Body Image

Origins of Body Image Ideals

Throughout the world, women are socialized to believe in a cultural definition of female attributes. From the time a girl is born, she is told which clothes are appropriate for her to wear, what kind of hairstyle is fitting for a female; which toys to play with or [Page 171]activities to undertake; how much to help the family with household duties and responsibilities; and many other specifically female messages. If the girl is privileged enough to be educated, she is expected to focus on certain types of studies rather than others. When the female enters the workforce, regardless of her age or education level, she is relegated to certain types of work and expected to engage in certain behaviors, but not others, while doing that work. Thus, women worldwide are considered subservient to men, expected to care for others throughout their lives, and when allowed to work outside of the home, tend to be relegated to professions that help others.

The overarching force behind these phenomena is colonialism, which tends to bring with it patriarchy, heteronormativity and classism. Colonialism has affected most, if not all, of the world and, even though there are sometimes shifts in global powers, the idea that select, very rich and powerful nations control the rest of the world seems to stay the same. Colonialism has historically favored rich, heterosexual men with light skin. There are complex historical processes at work in each culture that has experienced colonization, but the fact remains that rich, light-skinned, presumably heterosexual men have been dominating the public and personal spaces of almost every culture around the world for hundreds of years. Patriarchy requires that men are separate from women so that privileged men may maintain control over everyone else (i.e., women and unprivileged males). Heteronormativity, or the assumption that everyone is or should be heterosexual, helps maintain patriarchy such that there are two distinct sexes, man and woman, and every woman needs to be paired with a man. The end result is that men with privilege remain powerful while women tend to be considered subservient to them and feel pressure to conform to societal standards to be accepted by men, affiliate with at least one male, and thereby acquire some measure of power in a system that would otherwise render a woman invisible.

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