The Sunday News
Rutendo Chidawanyika
We are living in an age where social media has taken over our daily lives. The viewing of others and other people’s lives now happens on a massive level.
From Facebook to the Snapchat, we see a lot of images and gather information which has an effect on our minds and how we view ourselves, especially for women.
For instance, a teenage girl following Gigi Hadid may desire to have that particular body shape or believe that Gigi’s body shape or face are ideal.
Overtime this could gradually affect that person’s mind and self-esteem to a deductive reasoning;
We follow people who we do not know personally and see all the “likes”, “followers”, and “attention” that these people get and we compare them to ourselves. It is in this comparison that the state of our own body positivity starts to crack.
As we peer into their lives, our lives and ourselves no longer look as good by comparison. “My legs aren’t as sexy”, “my hair isn’t as pretty”, or “my body isn’t as perfect”, all of these phrases are things that would make a person feel insecure in regards to their own body.
Body image perception is specifically how a person views his or her body or appearance in general. To help boost their confidence in themselves, people usually try to look more appealing, mask their flaws (makeup), or dress more attractively.
But nevertheless, they forget that their actions might still be based on the perception of others and not the love they truly have for themselves. Even the clothes we wear have a strong effect on our lives.
We all know that fashion is important in our society, due to the fact that it defines the social standard as well as the people in many different ways; however, fashion has a few unfavourable effects on the understanding of body image.
Fashion projects that the ideal perfect fashion body is thin. But truth to be told, fashion itself can never determine what is “perfect” in terms of looks or beauty, but it is those emaciated (unnatural thinness, extreme weight loss) girls and unhealthy thin women who are used because they attract a larger audience.
Healthy women who have no medical conditions or health issues might feel insecure about their own assets and clothes by these images. It is a constant advertisement online that maybe what you have, how you look, or what you wear is not good enough.
Because nowadays, people flaunt their fashionable dresses, makeup, and branded accessories on social media, which directly have an effect on the person posting and the people who view the post.
The constant bombardment of what is pretty and what is not can cause some people to go to a serious and dark place emotionally. The effects of trying to be what society deems attractive, acceptable, and pretty can come at a high price to someone’s health
Body shaming can lead to unhealthy habits such as extreme dieting or excessive exercise. It turns into forced fingers down your throat or not eating at all. But it’s not just one sided either.
People who are thin also feel the effects of body shaming. Telling ladies that “guys love a woman with curves” so that they feel inferior to thicker women is just as bad as telling a woman that she is fat. Just like telling someone that they need to eat a cheeseburger or add meat on their bones because they are too skinny is not a compliment.
Both fat and skinny people are becoming too critical of themselves because of comments made by others. People of all sizes spend too much time examining their bodies in their mirrors, picking at their flaws and hating the way they look. Making someone feel bad about their appearance, when it is already hard to be comfortable in your own skin, is the worst thing that you can do to an individual, period!
Please choose your role models wisely. There are many people who instead of focusing on healthy sportspersons, positive local role models, scientists, and other healthy people, they idolise celebrities and their body types. Many girls find themselves scrolling through facebook newsfeeds, instagram posts, and blogs wishing “they were her . . . What most people don’t understand is that celebrities are paid to look a certain way and a majority of them get plastic surgery. Photo shopping is also in trend, it alters the appearance of a person but in actual fact there are not as light and their waist is not as cinched.
We need to realise that the human body comes in all sizes and shapes. And regardless of your body type, you are beautiful.
You are perfect the way you are and you do not need the expensive personal trainers, make-up teams, surgeries, and photoshop experts to keep up with the Kardashians because you are already a star.-Additional information from Online sources.
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