"If today's mannequins were actual human women, they would probably cease to menstruate"
Ideal body type, ideal body weight, ideal body image...... What do all of these things mean and just how much importance do they play in our lives? I have yet to meet a woman that has admitted that there are many days that go by that she does Not, in fact, think about her body and/or outward appearance in a negative way. Ask yourself this...how much time do I spend thinking about how I look each day? Whether it be your hair, clothes, weight, size of certain body parts, etc. After you have answered that ask yourself how much of that was in positive thoughts? Yikes! I am sure that you may be surprised, or maybe you are not! There is much that influences our thinking, but I would have to say that a lot of it is the images that are thrown at us each and every day. Like I have mentioned in previous posts, most of what we see is either photo shopped, airbrushed, or portrayed in just the right lighting. This is a topic that I feel very strongly about. It truly angers me that the "ideal" looks that are placed before us are a lot of times not even real! It doesn't just affect grown women, young girls are seeing this pressure early on, and trying to adapt themselves to these standards. Eating disorders are now being treated in very young elementary girls. That is a very frightening thought. I don't know about you, but those thoughts were not in my head at that age, and really not overly so until junior high.
A few statistics for thought:
The average American woman is 5'4" and weighs 140 lbs. The average American model is 5'11" and weighs 117 lbs. Those models are thinner than 98% of American women!!!
1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating.
If Barbie were life size her measurements would be 39-23-33 (I fear she might be a bit off balance=) )
I even typed in a search on the internet seeing what I could find out about the Ideal woman's body. The results did not portray the same images that are thrown at us each and every day. When asked, the results were all over the place. There was not a definite ideal. SURPRISE! The answers varied from short to tall, thin to having extra weight, muscular to curvy. Hmm....what are we to do with that information? Go with it! We are obviously wasting our time comparing ourselves to a standard that we think exists. If the standard was to be that we all should look one certain way, then God would have created us all thinking one look was the ideal. Instead He created us all being diverse, and giving each of us a unique view of Ideal. If you missed an earlier post of mine with links to these great eye opening video clips of Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty, please take the time to view them now. You will be amazed!
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