelming percentage of young girls who wear body hugging, midriff baring clothes that are envied by the girls who cant ant those girls are the ones who view themselves as ugly. The ones who wear the tight clothes are the ones who are viewed by the biased society as beautiful. A research in 2010 showed that 59% of girls are unhappy with their bodies. The average size that is desired by the 59% of Americans is 13-19% below healthy weight (Wolf, 2012). Media exposure has made the average young woman put appearance and physical appearance at the center of their mindset. It has made young women have a limited constrain on femininity. In the American m ind thinness is now not only about physical appearance but success, self-control and higher socioeconomic status. Women acquire success through having the body they want because it requires work in the gym and eating right to acquire it. It symbolizes self-control because certain foods that are not healthy and being lazy and skipping the day at the gym is tempting but it shows that they can make it through those temptations to obtain the body the desire. Even young girls are obsessing over every calorie intake they consume and this issue is starting in girls as young as nine. That is one motivation for a good body weight. Low self-esteem among teenage girls has led to early sexual activity, substance abuse, and eating disorders and in some extreme cases suicide. 64% of all teens in America are unhappy with their physical appearance and weight. The average height and weight for an American woman is 54 and 140 pounds and the height and weight for an average model is 511 and 117 pounds . Self-Esteem is how much a person likes them selves and how they recognize and appreciate their individual character, qualities, skills, and accomplishments. Like body image, self-esteem is also base on how other people look at someone as a person. Good self-esteem helps keep a positive outlook on life and appreciate the person they are. Women who are thin are often associated with strong, beautiful, independent, hard-working women and on the other hand women who are not are often associated with lazy, sloppy, weak women. More then usual thats not the case. Some women are too busy to go to they gym everyday. Single moms for example are busy taking care of their kids and keeping them on track to worry about their own weight. In other cases women are content with their own body and dont worry or care about what other people think and that is a perfect example of a strong woman. Often body image is how others think of them as a person not only physically. When girls develop low self-esteem because of their weight and physical appearance, often these occurrences lead to eating and health disorders. This issue can also lead to other problems now common amongst teens, such as pressure into having early sexual activity. One out of every college student will develop an eating disorder before they graduate (Wolf, 2012). In this desperate attempt to be skinny women often drive themselves to depression and helplessness. The thought of dieting and exercising religiously has become a daily part of a womans life. A woman discontent with her body is the lead cause of women developing eating disorders. The main factor of eating disorders sparks from low self-esteem. Which also leads to substance abuse among teens. The factors that lead to teen substance abuse are teens thinking they are not cool enough because they are not as skinny as the popular girls so they think if they drink and abuse drugs they will be able to fit in with the others. Studie s have shown that most of the girls that are diagnosed with eating or health disorders and low self-esteem are the ones who are exposed to media and the images of models and celebrities than opposed to ones who are not. This occurs within teens before college level (Wolchover, 2012). Americans on average spend more then 40 billion dollars a year on dieting and exercise products. In an average lifetime 50,000 people will die because of eating or health disorders based on body images (Wolf, 2012). Many young girls are judged and even bullied about their weight if they dont love up to certain standards. This judgment has lead to serious eating disorders among teens in America now. In some extreme cases it once of the main causes of suicide in American teens. Too often girls are obsessing over the fact to be at peace with their body and young girls even starting at the age of nine are going crazy over losing weight. Girls need to know that no matter what shape or size or color of their skin it does not matter because every single one of them is beautiful. In the bible Ecclesiastes 3:11 God says He has created everything beautiful in its way. No ones word can go against the word of God. Everyone who feels insecure needs to read that verse and realize no matter what anyone says it should not have any affect on them because GOD has made nothing that isnt beautiful and that is literally all that matters. Anyone who is putting up with bullies, anything they say should go in one ear a nd out the other. In recent years it is more common among humans to give criticism in a negative way towards other people. It has become a normal part of American life. Even among friends put-downs are normal conversation but sometimes it goes too far and the person on the other end takes it heart. Some become more offended then intended. For example when a group of girls are friends and one of the girls are bigger then the others in the group that one was insecure. Her insecurity would lead to self-harm in some cases that would cause them to go to extremes to feel like they fit in with their friends. This case has occurred more then it used to (JournalOfHealthPsychology). Another insecurity that body image creates is depression. When girls are unhappy with what they see in the mirror it causes them to beat themselves up. Depressive symtomatology is one of the major affects caused by eating disorders. Girls torture themselves mentally by hating what they see in the mirror and hating themselves for what they see. Even a girl who is a size two will think she looks like a size eight and then wants to lose weight. People who work for big modeling agencies and works of that nature have stated Being a size two is the new size eight (Wolf, 2012). Food restriction has been associated with vulnerability (JournalOfHealthPsychology). Too often girls are often too harsh on themselves. They spend so much time judging themselves then actually going out and trying to change that. So many teenage girls are embarrassed or insecure about their bodies. Too often then not they are the ones beating them selves up for being a size 8 rather then being a size 2. Some of the time teenage girls are their own worst enemy. They put thoughts in their heads that they are not worth anything because their not model thin. Another contributing factor to the body image crisis among American women is caused by the fashion industry (Anthony 2012). Each year during Fashion Week designers exhibit their designs through out a series of fashion shows. Each year the upcoming trends are displayed on skinner models then the years before. The usual waistline for the average American woman used to be a healthy fourteen now it shrunk dramatically to a size four. The ideal body image is presented to girls at a very young age. It can tart by what they choose to watch on television and how the girls look that act in them. Another obsession girls are faced with is always looking perfect. They see models in magazines whose facial features are perfect and they want to look like them. Models that have their faces airbrushed and made to look perfect. A lot of models that appear in magazines and advertisement have their faces and morphed to look a specific way that the director wants them to look. A model for Ralph Lauren was a size four and because of her weight problem and was fired. There is a positive way for women to lose weight. Women think by starving them selves they will reach the weight they want. It is a fact that eating healthy is better for you then not eating anything at all. Eating a donut for breakfast is healthier then not eating anything at all. Eating breakfast is the most important meal because it gets your metabolism going for their day. The most effective way to lose weight is to eat foods that are healthy for you and exercise daily. Women dont always realize that there is a positive way to get rid of un wanted body fat. There are also treatments that speed up the process of losing weight. Women need to realize that starving themselves is not the only way to lose weight and there are other options to get rid of un-wanted body fat (Anthony, 2012). Body image has been womens struggle through out all of history. Most recently the struggle has been more outrageous. Women have been drilled with image of the media that the only way to feel beautiful is too be extremely and unhealthily skinny. The media has put the images in the average womans head by actresses, models, and other celebrities that have the extremely skinny look and appear perfect and happy. The obsession to be skinny has driven women to many drastic things to their bodies. Women have gone to extreme measures to obtain this thin appearance. Only they think beauty is only the Medias narrow opinion of it. Body image has played a huge role in the lives of women through out the years and with time, has changes, also causing women to have low self esteem issues and in some cases obtaining eating and health issues (Anthony 2012). Body image is how girls see themselves and their self worth. Poor body image can lead to an unhealthy life style. Girls even at the young age of five can start facing insecurities about their body. The standards of how society views women as beautiful have changed through out the years. These problems often evolve from people picking on them and being blasted by the media that only woman who are a size two are considered beautiful. These issues cause depression and eating disorders among women and some extreme cases the criticism and self-hatred lead to suicide. The media is mostly to blame for these problems and what they say and portray beauty as. Body image has changed and played a role in womens lives through out history, which has cause women to have low self-esteem, and in some cases leads to eating and health disorders.

A Synopsis of Roman Family Life Essay

Glancing towards the past of the old Roman Republic and the Roman Empire we are more than often charmed by and idealized view of the Roman family life adhering to the principles of virtus, dignitas, auctorias, gloria, pietas, and gravitas.1 As Beryl Rawson would argue in her essay on Roman family, this view is limited to that of the patrician class and the plentiful literature surrounding it .2 Furthermore, this outlook does not adequately account for core features of any social study of family such as the process of socialization of children, the extent of their education, specific gender roles, family structure, relationship between members, inheritance, and also does not incorporate the description of a Roman family within the context of other social classes. In order to get an ample insight of Roman society all the aspects previously enumerated need to be analyzed.  The general Roman family structure, by common consensus, was believed to be a small nuclear unit, yet the term of familia used in the period could have been much larger. Thus, the family consisted of the wedded couple plus the household dependents such as their unmarried children, slaves, and in some case freedmen and foster-children according to the research of Jerome Carcopino in the Daily Life in Ancient Rome. 3 At the head of the household was the oldest surviving male ascendant whose authority was recognized legally over his descendants and lasted until his death, known as the paterfamilias. Furthermore, the term familia could refer to all persons and property under the control ( patria potestas) of the paterfamilias, but more than often it was referred to the nuclear families household 4. Based on wealth or social class the size of the nuclear family varied greatly. However, during the period of the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire the average size of the nuclear family was relatively small, ranging from the conjugal couple and about two to three children according to Rawson. 5 Under the hegemony of the paterfamilias, women and grown children would have  a very inferior legal status. The head of the family having â€Å"power of life and death over his legitimate children, [†¦], and full rights over property, including anything they might acquire. Daughters were removed from the father’s power when he gave them in marriage into a control of a husband.† 6 The act of marriage was regarded in ancient Rome more as a financial and political alliance than as a romantic association, especially in the upper classes. In any social class the primary purpose for marriage was to produce children. Since the life expectancy was so low in ancient Rome women married very early, fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when these reached an age between twelve and fourteen. The husband was usually older than the bride between mid to late twenties. 7 The two official types of marriages were: with manus and without manus. The marriage with manus was the typical upper-class wedding and tended to be a lavish affair which incorporated a religious rights ceremony in the presence of the pontefix maximus 8. The marriage without manus was largely a more plebian affair in which there were no religious rights and the father emancipated his daughter to the husband. The third form of marriage was called the usus where after a year of cohabitation between a man and a woman they were by law considered married. 9 In order for a manus union of a man and woman to be legitimate, there needed to be consent legally and morally. Both parties had to be willing and intend to marry, and both needed their fathers’ consent. One of the most important aspects of the practical and business-like arrangement of Roman marriage was the dowry. The dowry was a contribution made by the wife’s family to the husband to cover the expenses of the household. The dowry was also how Roman families maintained their social status relative to each other. It was important to ensure that upon the end of a marriage, the dowry was returned to either the wife or her family. This was done in order to improve her chances of remarriage as well as to maintain the family resources. In ancient Rome, the dowry became the husband’s full legal property. In actuality, however, the purpose of the dowry often affected the husband’s freedom to use the dowry. In the case the dowry was given to help in the mainte nance of the wife, or if a legal provision was made for the wife or her family to reclaim the dowry should the marriage dissolve, the husband was restricted as to how he could make use of the dowry. In the case of marriages without manus since the bride was emancipated she retained her  property rights although her property came under control of the husband while she was married. 10  As previously mentioned political status held a place of honor within Roman society. Nobility or the rank of patrician was not simply bestowed upon an individual. It was gradually built up or torn down by a family thus the importance of a nomen or family name. In this sense legitimate children belonged to their father’s family and bore his family name. Illegitimate children belonged to their mothers and bore her family name. There were also cases where the paterfamilias had no children or none of his children survived adulthood. In this instance the head of the household could compensate by adopting a son who would oversee the family after his death and thus he would have an heir. As far as inheritance is concerned, when the head of the family dies the patria potestas goes to the designated heir which in most cases he was a male form the line of the husband. The only case when women and men were equal in inheritance is if you have a brother and sister of approximately th e same age. If the mother dies her dowry and holdings go directly to the designated heir. The only situation when married women had priority of inheritance was the respect of patria potestas of her mother’s brother. 11 The custom of divorce was usually reserved for serious marital faults, such as adultery, and could be employed by a husband at any time. Since marriage was often used as a political tool in ancient Rome, especially in the upper classes, divorces were common when new political opportunities presented themselves. If the wife was not at fault for the ending of the marriage, then she was able to reclaim her dowry. If the wife committed adultery, husbands got to keep a portion of the dowry. 12 When regarding women roles in society and family during the transition period of 133-43 B.C.E. , they were completely dependent of man, not being able to speak in public or to sell property or buy it without the consent of the males of the family. Legally at this time and era they were treated with inferiority to men 13. Gradually the current was changing towards the late period of the Republic as we can notice in the letter of Cicero to his wife Terentia and her actions as well as in Hortensia’s Speech. 14 Furthermore in this period, a Roman wife was generally understood as her husband’s companion and helper. She was next to him at banquets and parties  and shared his authority over the children, slaves and the household. Roman wives were no longer expected to live secluded lives. They could freely receive visitors, leave the house, visit other households, or leave to go shopping to list some examples .15 . While the nature of Rome’s patriarchal society persisted throughout the Imperial period equality within the conjugal couple with the end of the Roman Republic. The Roman family was the mold in which the character of the Roman was formed, much as the polis formed the character of the Athenian. Every Roman looked with pride upon his family and the deeds of his ancestors; and it was regarded as a great calamity for the family worship to become extinct and so do we as historians need to carefully preserve its history and understand their society by analyzing every piece of its puzzle. WORKS CITED Bradley, Keith. Discovering the Roman Family: Studies in Roman Social History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Carcopino, Jerome. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. London: The Folio Society, 2004. Crook, John. The Roman Family. The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives. Edited by Beryl Rawson. Ithaca, New York : Cornell University Press, 1986. Hughes, Sarah, and Brady Hughes. Women in World History. Readings from Prehistory to 1500. Vol. 2. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1997. Rawson, Beryl. The Roman Family. The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives. Edited by Beryl Rawson. Ithaca, New York : Cornell University Press, 1986.

Analysis Of Seconds By Bryan O Malley - 1710 Words

The way that a woman treats her friends is based on the person her parents raised her to be. In the story â€Å"Seconds† by Bryan O’Malley he follows the life of the protagonist, Katie and how her decision greatly affect her future. Katie lacks a relationship with her parents, which is why she struggles in relationships. Katie proves this by communicating with her friends in an unpleasant manner. Katie lack many key aspects to being a good friend one is caring for another. Also her disrespectful attitude puts a strain on her relationships that she has with her friends. Along with that she also lies to her friends, and is unfaithful to her significant other without any consideration of their feelings. Lastly Katie is selfish, and puts her wants†¦show more content†¦When Katie was a child, her parents should have taught her how to care for others, but this proves that due to Katie not holding a strong relationship with her parents, she does not understand that it is in rude for a woman not to show compassion to her friends. Being caring to others is an important part of being a good friend. When a friend gets put into a hurtful situation, it is the responsibility as a decent person to show compassion for the given situation. Katie’s lack of compassion for Arthur’s loss is why O’Malley chose to not bring him back till the end of the book. So that Katie could feel how it felt to lose a friend because of her choices. ` A woman without parental guidance can be disrespectful to people that she interacts with on a daily basics. This is another aspect that goes into being a bad friend. In â€Å"Seconds† the graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley shows a disrespectful side to Katie when she says â€Å"and what do we have here? Oh. It’s garbage†(32), when she is overlooking what Andrew has prepared. When Katie insults Chef Andrew’s cooking he gets very angry with her, and begins to yell at her in the middle of the kitchen. O’Malley also shows Andrews anger by turning his face red and having smoke coming out of his head. Even though Andrew and Katie were is in relationship shortly after Katie this argument Andrew broke it off with Katie. When a woman is insulting to her so call friends, it can

Employment in Post-Conflict Situations - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 835 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/02/15 Category Career Essay Level High school Tags: Employment Essay Did you like this example? A. Background The average age of all people involved in war, or conflict like situations is 18+ years, while in some countries, younger than 12. This has major impacts on employment in post-conflict situations as these are prime times in ones educational career. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Employment in Post-Conflict Situations" essay for you Create order 1 If people are forced to fight and therefore hinder there opportunity to have any formal education, they may come out of war poor, and homeless. During civil wars, the states are mostly involved making employment much less attainable as the state is under complete shutdown and creating new jobs is not as much of a priority.2 However, lack of jobs is not the only reason for unemployment. Often times there is lack of decent jobs, or ones which are achievable or attainable to soldiers with little or no education. In December 1998, the United Nations branch visited 15 UNDP programme countries to focus on strengthening post-conflict situations and increase job flow.3 The objective of this was to target areas out of conflicts such as civil wars and help them regain a stable economy. After civil wars, economies are impacted in varying ways. Some economies, typically stronger ones with trading capabilities are more likely to regain faster than ones’ with a weaker, less tradable crafts.4 However, for smaller countries, civil war can wreak havoc on economic growth and societies. Along with uneducated soldiers and mass population dimension, job work can be near impossible to find. If a civil war involved lots of bombings, missiles, fires ,etc, they can be even more negatively impactful. Local schools, and job facilities are often targeted to damper local economies, which only worsens the issue of employment in post-conflict situations. Many who come back to countries after serving in wars also find getting work to be a struggle. Take Brooks Douan, a USA veteran from Afghanistan. He thought finding work would be easy once he returned from war, but now, â€Å"it makes no difference.† 6 Work is near impossible to find because of an unstable economy caused by funding to fight the war. He had to take up odd jobs such as photography and manual labor just to make some money for himself, but due to the poor economy, was let go. He was only 23 years old when he came back from Afghanistan, and yet had little college education due to his time spent in the war. These stories are far too common. People returning home from wars and countries recovering from them are very much alike. Drained financially and physically. Societies are almost never equipt to recover from post-conflict situations, but there is hope.7 Education to soldiers can aid in them finding work and weave them into a part of society again. B. Country Policy Denmark is extremely giving as a nation and has sent out several acts to help stabilize developing nations government, and to increase more job flow along with reduce poverty. Denmark is supportive of nations which have undergone post-conflict situations. Denmark helps Nigeria immensely as they suffer from extreme poverty, with funding and assistance. Denmark has been working with Nigeria since 1974, and gives them a set amount of money each year depending on necessity, and they have seen dramatic results from this. 8 Denmark also aids them with Human Rights and water supply and agriculture. Alongside there work in Nigeria, Denmark also aids other nations such as Mali and Afghanistan. They focus mostly on reducing poverty but also on, â€Å"stabilisation of fragile and conflict-affected states.†8 One of the ways in which they have done that in post-conflict situations is by increasing job flow and aiding efforts to rebuild ruined cities along with implementing ideas on gender equality to encourage equal pay.9 Without proper job facilities, many will go out of work, and issues such as malnutrition and drug cartels and gangs can arise out of pure necessity for a steady income. 10 Denmark has dedicated itself to end the causes of such issues and simply target the need for work as well as the need for requirements to work. As previously stated, often times there are not enough decent, livable jobs, that make enough money to feed a family. Through Denmarks plans of gender equality, equal pay can one day be achievable therefore making a steady family income more achievable. Through continue their work overseas to help aid with unemployment issues in post-conflict situations, hopefully soldiers will have to worry less about where their next meal, or job will come from. https://www.brookings.edu/on-the-record/young-soldiers-used-in-conflicts-around-the-world/ https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277context=key_workplace https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/UNDP%20Rule%20of%20Law_web_FINAL_PRINT.pdf https://web.undp.org/evaluation/evaluations/documents/postconflict_march2000.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d04e5274a27b2001595/R7905.pdf https://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/07/07/veterans.unemployed.economy/index.html https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277context=key_workplace https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nigger https://www.icenews.is/2018/01/24/wants-denmark-to-legislate-equal-pay/ https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-09-06/denmark-most-committed-to-helping-developed-nations-study-finds