Most research on body image relates to women. But a nice piece in the American Journal of Psychiatry shows that men are trying to achieve bodies that women don't actually want of them.
They worked with men from 3 different countries (culture is a very important driver in body image) and found that the men wanted about 12 pounds more muscle, which they thought was attractive to women. However, the women wanted normal looking men. The researchers suggest that maybe this mismatch is one of the reasons why men are increasingly using steroids.
Striving after unachievable goals just makes you unhappy.
What makes you happy? Here is a really good list from the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing in Glasgow, drawing on sources such as Assen Alladin - a great cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who shows us the huge benefit we get from doing difficult work, and Diener and Seligman at the University of Illinois, who found that happy people developed and maintained their kinships and friendships. If you are finding you are not as happy as before, then meet up with a hypnotherapist and start work on getting happy.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Showing posts with label Western culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western culture. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Body Image and Western culture
Why do we all want to be thin? It was not always so. Just after the war, women wanted to look fatter, and could buy thigh and bottom boosters, as well as stuffing hankies down their bras.
Western culture exerts pressure on women to conform to the current fashionable body shape, even though women have always come in all shapes and sizes. This pressure leads to unhappiness.
Research carried out by Northumbria University showed how Western culture is starting to put pressure on South African women to conform to Western ideals of beauty and the preferred body shape. These pressures were identified as coming from the pressure to please men. In the past, South African women had to be fat in order for their husbands and fathers to demonstrate their prosperity. Now, they can choose their size. So in one way, the report suggests, this is a sign of empowerment. On the other hand, the women also say that they want to be thin for their menfolk, who are also developing preferences for the Western ideal. The women said they wanted to be like the women in the adverts.
Striving after unachievable ideals of body shape only make us unhappy. When we are unhappy, we eat to comfort ourselves. Try hypnotherapy and break free.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Western culture exerts pressure on women to conform to the current fashionable body shape, even though women have always come in all shapes and sizes. This pressure leads to unhappiness.
Research carried out by Northumbria University showed how Western culture is starting to put pressure on South African women to conform to Western ideals of beauty and the preferred body shape. These pressures were identified as coming from the pressure to please men. In the past, South African women had to be fat in order for their husbands and fathers to demonstrate their prosperity. Now, they can choose their size. So in one way, the report suggests, this is a sign of empowerment. On the other hand, the women also say that they want to be thin for their menfolk, who are also developing preferences for the Western ideal. The women said they wanted to be like the women in the adverts.
Striving after unachievable ideals of body shape only make us unhappy. When we are unhappy, we eat to comfort ourselves. Try hypnotherapy and break free.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
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