Society Body Image

649 Words3 Pages
Society’s Unrealistic Expectations of Physical Beauty Betsy Gwinnett Ogeechee Technical College The poem Barbie doll by Marge Piercy is about what women think they should do to fit into the American society’s view of how one should look. In this poem it tells of how the girl was “healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” She had no issues with how she was born and was a perfectly healthy girl. She would have continued to be mentally healthy if not corrupted by the societal views of what beauty is. The American society has been telling young woman for years what they should wear and how they should look. The problem is this standard is so unreal and changes from day to day that how can any woman truly be this so called perfect woman? “Then the magic of puberty, a classmate said: You have a big nose and fat legs.” This line tells the truth of every teenage girl, and boy, in the world. At this age is when we come to “know” what it is that is beautiful and how to hate ourselves for not being that pictured image of it. We look in books and magazines on TV and the internet and see the images of models that are so skinny, nipped and tucked to perfection. Also we have Photoshop now; no one can look as good as some one that is enhanced by a computer to be something they are not. “So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up.” This is what we do now to be this ideal beautiful; everyone with body image issues. How many people can truly say that they love their body anymore? How many people have gotten carried away with these surgeries and have become addicted to trying to become perfect? ”Approximately 91 percent of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body shape. Unfortunately, only 5 percent of women naturally possess the body type often portrayed by
Open Document