How Do You See Yourself?

         

Krakowiak          10

Michael Krakowiak
April 28, 2012

Self-esteem and Body image - How Do You See Yourself?

How do you see yourself?
Are you beautiful?
Desirable?
Perfect?
How did you come to see yourself this way? How does the way you see yourself affect you? How does it affect your self-esteem? For most people, the answer will involve a combination of internal and external stimuli that all contribute to creating a body image that is constantly scrutinized, evaluated, and redefined in order to produce a sense of self that affects how we view the world and the people in it. This sense of self is so important that it colors all of our interactions with the external world and shapes the relationships we have with each other down to the finest detail. But what happens when the scrutiny we place it under is too severe, the evaluation too harsh, the definition too lofty? If people aspire to emulate an unattainable, synthetic body image, inevitably they will suffer from a unique form of cognitive dissonance that adversely affects their self esteem.
Naturally, one is left to wonder: Why is the body image archetype synthetic? Quite simply, because it's impossible to achieve. For both men and women, there is no escaping the fact that the images presented in advertisements, magazines, and on TV shows are not only impractical to emulate but are physically impossible to achieve, even for the most genetically gifted. This is due to the fact that the body image promoted through these venues is either the result of a specifically tailored, sheltered lifestyle designed to produce these body types or achieved through synthetic assistance as in the case of drugs, cosmetic surgery, or digital alteration mediums such as photoshop. Simply put: "Airbrushing, digital alteration, and cosmetic surgery further increase the unrealistic nature of media images...as standards for self-evaluation" (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005. 452). How can people possibly hope to maintain a positive level of self-esteem if the very body image they emulate is physically impossible to achieve? Unfortunately, both men and women are juxtaposed against ridiculous body images and suffering greatly because of it.
A recent youtube video has surfaced detailing the process through which a makeup billboard model is transformed, in shocking detail, from a good-looking, but perfectly normal, girl into an impossibly perfect image of female beauty through a series of exhaustive processes unavailable to the public, the very people who are encouraged to believe that, should they purchase the product on sale, they, too, can achieve this level of perfect beauty. It uses an elapsed time camera in order to show the amount of hours a professional makeup design team works on this normal looking girl to create the perfect image her physique is able to achieve, only to take what seems like hundreds of photos, whereupon they choose the best one and use digital enhancement technology to raise her neck, reduce the size of her trapeziums muscles, enhance her brow length and enlarge her eyes, obviously impossible feats for even the greatest looking women to achieve. (youtube.com) For those who would argue that the newest generation of adolescent and adult women couldn't possibly be affected by something as old-fashioned and passive as a billboard, the malignancy of this synthetic body image is vast: "The media - magazines, TV, films, advertising, music videos - not only emphasize that female self-worth should be based on appearance, but present a[n]...ideal of female beauty that is becoming increasingly unattainable" (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005. 452) Not only are "76% of female characters [on TV sit-coms] below average weight[,] the body size of women in the media is...more than 20% underweight...exceeding a diagnostic criterion for anorexia nervosa of 15% underweight" (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005. 452). The charade is expanded to include paradoxes: "...the ideal female body [is] described...as 'firm but shapely, fit but sexy, strong but thin' [and] such an ideal is impossible for most women to achieve..." (Slater, & Tiggemann, 2006. 554). Contrary to popular opinion, men are also ensnared by the intricate web of deceit laid out by those media channels that would propagate the spread of this fabricated body image. The dramatic rise in Americans Undergoing plastic surgery from 2 million in 1997 to 12 million in 2007 speaks for itself (Twenge J.M., Campbell W.K. 2009. P149). To emphasize the media's important role in this development the fact is that 4 out of 5 plastic surgery patients report that they were influenced by television shows to seek cosmetic surgery (Twenge J.M., Campbell W.K. 2009. P151)
Regardless of the vehicle, the ideal body image for men has been evolving in recent years from grossly exaggerated to absolutely incredulous and has even gone so far as to be a contradiction of terms. When the attempt is made to sell the image that the ideal man is an overly muscular, vascular, and extremely lean bodybuilding type with absolutely no body fat, as seen in bodybuilding and weightlifting magazines, it's usually in conjunction with a type of whey protein, energy powder, or mass gainer product that's the newest "missing link" on a man's path to his double sized self, also implying that all it takes to look like the models on the magazine cover is to lift weights and, of course, consume the product being pushed. What they cleverly don't mention, however, is just how impossible it is to achieve such a physical state.
The combination of extreme hard work, a corporate sponsorship training lifestyle that allows for a man to focus solely on training professionally and not have to work or exert himself for anything other than training, and superior genetics is one that's available to very few but desired by many. In fact, "...studies have demonstrated...the growing importance of the mesomorphic muscular body build in Western culture" (Olivardia, Pope Jr., Borowiecki III, & Cohane, 2004. 112) but, as if there wasn't enough hypocrisy surrounding this issue already, "...the ideal male body marketed to men is more muscular than the ideal male body marketed to women" (Hobza, C.L., Walker, K.E., Yakushko, O., & Peugh, J.L. 2007. 162). In order for men to live up to the ideal body image they have to be super vascular and muscular when in the company of other men, but they have to be "...ideal[ly]...muscular, wealthy, and prestigious" (Hobza, C.L., Walker, K.E., Yakushko, O., & Peugh, J.L. 2007. 161) too, especially when the image is being sold to a female audience? Is there anything more outlandish to suggest to a man who hopes to maintain a healthy self-esteem that, in order to obtain the ideal body image, he has to be two different people...at the same time? Perhaps, as is clearly demonstrated by extensive research and a casual glance at our "modern" society, the goal isn't to promote a healthy self-esteem at all?
Upon closer inspection, one can only gather that the promotion of a synthetic ideal body image has devastating effects on a person's self-esteem, and therefore by association, all other aspects of a person's life. Those who would scoff at the importance of self-esteem are in for a rude awakening:

...low self-esteem...is associated with problems such as aggression, depression, substance abuse, social withdrawal, and suicidal ideation [and] also predicts certain problems...including mental health problems, substance abuse and dependence, criminal behavior, weak economic prospects, and low levels of satisfaction with life and with relationships

(Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg.2010. 454)

Research shows that "appearance consistently emerges as the strongest single predictor of self-esteem" (Clay D., Vignoles V.L., Dittmar H. 2005, p.152). The ideals presented by the media, leaves both men and women under a lot of pressure. The Social Comparison Theory explains this phenomenon by an "upward comparison with those that are perceived as being better. Through this comparison people gain information about themselves which leads to, in this case, negative self-evaluations (Hobza C.L., Walker K.E., Yakushko O., Peugh J.L., 2007. P.162)
Unfortunately, a low or non-existent self-esteem can be the root of almost any problem or set of problems people can experience throughout their lives. If left unchecked, this lack of self-esteem can affect not only the psychological makeup of an individual but can also spread rampantly until even the physical self is adversely affected by this dissonance. This becomes especially true when examined from a gender-specific perspective.
         Grade school age, adolescent, and young women are incessantly bombarded with the notion that the most important achievement of their youth can be the attainment of the synthetic body image propagated by the media and the subsequent maintenance of this impossible archetype. In fact, "as early as school entry, girls appear to already live in a culture in which peers and the media transmit the thin ideal in a way that negatively influences the development of body image and self-esteem" (Dohnt, & Tiggemann, 2006. 929). Research shows that the self-esteem of girls as young as 5-6 years of age is also influenced negatively by the media's transmission of the ideal body (Dohnt, & Tiggemann, 2006. P.929). There are furthermore findings that indicate that these early experiences plays an important part in the development of adult women's body image (Slater A., Tiggemann M., 2006. P563). While promoting a healthy lifestyle and thin body image isn't inherently negative and can be used as a means towards a positive end, the fact that the image portrayed is impossible to achieve serves only to ensure the rapid and steady demise of the self-esteem of anyone who subscribes to it. As Dohnt and Tiggemann mention, "Body image concerns have been linked to numerous pathological problems, including depression, obesity, dieting, and eating disorders [and]...the association between self-esteem and body image concerns is well establish for women and adolescent girls". As if suffering real, physical ailments such as obesity as a result of low self-esteem caused by aspiring to achieve a synthetic body image weren't severe enough, the physical ailments themselves become self-destructive gears in the ill-fated, self-fulfilling prophecy of self-hatred that's created by such aspirations.
         Let's review: Because young women subscribe to the unattainable body ideal, they experience low self-esteem, which leads to overeating and obesity, which in turn leads to...even lower self-esteem. What result, then, could we infer will follow even lower self-esteem? Even greater instances of obesity, of course. As Jennifer O'Dea has discovered in her three year long longitudinal study, "heavier-weight girls...have poorer overall self-worth [and] poorer self-concept related to several different physical, social and academic domains", thus creating a closed circle within which no young girl can feel good about herself, being of healthy weight or otherwise. The very thing that drove them to be overweight in the first place is now the very thing that pressures them into believing that they're sub-standard because they're overweight, as if one had nothing to do with the other. "Luckily", this vicious cycle is indiscriminate and young men are in for an interesting ride on the self-hate Ferris wheel as well.
         While the self-destructive cycle that young women will embark on in their quest to achieve the impossible physique is very harmful and adverse to psychological, social, and physical development, the path that young men will be forced to "choose" should they aspire to become the "ideal man" can not only be psychologically and physically harmful, it can be downright fatal. In short, "...men display substantial body dissatisfaction and...this dissatisfaction is closely associated with depression, measures of eating pathology, use of performance-enhancing substances, and low self-esteem" (Olivardia, Pope Jr., Borowiecki III, & Cohane, 2004. 112). Here's how the male cycle plays out: Young men are shown that the ideal man is extremely muscular, super lean, most likely a weight lifter/bodybuilder (for men) or wealthy, stylish, intelligent, and less muscular/not as threatening as the bodybuilder look (for women). This, in turn, causes them to feel doubly inadequate because, regardless of the archetype they select, they'll never be able to please both their male peers and their female admirers. To counteract this, they take performance enhancers like steroids in order to become super muscular super quickly, but this creates an even greater divide between the ideal male image for men and ideal male image for women, giving birth to a mind divided that can never reconcile with its own self. Put simply, "The dissatisfaction...aris[ing] from the discrepancy between actual and ideal physiques is associated with a number of physical and psychological health problems, including the use of performance-enhancing substances, disordered eating, depression, and low self-esteem" (Farquhar, & Wasylkiw, 2007. 145) To compound the psychological difficulties, even one use of steroids can be fatal and cause death in perfectly healthy young men. Still, when faced with the choice of a life of embarrassment, low self-esteem, and feelings of insufficiency or acceptance in lieu of a quick and easy solution, who could truly blame those who choose the synthetic path in aspiring towards a perfect body image? Any who believe they can should instead focus their efforts on dispelling the myth of the synthetic body image through encouragement of critical thinking and education.
         When pondering a solution to this blight of the modern era, the first thing that comes to mind is the understanding that self-esteem suffers as a result of the pursuit of an impossible and unachievable body image, thus the converse is true, and self-esteem can reach healthy levels and even improvement if the physical archetypes people aspire to be like are realistic and achievable. This can only occur once young men and women are able to face the current, synthetic archetype with a critical eye and realize that such impossible heights are neither worth their time and effort nor beneficial to their psychological and physical selves. Indeed, the amount of exposure seems to pale when compared to the necessity for critical thinking whenever exposed to any sort of media, as Tiggemann points out: "...it seems...what is most important for the development of...girls' body image is not the amount of exposure to...media, but rather their processing of and responsiveness to those media" (Tiggemann, 2006. 538). Likewise, once the ability to critically think and process the images and archetypes young men and women are presented with in the media has been mastered, the next natural step would be to fervently challenge any and all false idols that would appear before them in an effort to sustain their own healthy self-esteem levels. In other words, "Interventions aimed at improving [self] esteem might focus on teaching [young men and women] to challenge the appearance ideals they observe on television, in magazines, and on billboards, in order to disrupt the internalization process..." (Clark, & Tiggemann, 2006. 640)
Like anything worth fighting for, the battle for healthy self-esteem rages on within each and every young man and woman who is forced to face the synthetic, unattainable body image archetype. Perhaps the greatest asset anyone can possess in their life is a practical, realistic, and carefully shaped feeling of self-worth, confidence, and self-esteem carefully crafted from the dual forges of self-concept: internal feelings and external comparisons. This psychological and social revolution is forever doomed to obscurity, however, if people continue in aspiring to emulate an unattainable, synthetic body image.