In many cultures and during certain historical periods, women have been proud to be large and or even fat. Being a large woman was a sign of fertility, of prosperity and showed an ability to be able to survive. Even in the United States today, I was surprised to read that in some racial and ethnic groups, large woman are considered to be beautiful. This view is seen by Hawaiians who often find large women to be quite beautiful and the African-American women, who are more comfortable with their larger bodies and are less concerned with dieting and exercise. Although this may be true, I believe that there is tremendous pressure on women across all racial and ethnic boundaries to be thin. My perception is that if you are thin you are healthy and if you are fat you need to work on becoming thin. As a society we are obsessed with body image. We are constantly being bombarded by doctors, weight loss companies, physical fitness/gyms, the advertising industry and the media that we all must be thin. Larger women continue to suffer from discrimination. Even woman who are average/not overweight but are not “thin” often suffer because they think they are “fat” and do not have good self-image or body image.
Most women spend a lot of time in front of a mirror. We are always checking to make sure that we look “perfect.” How we feel about how we look affects our self-image and our body image. Although we all have things about our body that we don’t like; we don’t obsess over it. We all would probably like to change something about ourselves, our eyes might be too small, or our nose might be too big, or our hair is too thin, or our hips might be too wide or our chest might be too large or small. However, it doesn’t interfere with our daily lives.
Unfortunately, there are some people (both men and women) who are so obsessed or focused on the flaws of their body that it interferes with their ability to function. People who have Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD suffer from a condition that involves obsession. When you suffer from BDD you “intensely obsess over your appearance and body image, often for many hours of a day. Your perceived flaw causes you significant distress, and your obsession impacts your ability to function in your daily life.” As a result these people may try to diet excessively, exercise excessively and/or seek out cosmetic procedures to “fix” their “flaw.” The problem is for those that suffer from BDD they are never satisfied. BDD has also been defined as “Imagined Ugliness.” This is because the flaw or issue that the person is obsessing over is often so small that other people don’t even notice it. The problem for the person with BDD is that their imperfection is very real for them and their obsession magnifies and distorts this imperfection. As a result, because they suffer from a distorted body image the person may believe that they are too ugly to be seen which negatively affects their social, work and home life.
I have always been thin. In middle school and my first 3 years in high school, I was even considered to be too thin. My teachers and friends often made comments about how I looked. This made me feel very uncomfortable. People even said that I looked anorexic. Over the past two years, I have gained some weight. To others I now look “healthy” and the best I have every looked. To me, I now see someone who is overweight. I dress differently than I use to. I won’t wear shirts that show my belly and I even bought a one-piece bathing suit to wear to the beach; rather than wearing a bikini. I see now that my body image and image of myself is somewhat distorted. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from BDD, but I do understand how a person can obsess about their imperfections.
