by Carolyne Tsuma
Carolyne Tsuma is a Biology major from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who wrote this essay in Catherine Mintler’s Fall 2020 “Dopplegängers and Doubles” course.
“The problem is not with your body; the problem is what you think of it and what you think of yourself.” The anonymous quotation above acknowledges the problem of body dissatisfaction that has plagued a majority of contemporary American women of all ages, pointing out that in the case of body dissatisfaction, the problem is not that there is something inherently wrong with our bodies; instead, the problem lies in our perception of our bodies. The rise of issues such as body dissatisfaction and body dysmorphia has captured the attention of psychologists and health providers who have sought to understand how women have come to develop them. Psychologist Nicolas Hielder defines body dissatisfaction as “a negative attitude towards one’s physical appearance and is assumed to originate from a perceived discrepancy between the actual physical appearance, which is the actual body image and the desired ideal state of the body, the ideal body image” (Heider et al. 158). The second disorder, body dysmorphia, is defined as “a distinct mental disorder in which a person is preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see” (Bhandari). Although both disorders are mental illnesses in which a person perceives their body as flawed, I would like to make a clear distinction between the two terms. Body dissatisfaction pertains to the emotions that can arise about one’s body image. Body dysmorphia is an obsessive mental disorder where a person perceives the appearance of specific parts of their body as flawed. For example, a person with body dysmorphia may imagine that their body is bigger than it is or that their face is extremely flawed.
Much research exists about body dissatisfaction and body dysmorphia to better understand how and why women struggle with body image issues. Psychologists and health providers have been able to conduct studies focused on exploring the correlation between the feelings of anxiety and body dissatisfaction to the promotion of unhealthy body images using interactive photovoice exploration and questionnaires. However, most of the research conducted on the subject has failed to capture responses from all racial demographics. As a young Black woman who lives in a society that emphasizes an ideal version of beauty that is centered around perfect and unattainable body proportions, I want to use an ethnocultural lens to understand how the use of mannequins and the media to promote an ideal standard of beauty centered around whiteness and thinness has impacted the way that we perceive our bodies, and how women have responded to combat the feelings of anxiety that develop. Throughout the paper, I will discuss the different modes used to reinforce unhealthy beauty standards. Then I will transition to discuss the type of responses that women have adapted over time and how their health has been impacted.
It may surprise you, but to fully understand the power of the media machinery over women, we need to go all the way back to the 19th century to understand how female aesthetics have changed over time. Let us begin with the mannequin. I believe that it will be worthwhile to briefly summarize the history of mannequins and their active influence on female aesthetics. Mannequins originated in the mid-nineteenth century and were modeled after real and recognizable people (Schneider 5-6). The mannequin’s main function was to display and model ready-to-wear clothing. Over time mannequin manufacturers started to reconstruct new body proportions for the mannequins, and by the 1950s, female mannequins sported “tightly pinched waists, full hips, and brazenly thrusting busts” (Schneider 11). It is important to note that by the 1950s, mannequins had been integrated into society as people believed that they captured the desired dominant tall, thin, evenly proportioned, and whitened body aesthetic (Schneider 11). Mannequins might seem to be part of retail history, but recent studies offer insight into how they still actively influence female beauty standards in our present-day society.
The “impact of mannequins” on consumer beauty standards was explored in a study by Jenifer Argo and Darren Dahl. In their study, six experiments were conducted on undergraduate college students in which the participants were told to examine mannequins and the clothes being advertised. In their study, Argo and Dahl contend the following: “With their long slim legs, thin waists, and generous breasts, in fashion retail, female mannequins make salient society’s current normative standards of beauty . . . we find that they are capable of creating a global social threat through the normative information they make salient . . . ” (Argo and Dahl 974-5). Argo and Dahl point out the specific characteristics that mannequins attribute to the ideal female body–long slim legs, and a thin waist–while claiming that these characteristics threaten women who are sensitive to their appearances. One of the most critical insights from their study is that not only do mannequins mirror “society’s current notion of feminine perfection,” but they also create a “global social threat” by exporting that idealized female body image to women in other countries–many of whom will not be white women, but women of color (974, 975). It is also important to note that the women in the study are not comparing themselves to the object but rather the beauty standards that the mannequins are portraying. A similar study conducted thirty years before Argo and Dahl aimed to examine how females perceived their bodies compared to the mannequins concluded that the promotion of the ideal thin body caused women to overestimate their body sizes compared to mannequins and models (Dolce et al.). This study showed that by the 1980s, women were starting to recognize that their bodies did not reflect the standardized ideal body.
Having established that mannequins have reshaped female beauty standards, it is now possible to explore how the fashion industry has continued to redefine beauty standards through human models. One particular study that highlights this is “Results of a strategic science study to inform policies targeting extreme thinness standards in the fashion industry” by Rachel Rodgers et al. Rodgers and her fellow psychiatrists explore the pressure that fashion models face around their appearances as a result of the fashion industry pressuring their models to maintain a mannequin-like physique by equating thinness to success. From the study, we can see that the fashion industry plays a significant role in controlling the narrative about body image within the industry and ultimately influencing women’s perception of female aesthetics through the glorification of thinness. They noted, “Overall, models reported high levels of pressure to lose weight from their agencies and reported having been ‘often’ or ‘always’ told by their agencies in the past year to tone up (44%), lose weight (36%), or adopt a new diet or exercise regimen (32%)” (287). From this data, we can see that women who were not previously sensitive to their appearances now experience pressure from the industry to adopt the ideal thin body and maintain it. Equating thinness to success is very damaging to the models and to the young women who look up to the industry and even those who do not because they grow to believe this narrative. Normalizing thin body imagery puts women exposed to these ideals at a higher risk of developing eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia and excludes women who do not fit the slim-body criteria by damaging their sense of self-worth.
Further studies have found that the media also plays a vital role in implementing thin and white body ideals to the general female population along with the fashion industry. In an analysis of media imagery written in 2010, Ninoska DeBraganza and Heather Hausenblas discuss the role social media plays in normalizing the ideal thin body image by proving the correlation of body dissatisfaction to exposure of the ideal body physique through fashion magazines. Similarly, in 2016 Isabelle Coy-Dibley further examines the relationship between women and the media’s cultural representation of the ideal female body in a separate analysis. Both studies address that the media is responsible for the increase in body dissatisfaction and dysmorphia among women. In their study, Debraganza and Hausenblas claim, “The strongest sociocultural pressures that affect body dissatisfaction are imposed by the mass media, i.e., print media, movies, and television . . . correlational and longitudinal research findings reveal that exposure to the media’s portrayal of the ideal physique is positively associated with body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms” (701). Five years later, Coy-Dibley notes that “Appearance matters are advertised, marketed, documented and broadcast in daily TV shows, women’s magazines, fashion adverts, and media images, or even the perfectly proportioned, shaped mannequins of fashion store window displays” (3). DeBraganza and Hausenblaus also reveal that other experiments that have been conducted show a strong correlation between body dissatisfaction and the increased exposure of an ideal thin physique from television, magazines, and movies. One insightful thing about the types of media mentioned above is that the pictures of women portrayed in those mediums have all been edited and retouched to advertise thin imagery. Picture editing is a practice that the fashion and media industry uses to perfect images to their liking. One of the editing tools, Photoshop, has allowed photographers and filmmakers to reshape and resize the bodies to the desired physique. Now that Photoshop and retouching tools are accessible via ubiquitous apps that make every young woman with a smartphone potentially her own body’s editor, they have resulted in another form of body dysmorphia called digital dysmorphia, coined by Coy-Dibley.
Coy-Dibley defines digital dysmorphia as “a socially conditioned dysmorphia, shaped collectively by societal pressures, constructs of beauty and the technology presently available to attain these standards in image form” that “manifests among women, particularly in image-driven Western culture, who see their bodies as flawed in reality, and who therefore edit their images to digitally correct what they see as ‘wrong,’ enabling them to form a digitally reconstructed ideal self-image” (2). Digital dysmorphia is an interesting concept because it is like an umbrella term that perfectly captures how body dissatisfaction and dysmorphia go hand in hand in our current society, a society heavily influenced by social media platforms that allow women to engage in a vicious cycle of viewing and sharing content that spreads unhealthy body ideals, creating a loop where the impacted become the impactors. The increasing pressure around women to attain skewed beauty standards further normalizes the different mediums that have made women resort to editing their picture and creating what they believe to be their ideal bodies. By constantly bombarding and pressuring women to embody such ideals, women have been forced to view their natural bodies as flawed, which has fueled the desire to retouch themselves digitally. Social media has given women the tools to spread their unhealthy body ideals, and now we are all comparing ourselves to each other’s idealized bodies.
At this point, I would like to step forward as the author of this essay and as a young woman of color to raise some objections inspired by the skeptic in me. Although the evidence is compelling, these results and the results I have discussed earlier in the paper do not account for the diverse population of women in our society. Devin Madden and Jean Breny, two public health researchers, argue that “Despite a robust research base, consistent utilization of quantitative methodologies focused principally on White populations and leaves significant gaps in the literature” (441). In making this statement, Madden and Breny highlight the exclusion of women of color from the experiments and the responses found from recent research studies. Not only do the fashion industry, models, and mannequins largely promote thin white representations of beauty that exclude Black women as models/mannequins as part of that beauty, the studies about the pernicious effects also only focus on white women. Women of color remain invisible throughout–it is as if we do not exist. Even though studies show that ethnocultural backgrounds have a significant impact on our perceptions and responses, it is important to point out that Black women also struggle with eating disorders to combat feelings of body dissatisfaction and that we are not immune to body image issues. By promoting a single ideal centered on whiteness, our American society constructs an environment that excludes a wide range of women who do not fulfill this idealized conception of white beauty.
While many women across races are impacted, they develop different responses to combat their feelings about body image and size. Two particular studies, “Media Exposure Of the Ideal Physique on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Mood: The Moderating Effects of Ethnicity” by Ninoska DeBraganza and Heather Hausenblas and “How Black Women Make Sense of ‘White’ and ‘Black’ Fashion Magazines: A Qualitative Think-Aloud Study” by Jane Ogden and Sheriden Russell have been fundamental in shedding new light on the specific responses among Black and white women, which previous studies had not addressed. In their study, DeBraganza and Hausenblas examine whether body dissatisfaction and mood are moderated by ethnicity. The authors conducted an interactive photo study where they showed the women pictures of the ideal physique and measured the levels of anxieties and change in body dissatisfaction. They report in their finding that “White women reported higher body dissatisfaction after viewing the model slides . . . In comparison, African American women showed no significant changes from pretest to posttest on body dissatisfaction after viewing the slides . . . White women had a higher overall pretest and posttest anxiety than did the African American women” (DeBraganza and Hausenblas 709, 710). This data suggest that white women are at a higher risk of experiencing higher anxiety and body dissatisfaction than Black women. DeBraganza and Hausenblas attribute their findings to the fact that “Women identify and compare themselves to ideal images, especially if the ideals are closer to their own appearance” (713). We can infer why Black women did not experience body dissatisfaction the same way white women do: because the ideal physique being promoted only resembles white women. Black women cannot relate to the white body, so it is harder for them to compare themselves to the ideal white physique. Ogden and Russell reiterate this notion in their study by stating, “Black girls were more likely to appreciate their physical appearance and have a broader definition of beauty compared to Caucasian girls who felt disappointed with the way they looked and narrowly defined beauty in terms of a few specific characteristics . . . Black women may be protected from the influence of media images of thin models due to the ethnic gap as most models are White” (1590, 1596). The psychologists show that the ideal Caucasian thin physique being imposed on a heterogeneous audience negatively impacts many Caucasian women, and suggest that Black women are left unscathed simply because they cannot relate to the Caucasian physique.
As a young Black woman, I was surprised to learn about my own immunity to these dangerous mediated images. Obviously, such images had nothing to do with the fact that I starved myself for a year in high school, right? The studies that I have just discussed convey contrasting responses between Black and white women and reinforce a false assumption that Black women show little to no signs of body dissatisfaction or anxiety upon prolonged exposure to the ideal thin and white physique. Ogden and Russell claim in their research that “Black participants showed elements of resilience . . . The Black women in this study, therefore, showed no impact of the media images on their body image supporting evidence that the influence of media images may not be as substantial as often thought” (1597). In my opinion, this assumption reinforces the existing stereotype that Black women are strong individuals who are exempt from experiencing negative feelings towards body image because they have a strong sense of self-worth and body positivity. In fact, this declaration plays into a false narrative constructed in the times of slavery where white people believed that Black women had strong abled bodies that could withstand harsh farming conditions and survive childbirth better than white women. These false narratives play a role in the dismissive culture towards Black women that is prevalent in current American society and especially in the medical field. In the medical field, we see that Black women are at higher risk of dying in the hands of medical professionals during and after childbirth because their pleas and concerns are rarely taken seriously. Besides, not all white women respond negatively to the ideal physique. Who is to say that some do not have a strong sense of self-worth and body positivity? I disagree with DeBraganza, Hausenblas, Ogden, and Russell’s assumptions because they overlook the possibility that Black women are negatively impacted even though white and Black women internalize these messages differently.
Despite the above-mentioned conclusions that Black women show resistance towards long exposure to the ideal thin and white physique, Meg Lovejoy’s study “Disturbances in the Social Body: Differences in Body Image and Eating Problems among African American and White Women” and research conducted by Devin Madden and Jean Breny convinced me that Black women do experience feelings of body dissatisfaction and respond by adopting unhealthy habits. Lovejoy, Madden, and Breny take a holistic approach to their studies by taking samples consisting of a diverse range of women representing our diverse population and considering their physical, mental, emotional health, and socioeconomic backgrounds. One of the main reasons that these studies stand out from the previous studies I discussed is that those studies approach body dissatisfaction and dysmorphia from a psychological perspective. Such a perspective limits the researchers terms of evaluation, disregarding how cultural and environmental factors can also moderate the type of responses women can have.
In her study, Dr. Lovejoy, a public health director, reviews “several different bodies of theory and research” (Lovejoy 241) about the differences in body image and eating problems among African American and white women. She argues that Black women are less likely to acquire eating disorders due to differences in cultural constructions of femininity in Black communities; that compared to white women, African American women exhibited greater acceptance of a range of different body sizes and were more likely to be satisfied with their body size and appearance; and that while white women respond to societal pressures by dieting and striving to achieve a thin body, Black women indulge in food as a means of comfort and are at high risk for obesity (Lovejoy 241). She writes, “Collectively, these findings indicate that Black and white women tend to distort their body image in opposite directions, such that white women are predisposed to eating disorders associated with a drive for thinness, whereas Black women are pre-disposed to obesity through compulsive overeating” (243). As can be seen, Lovejoy’s specification of white and Black women’s responses to the same social pressures contradicts the previous studies’ conclusions. Lovejoy further goes on to deconstruct the narrative that “Black women may be protected from the influence of media images” (Ogden and Russell 1596). She suggests that the body positivity that some Black women portray may be a defense mechanism that they have adapted to cope with the emotional toll of being Black women in America (246-7), and argues that this positive body image among Black women may be a “double-edged sword” reflecting a defensive need to deny health problems (255).
In addition to these findings, the study conducted by Madden and Breny further suggests that not all women of color can resist the urge to admire and adhere to the ideal physique promoted by the media. In their study, Madden and Breny sought to explore how young women from different cultural backgrounds internalize the messages perpetuated by mannequins, the media, and cultural, ethnic factors. Madden and Breny reported that the young women in their study unanimously agreed that mainstream society urged young women from different cultures and ethnicities “to embody one pervasive standard: skinny, tall, sexy . . . and, often, light-skinned or White” (443). These young women also asserted that despite being encouraged within their own communities not to conform to the mainstream beauty standards, they continued to express themselves “in ways that showed they wanted to be tall and skinny, and talked about these traits in a way that reflected the mainstream ideal prevails over the cultural stereotypes set forth” (444). From this evidence, it is clear that the ideal tall and skinny image that the media promotes is highly desired even by women of color.
I agree with these findings because my personal experience with body dissatisfaction confirms it. Growing up, I have always had a small body, but seeing young girls in fashion magazines and TV shows made me feel like I needed to be skinner. I started exercising and dieting. I began limiting my food intake to one cup of food per meal to achieve a flat stomach and that thigh that all the girls in middle school craved. I also experienced body dysmorphia because I felt like my stomach and thighs were too big, even though my parents would tell me that they were concerned with my eating habits. Although I was never correctly diagnosed with those disorders, I still experience negative feelings about my body image and often have to fight myself from taking drastic measures such as dieting. Clearly, not all Black women will have the same responses to the promotion of the ideal thin and white physique by the media.
In conclusion, it is crucial to understand issues from different lenses because it helps us better understand how individuals respond to specific pressures. From these findings, I have come to understand that the unhealthy body images promoted by the media have severe impacts on the health of white and Black women in America and that our ethnicities shape how we perceive and respond to these media ideals of whiteness and thinness. While I can agree with the evidence that women internalize the messages about body image and adapt differently, I want to stress the importance of including diverse experiences and responses when conducting research surrounding women’s health. Although the issue of body dissatisfaction and body dysmorphia may seem of concern to only women, psychologists, and health experts, it should, in fact, concern anyone who cares about the mental and physical health of their daughters, their mothers, and peers.
Works Cited
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