Like many college students, Rebekah Dubin struggles to juggle a work load made heavier by the pressure to conform to pop culture's ideal body image. (Photo by Maxwell McAdams)
Like any illusion, physical perfection is not always what it seems.
Michele Boyle, a DCCC counselor revealed the deceptions behind the fantasy that is flawless beauty in a seminar titled, “Body Image,” held on Feb. 5.
Although in the 21st century the promotion of internal beauty is politically correct, it is not ideal, as external beauty is silently and relentlessly sought after, according to Boyle. Boyle explained how the ideal of external perfection is promoted by the media and craved by the general public to such a degree that it affects every second of the daily routines of most Americans.
According to Boyle, people who continue to buy into the media’s standards of beauty will never be satisfied with their image because their perception is skewed by the unachievable standards of pop culture.
Even the so-called “beautiful people” of American society acknowledge the fact that the body image they promote is not synonymous with any kind of great importance. “Britney Spears for instance, refused to let her image be airbrushed after her comeback,” Boyle said. “She had given birth to two children already, and it showed, but she still looked beautiful.”
According to Boyle, only 6 percent of one’s body image is influenced by realistic objectives, such as exercising and eating correctly. Ninety-four percent of what one perceives about his or her own body image is contrived from the ideals put forth by the media and society of today.
“Media glamorizes and normalizes unrealistic goals,” Boyle said. For instance, 20 years ago, the average size for women in America was a 12, the same size Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day sported during their sexiest of photo shoots.
Today, according to Boyle, the average size of the media’s most beautiful has “slimmed down” from a healthy double digit to a size 2, thus convincing most insecure Americans that they are anything but thin and beautiful.
This promotion of an ever slim, ever fit, always “put together” image, explained Boyle, can only be a reality for those celebrities and athletes whose job it is to maintain such an image. “For the majority of us who have families, there are other priorities at hand, making it impossible to attain the same aesthetic results; it’s called the social comparison theory,” Boyle said.
Boyle outlined the differences between upward comparison, those goals which are unrealistic for most to attain, and downward comparison, comparing one’s self to someone of a similar social and professional standard such as classmate or a co-worker. “These downward comparisons can be healthy,” Boyle said, claiming that they can often serve as motivation to exercise more frequently or maintain a better diet.
“The Self Discrepancy Theory can be the most dangerous social theory of all,” Boyle said. It is the theory Boyle calls the most popular among teens – a circumstance in which reality has no bearing over one’s self perception – where instead one judges him or herself by internal, improbable ideals of unknown origin. It is a mindset that often arises from one’s dissatisfaction with his or her own genetic weight predisposition and can often lead to fruitless dieting and detrimental eating disorders.
“The best way to lose weight is to eat healthfully and exercise – that’s all that’s required,” Boyle said.
Several students nodded in agreement.
“I lost 20 pounds just by stopping myself from eating vending machine food and eating real substance from the school’s cafeteria,” said 23-year-old DCCC student Dominique Jones.
“Everyone wants to be beautiful,” Boyle said. In closing she explained that no man or woman will ever be able to accept their beauty externally if they can’t step out of the mire that is self-criticism and false perception.
“It all depends on how much you buy into stereotypical media,” Boyle said.
If one relies on downward comparisons, not only may one’s self-esteem increase, but, much like magic, one may, for the first time, be able to see his or her own actual beauty.
