Susan Bordo Never Just Beauty

Society should stop trying to build the perfect body because by doing so, this can lead to unhealthy men and women. The perfect body doesn’t mean extremely skinny. Susan Bordo, born in 1947, is a professor of English and Women Studies at the University of Kentucky. In “Never Just Pictures: Bodies and Fantasies” she explains the ideas of the socially shaped body image and how the media reflects on these ideas. Society has an obsession with the way people should look and present themselves. According to society, all people should make it their own personal goal to eventually meet the body image that matches societal views. Many advertisements are targeted towards young people, telling them that it’s ok to spend all their money getting plastic …show more content…
She showed up at the Academy Awards, a little bigger than she was before in the movie, and she got ripped into. People called her “fatgirl” and “buttgirl”. Too many people, “Fat is the devil”. Commercials present diet pills that are supposed to help you lose weight and television shows promise to help make your body perfect. Bordo speaks of a study experiment that asked young boys and girls to rank drawings of handicapped people. Drawings of fat people turned out to have the largest criticism ranks over people with facial disfigurements and missing limbs. A thin body image has become presented as the main element in our society. Bordo mentions that eating disorders have a much greater meaning than just body image. Eating disorders is a multi- layered “symptom.” Lots of people believe that being fat is just a symbol of “laziness and lack of willpower.” Designers don’t just tell models about how to be beautiful or desirable, but about “how to get control of,” their “lives, get safe, be cool, and avoid hurt.” Models have been getting thinner since 1993. Many movie stars are following that ideal of a thinner body. They have taught the audience to love a women’s pelvis, as well as her hipbones as they bulge out of her gown. The clavicle, or collar bone, should act as a coat hanger for which clothes should hang correctly. The older fashion industry wouldn’t allow a thicker group of ladies to be models …show more content…
“Normal” to someone in Hollywood is looking like a skeleton or drug addict, nether one of which is actually healthy. I do agree with Bordo that society should stop trying to build the perfect body. Media’s idea of a perfect body is making a person incredibly skinny which is unacceptable. I think that fashion’s ideas are hurting people. Why would people risk their health in order to fit in?
As an athlete, I know the joy of exercise and fitness. When working out at the gym or going on a run, I feel I can do many things that a lot of people can’t. At this point, I am proud of the way my body looks and I am not concerned with what other people think because I am not ashamed of my appearance. I look good and I feel good and that is what health is truly about. If you love the way you look, then it shouldn’t matter what others think of you. If I went to Hollywood right now and tried to become a model, I have a feeling that the fashion designers would consider me

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