This Article (The Image Of Body Weight) is from one of our Screened, Expert Authors.

The Image Of Body Weight

Published By:

Though it may be difficult to believe, there was a period when additional body fat did not present a negative in the slightest; in fact, additional body padding was once accepted as an indication of prestige. The assessment went that an individual with body fat held the ability to eat amply and do so frequently. It should be documented that this particular perception was accepted during a period and in locations where food deficiencies and food absence could and did happen.

Matters have definitely changed.

Excess body mass, especially in Western societies, is not viewed as favorable any longer; to the contrary, there's now a considerable negative perception attached to excess weight. This negative perception has been established, at least in part, by the reality of food ampleness in Western countries. When everyone can eat, eating plentifully doesn't carry much significance. But food ampleness isn't the only basis for new perceptions about over weight. Two other scenarios also provide insight: it's now widely understood that excess body mass is detrimental; and the media often shows imagery of slim 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 additionally the emotional distress and suffering experienced by people with a body type that's different from slender. Heavy persons are sometimes subject to psychological beatings because of their figure. They're at the other end of the epitome. They're beneath others -- or so the assessment and the behavior sometimes goes.

A healthy body is a good thing. A fit body is a good thing. But, though it may be difficult to do in the face of so much feedback, each of us must develop our own value system as to what's a desirable body type, and what is not. If we let the media create this value system for us, we put ourselves in a vulnerable, and potentially damaging position.