Body image is something that everyone struggles with at some point in their lives. Being unhappy with how you look or what you are means that you have a negative body image.
The environment we live in is a constant external pressure to change to be better. There is a distorted definition of what someone should look like and of what “normal” is. It’s damaging our society and our community.
“In our culture, almost anything can be blamed,” said University Counseling and Testing Center doctoral intern Claire Hauser. “It’s different for everybody.”
One of the most influential sources within our culture is the media. Media, of all kinds, often has a set agenda to sell products and therefore can portray an inaccurate depiction of any given body. In order to sell clothes, body soap, perfume, medicine etc., there is going to be a certain body type on screen, and there is going to be a specific representation of that body type.
Media is so incredibly unreliable and yet, nearly everyone relies on it for reference. If your body doesn’t look like the one on the screen, then you’re not attractive, or worse yet you’re not normal.
“As humans, it’s so important to feel belongingness,” said Hauser. “We want to feel normal because we want to fit in.”
But what is normal? To me normal is unachievable, to Hauser it’s “everyone else and not me.”
Looking at myself, there’s always going to be something that doesn’t allow me to fit in with the “normal” people. What is defined as normal is just not who I am, and I haven’t been given many options as to what to do about that.
Lately it seems that “normal” has become interchangeable with “ideal.” When people talk about what normal is, ideals are thrown out to define it. Men are placed in a box that is the male physique: utter stoicism, invulnerability, competition and extreme confidence.
Because not everyone is the same and not everyone can fit this criteria, one becomes convinced that they aren’t normal, simply because “normal” has been confused with “ideal.”
Yet there is still hope to reverse the damage that has been done. Efforts to make a difference include Dove’s Real Beauty campaign which features women of average, healthy body types in their ads and Victoria Secret’s The Perfect Body campaign with the slogans “every body is beautiful” and “healthy is the new skinny.” Always’ Like a Girl campaign focuses on younger girls still in their adolescence, teaching them that being a girl does not make you lesser.
Slowly society is reshaping what having a perfect body means and slowly stereotypes are on their way to being thrown out. Normal doesn’t have to mean ideal anymore and normal doesn’t even have to exist because everyone should feel perfect the way they are.
Throughout this week the University Counseling and Testing Center is teaming up with the Student Recreational Center to hold an All Sizes Fit campaign which celebrates all shapes and sizes and encourages body positivity. Throughout the week there are free events including an art gala and Rec Center workouts.
The counseling center has many dedicated staff members that want to help students not only accept themselves, but be happy with who they are. If you ever feel the need to talk to someone about your body image feel free to make an appointment.
The most important thing to remember is that there’s no such thing as “normal.” Normal has always been up for interpretation, so why not define it as whoever you want to be?
Robles: There’s no such thing as normal
Malyssa Robles
April 4, 2016
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