Rough Draft

Hannah Beecham

2/6/15

Is thin really still in?

Some would argue that body image isn’t an identity, but for females the way we feel in our skin is everything. How we feel we look on the outside definitely affects the way we feel on the inside and as a result, alters the way we portray ourselves.

Female body image is and I believe always will be an issue among women. As humans we are wired with a competitive nature. We want to be the best, and will do anything to be so. For males body image tends to not hold such importance but for females vanity tends to hold priority. Growing up in a generation who is heavily influenced by social media, girls are constantly being polluted by unobtainable images. The media sets unrealistic goals for females, making the average girl constantly doubt herself.

Being a female myself, I have experienced and witnessed the struggle of acceptance among girls and their bodies. 91% of women surveyed on multiple college campus’s say they had attempted to control their weight through dieting. For me it all started in seventh grade. I had just started a new school and was in my early stages of puberty. As my hormones where changing so was my body, but it felt like everyone around me was stuck in their petite childish bodies. As I began growing I did everything I could to stunt the process. I would go days without eating and the results were beyond satisfying. People in school would often comment on how skinny I looked, and hearing that would make it all worth it. I grew out of these habits when I reached high school but the thoughts never left.

            Being on a college campus my feelings towards my body have definitely heightened. Living with 3 other girls and “being in these peer-dominated environments increase(s) appearance comparisons to same-sex peers, or heighten self-consciousness due to the presence of potential dating partners.(MAKING THING NOT IN)”. My self-consciousness has absolutely become more prominent. I have started watching what I am eating and going to the gym on a regular basis. I interviewed one of my roommates to see if she felt the same way as me. She said “ On a good day, I would say I am satisfied when I look in the mirror. Most days, I am either indifferent or unsatisfied. I think girls feel like they are in a competition to see who can have the best body. Though it would be difficult to get away from that, I think girls should try and be more supportive of all body types and aim for a healthy body instead of a ‘good’ body”. As females we owe it to ourselves and each other to ingrain confidence rather than to detract it. We need to create a culture, which accepts all shapes and sizes.

            As a fashion major, I sometimes feel guilty that I am going into an industry that contributes so heavily to female insecurities. We live in a world where everything we do or say has had some sort of influence from the media. Going into an industry, which pushes for thin to be in, I feel obligated to try and make a change. I believe that all women are beautiful as cliché as that sounds. The human body is a work of art and our flaws are what make us unique.

 Although I say all of the above the pressure to be a certain size is definitely overpowering. Even though I know the right thing is to break the social norm, and just be comfortable with the way that I am, it is easier said than done. A lot of girls think that being skinny will make them happy but we all know that’s not the truth. There is more to life than a size.