Body Image and the Difference Between Europe and America

Body Image and the Difference Between Europe and America

The concept of body image is really a perception involving imagination, emotions and physical sensations about our body. (America Now Short Readings from Recent Periodicals) This does not remain the same, but keeps on changing, and depends a lot on our moods, the environment that we live in and the practical experiences in life that we have. Often we do not realize the factual situation within it. It involves a lot of our psychology and depends a lot more on our self-esteem than the real physical attractiveness that we have according to others. People do not directly tell us this, but this is what we feel. The transmission of this knowledge is cultural and through the family and friends. (Body Image: International Eating Disorder Referral Organization)

Most of the people involved are not happy with the bodies they have. There are some differences between the sexes regarding body image and in Europe, the girls are worse off. According to research conducted at Glasgow University women are even as much as 10 times as unhappy with their bodies. Even healthy weights for their body statistics are seen as 'overweight' by the person residing in that body. Yet it is the men who are now getting more dissatisfied with their bodies, and this trend is on the rise. The general tendency of men is to be more concerned with their skin, hair loss, nose and genital size, as also not feeling that they are muscular enough. Research in UK suggests that the dissatisfaction with the body increases with wealth, and the wealthier a person is, the less likely is he to be happy with his body. The general feeling is that this tendency comes from the feeling that the wealthier persons are felt to possess the required amount of money to take care of the changes. The general tendency is that even in terms of countries, the wealthier a country is, the greater is the level of body dissatisfaction. (Body Image-BBC)

At the same time, the Americans are not able to give up on their sprees of high eating, and as many as 40% of them do so regularly. It is said through research that 38% of American men want bigger chests and 34% of women want bigger breasts. The desire was more serious in men than girls. And the study that we are referring to was done in1972. They are also willing to spend a large amount of money and the current expenditure by Americans on gym memberships is over $2 billion, as also the same amount for home exercise equipment. The magazines for this aspect also have very large subscription lists and those lists are also rising sharply. In 1990, the list was for 250,000 persons which have now increased to 1.6 million for the most popular of these magazines. The medical treatments are also large and were 700,000 procedures in 1996. (Never Too Buff)

One of the main reasons for this problem in both the areas is the images that we are exposed to in advertising in all media -- television, films, magazines, newspapers, and websites. The models in all advertising are beautiful for selling high image products. The persons that one can see are featuring muscular leading men, or jeans with a taut and tanned model. The models are much more perfect than they were 50 years ago. Only the present magazines can be compared with magazines of 50 years earlier. The earlier models were much less polished, and even some flaws could be noted on their skins. Today the pictures are much more perfect with excellent lighting, beautiful make up and airbrushing. This technique removes all the flaws, and they are made to look perfect. Another help they have is from personal trainers, hairdressers, make up artists, stylists and even personal chefs. Most of us do not have these facilities and this makes it difficult for us to look as good as them. (Body Image-BBC)

Apart from the general madness about looking good, the level of madness has taken Americans to the path of using anabolic steroids -- synthetic testosterone. This is the factor that is helping most Americans change their form. The product became available in the black market from the 1960s and since then as many as 3 million Americans are estimated to have taken them. The numbers have increased sharply in the last 15 years. The situation today is very serious and in 1993 a survey found that 1 high school boy out of 15 was using them in Georgia, and none of them were taking it under prescription. The authority for drug enforcement has also reported that the use of these products have increased by more than 50% during the last four years among high school students. Their figures say that the usage is now 2.8%. (Never Too Buff)

The situation now is getting the response from the authorities in terms of campaigns talking to teenagers about the dangers in al places where the teenagers go -- gyms, malls, bookstores, clubs and even the Net. This is leading the teenagers now to switch to legal but controlled food supplements. These also have side effects but they can make a person look bigger, leaner or stronger. Part of the image problem has come from the toys, and the GI Joe extreme of today would end up having a 140 cm chest and 69 cm biceps! This does not happen in life. The tests show that everybody feels the young men should have more muscles. The men feel that they need another 28 lbs. whereas the women felt that the men needed another 30 lbs. Even in terms of choice, the women generally tended to pick up men who were a little more muscular than others. The problem runs deeper among the younger set, and they feel they require even more muscle. This physical ideal is not possible to attain without steroids, and that is the reason most of them use steroids. When real life tests are conducted in stores, the finding is that many boys use medicines and body building supplements, but legal. A situation has come today where muscular bodies also advertise that had female models earlier -- desert liqueurs, microwave ovens, and luxury hotels. (Never Too Buff)