Do you think that a hundred years from now these extreme dieting pursuits will be viewed in much the same way as the Elizabethan beauty ideals of receding the woman’s hairline, Victorian cinching in the waist, so internal organs are damaged or do not function, or the footbinding.
These are all beauty standards that endanger the health and functioning of women.
Overeating is also a problem but that was not the question.
It’s mixed up with so many F@cked up things. There is the insidious beauty industry and the mythology associated with selling women and girls an unhealthy but lucrative body image. There is the corruption and control of food and the feeding of the population staple poisons such as trans fats, sugar and white flour. I think we can impact in our own environments by choosing healthy unprocessed foods ( as much as we can afford – yes they are expensive). We can raise awareness of different concepts of consumerism in relation to food and beauty. We can also nurture girls and boys to have a sense of themselves that is not reliant on a sick pop cultur image. – just a few thoughts – thanks good question.
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Don’t forget men’s unhealthy use of steroids & overtraining.
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What can we do? I would suggest the first thing is to refuse point blank to buy magazines that have underweight women on the cover. Or that have ads inside showing very underweight women. Like most men I don’t go for very thin women, so the ads are obviously aimed at women not men. This being the case its the women’s spending power that can have some leverage here.
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And over eating is not?
EDIT- While I agree that what you are saying I believe over eating is more of a problem and more accepted by society. I agree with others that we need to teaching them health eating habits and the dangers of both under and over eating.
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Stop looking to the media for references on how people should look, and concentrate more on simply exercising with knowledge of good nutrition vs resorting to fast sales pitch diets that actually in danger peoples health in the long run.
And only provide plastic surgery for people who really need it, like victims of a tragedy.
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We can research the healthy way of living. The Natural way of living. Then pass the information along to our children, friends and family.
If you are a person that have access to writing articles on the web, in a newspaper, or on commercials, then we should do so. I think being natural – eating natural foods, etc. Is the best way to go.
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i personally am going to call in an order for chinese take-out…
should i get the garlic chicken or broccoli with beef?
seriously, we need to teach kids to eat healthy and exercise by example. and not because it looks good, but because it feels good.
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like others have said, stop buying magazines and stop watching programmes of people we dont know telling us how we should look.
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This is a topic that as a dancer affects me a lot. Not now, that I moved to avant-garde art. But when I was working for a ballet company they used to weight us every Monday, IF we had gained one kilo more we would get out of whatever piece we were rehearsing.
It is all about fashion. Women have been breaking their bodies for centuries about it. If it was not the corset it was make up that poisoned their skins, or other things to accommodate the views of beauty. Today is to look as skinny as possible or to have abnormal breasts.
Fortunately there is now some awareness about it. In Some European countries too skinny models are not allow anymore, as some were really sick.
p.s We have to go back to learn what is really important. Not the shell, but the content. Education would be my proposal
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i’ll third that – stop buying magazines. (they also found reading these magazines causes depression b/c they have unreal expectations).
i’d also say stop going to hollywood movies – they also hold women to an unrealistic ideal (not to mention stupid stereotypes).
we need to concentrate on values and health, not on beauty. — which means we have to work with boys & men too b/c they often choose partners based on looks.
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It’s mixed up with so many F@cked up things. There is the insidious beauty industry and the mythology associated with selling women and girls an unhealthy but lucrative body image. There is the corruption and control of food and the feeding of the population staple poisons such as trans fats, sugar and white flour. I think we can impact in our own environments by choosing healthy unprocessed foods ( as much as we can afford – yes they are expensive). We can raise awareness of different concepts of consumerism in relation to food and beauty. We can also nurture girls and boys to have a sense of themselves that is not reliant on a sick pop cultur image. – just a few thoughts – thanks good question.
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In the US the problem is much bigger than that. I recently read "Skinny B*tch" and it made me cringe. The biggest demon here is television… commercials. If we all stopped watching so much TV and started thinking about the crap we put in our bodies weight wouldn’t even be an issue.
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It’s not necessarily society’s views on dieting but people’s desire to be thinner and ‘better’ than the next person. I doubt it will ever change…in the future people might look back on dieting as a silly backwards pursuit but it will probably have been replaced by something equally unhealthy, like being fashionably obese or something. People have always put a lot of focus on the outside rather than the inside.
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Self control by the individuals who think that fashion and self image are worth dying for, or for that matter even worth consideration when compared to the overall scheme of things.
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Its about education and someone being brave enough to say that there is no quick fix to a lifetime of bad habits.
It is a symptom of our society that we look for a quick fix, be it in politics, education or health – and are unwilling to admit that the problems are only a symptom of our own attitudes towards these issues. Skinny women on magazine covers make me feel bad, so I am going to eat some Ben and Jerrys until I feel better
It is always someone elses fault, not our own. Advertisers and fast-food chains made us eat food that was bad for us. Guns dont kill people, people kill people. Lets give everyone a fuel tax holiday instead of addressing the real issues
Does any of this sound familar?
Edit: To answer you question properly though (rather than just go off on a rant) – yes I think that the current obsession with rake thin women will eventually pass. If for no other reason than it will become more and more difficult to find women that size and so people will not be able to relate to them to such an extent. Already we are seeing "rounder" women in advertising and on TV (particularly in music videos) – as time passes and the population in general expands these will become the norm.
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We are all different body types, once we accept that as fact, we can start to "liveit" instead of "diet".
Talk to those around us. When you find something that is healthy for your body and also helps keep the weight down, like eating grapefruit … it is healthy, and good for you. There are many things in nature that are healthy and will keep us beautiful.
If we could start a "fad" of healthy eating everyone would look good. Being healthy on the inside makes you look good on the inside.
Send messages to magazines that you want to see different body types, healthy bodies. If enough people respond to them, they will make changes to keep the subscribers happy.
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In my opinion, the best thing to do is to not "diet" per se. Instead, people should cut back on what they eat, while at the same time making sure they get the proper nutrients. One point of interest: Rachel Hunter mentioned in an article that she’s not longer supermodel skiny, but she’s proud of her body shape. She went on to say that European women are happier with their body shapes than American women. In the end, the best thing is to just be happy with who you are, despite how you might look right now.
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