Beauty Within and Without

As I listened to our conversation in class on Thursday, I had so many thoughts racing through my head that I found it difficult to process all of them. I find it extremely interesting that sexism can even be applied to eating disorders let alone body image. Because I am a Psychology major, I study eating disorders a lot from a cognitive/emotional/behavioral viewpoint. I have indeed looked into the social aspects of eating disorders; however, yesterday’s class helped me to incorporate sexism into my already acquired knowledge. We have spoken a lot about male domination and the patriarchal society. But what is the correlation between female beauty and male exertion of control? In other words, to what degree do females look “good” for themselves and to what degree is this influenced by how men judge them? I’ve heard that females feel as though they absolutely NEED to look beautiful and perfect for their male partners or else they feel as though they will leave them. I’ve also heard of men actually threatening to leave if their female partners do not start losing weight, taking care of themselves, and the like. This exacerbates the problem of the perfect “beauty ideal” and directly results in more severe psychological disorders, whether it be eating disorders, anxiety, depression, paranoia, etc. Female standards of beauty are so cut-throat that women have been left feeling worthless, hideous, and helpless. But can this truly be attributed to the pressure of male partners in their lives? My answer is absolutely. Other factors obviously contribute to the overall change in mental state; however, women have been deprived of their sense of true comfort because of men and THEIR standards for women. It’s all about exercising control at times. And then women gain that control back by starving themselves, exercising profusely, or binge-eating and vomiting. On page 35, Hooks states, “All females no matter their age are being socialized wither consciously or unconsciously to have anxiety about their body, to see flesh as problematic.” But what about males? Are they socialized less than girls to have perfect bodies? Or do they just not admit it as a problem while girls do? The general population of men who have eating disorders in actuality is very underestimated. I’m starting to think that if they feel emasculated, they may eat less as a matter of gaining back that control that defines masculinity in our society. But if they admit that they have these problems, this may suggest that they are “weak” and have lost control even though they see the opposite (eating less is gaining back their control). So what’s the correct answer? There’s so many factors involved, but when it comes to sexism, we need to look at eating disorders from a female AND male point of view, and keep in mind that many men have eating disorders, but are just less willing to admit it.