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Christina Lui
Paradigm Shift in Body Image
In America today, change is thought to be a good thing. People are constantly striving to
change and move forward, often with positive results. However, there are certain aspects of
change that are negatively affecting men, women, and teenagers all over America. Over the past
fifty years or so, there had been a noticeable shift in the way society at large views body image.
Where there used to be ads aimed at women for gaining weight, we now have hundreds of
thousands of messages to lose excess fat. Where men used to be heftier and not as concerned
with being built, now they are encouraged and expected to stay muscular. All Americans,
regardless of age or gender, feel pressure to look a certain way and to attain unrealistic goals,
which is leading to unhealthy and potentially dangerous costs for some. In recent years, body
image for men and women has gone through a paradigm shift with negative consequences due in
large part to a greater societal emphasis on an ideal figure as well as various forms of media,
such as magazines and television.
One of the causes of this paradigm shift is society itself- women and men are receiving
pressure from each other as well as from outside influences to fit a different ideal than in the
past. There have been many examples of stores such as Abercrombie and Fitch or Lululemon
discriminating against larger-sized women, thus perpetuating the cycle of negative body image.
The clothing outlet Abercrombie and Fitch has received plenty of backlash recently following
their refusal to supply clothing in a size 14, which is the average size of an American woman
(Jarvis). CEO Mike Jeffries has received even more controversy after stating that his store was,
in fact, absolutely exclusionary toward men and women of a larger size. A different company,
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one that specializes in yoga gear for women, is also rather exclusionary. Lululemon Athletica
has sizes that range from a two to a twelve and admit that the plus-sized consumer is not a focus
for their company (Bhasin). The average American women is a size 14, something many
companies consider to be “plus sized” (Crow). There are more stores, some which cater to men
as well as women, which exclude their would-be patrons in this way. They refuse to cater to all
of their customer’s needs, instead trying to fit into a certain niche that does not include all body
types. By alienating these people, who make up a huge part of the population, these clothing
outlets are ostracizing a huge part of society and perpetuate the cycle of negative body image.
Although there has been an emphasis on women and body image, this does not at all
exclude men from experiencing negative social and psychological effects because of society.
Although far fewer studies have been run with men as the subjects, there is still evidence to
support the hypothesis that the paradigm shift has caused men to view themselves more harshly
than in the past. In a study conducted by researchers Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn,
men were subjected to a television show with brief breaks featuring commercials showing either
attractive models, which was the experimental group, or neutral commercials with no body
related images for the control group. At the end of the study, it was shown that the men who
viewed a television show with attractive, muscular male models in the commercials were more
judgmental of themselves and more willing to critique other men (Agliata and Tantleff). Though
this is just one scientific study, it is still part of a growing trend that shows how men are also
effected when it comes to body image. Men are just as susceptible to this pressure as women,
succumbing to the idealolgy that they must look a certain way- some work out to the point of
obsession and other even restrict their diets in order to lose weight. One scholarly article states
that “three college wrestlers died after bouts of food restriction and excessive exercise to qualify
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for lower weight classes” (Galli and Reel), showing that though women might be more prevalent
in the media, men are also dying from a desire to fit in.
There is also an expectation for women today that they remain physically fit and
unreasonably thin, as exemplified in movies and television, but this is a large contrast from the
past and has only served to be detrimental to their health. In earlier years, models and actresses
were trim but they also had body fat- there was no obsession with being lean or toned. One
famous example would be Norma Jean Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, who was a
singer, actress, model, and major sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Today, Monroe is famed
for her curves as much as anything else; she is used as a modern day example to prove that a
woman can be shapely and attractive. She was “never particularly skinny” but remains a role
model for women, not only because of her size but because of the ways she overcame her past
and made a successful future for herself (Scotti). There is an obvious and stark difference
between women like Monroe and the actresses of today. For instance, in a recent internet article
detailing the September Emmys, viewers who watched the televised red carpet event were
stunned by the pervasive thinness of the women. Julie Bowen, an actress on Modern Family,
“admitted on the red carpet this year to “starving” herself in an effort to fit into her Emmys
dress” (McKay). Another example of the extreme effects of this paradigm shift would be Natalie
Portman, who for her role in the movie Black Swan ate very little at worked sixteen hours a day.
She even admitted to a magazine that there were times she thought she was going to die because
of her lifestyle (Zakarin). Actresses on television and in the movies are pressured to be thin and
toned, and when their movies are made public for society’s consumption, the girls and women
who watch it are left believing that they, too, should cater to that body shape.
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Once again, male actors on television and in movies are not an exception to the pressure
to look their best. One study has found that the “percentage of men dissatisfied with their overall
appearance (43%) has nearly tripled in the past 25 years and that nearly as many men as women
are unhappy with how they look” (Phillips). In the past, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, and
Frank Sinatra were all celebrities that would not necessarily fit in with the ideal in the modern
age. These men carried more weight than actors today, but they were still revered as masculine
and attractive. In modern times, however, actors such as Chris Evans or the Hemsworth brothers
are becoming more popular, especially when they are featured in action films such as The
Avengers. When training to portray “a perfect human specimen” in the movie Captain America,
Chris Evans was required to work out every day in order to build his physique. Of his time at the
gym, he said, “I'd walk out and I'd be like, ‘I need to vomit. I hate this trainer. I hate this movie. I
want to go to sleep for a week” (Zakarin). Actors, as well as actresses, are pushing themselves
and their bodies in order to feel comfortable portraying roles on-screen. However, this turns into
a problem when it comes to men in the real world. Most men do not have the money to spend on
a personal trainer or time to hit the gym every single day but are still subjected to these images.
This, in turn, causes men to criticize themselves and their bodies. While Hollywood stars in the
past were heavier and put less of an emphasis on muscle, they are now are becoming more and
more fit, thus negatively effecting men’s body image.
Some paradigm shifts prove to be useful to society at large, but in the case of this body
image shift, the consequences can be deadly. The numbers of eating disorders and body
dysmorphic disorders have increased exponentially. According to Anorexia Nervosa and
Associated Disorders website, the eating disorder anorexia nervosa actually has the highest rate
of death for any psychological disorder (ANAD). Other disorders, such as bulimia or EDNOS,
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are also shared by men and women. Though it is evident that a mixture of biological and
environmental factors contribute to these disorders, the emphasis on body image has a large part
to do with it. Women and even young girls have a desire to be thin, therefore they turn to
destructive means in order to lose weight. It is estimated that more than 800 million Americans
have an eating disorder and that 1 in 200 women have anorexia (SCDMH). If anorexia has the
highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder, we are faced with a large number of young
women who will die out of the desire to look thin and attain an unrealistic body size.
Men suffer from disorders as well, although they do tend to differ from those of women.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or BDD, has long been thought to effect more women than men. In
recent times, however, a subset of BDD called Muscle Dysmorphia has gained prominence.
With this disorder, men are obsessed with obtaining a muscular ideal and often spend hours in
the gym working to achieve this goal (Phillips). This alienates them from their families and
causes them to spend a lot of time and resources in the quest to perfect their bodies. In addition
to Muscle Dysmorphia, an article by Robert Collier states that men make up to 25% of eating
disorder sufferers. Men are becoming more likely to be diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia, or
other restrictive disorders. As is evident from the growing number of studies and observations,
the paradigm shift that has caused women to more negatively also causes men to view
themselves negatively is extremely detrimental to their health.
Overall, the shift in body image over the years has been extremely hurtful to society.
Men and women are pressured by society and by themselves to reach unattainable ideals, and
this can lead to obsessive and extreme behavior in some cases. Although paradigm shifts can be
beneficial, it is obvious that this, in particular, has potentially negative consequences and that
more research should be done to understand it.
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