Image credit: www.thefrisky.com
Nowadays many girls suffer from neurosis because they are overweight
or not attractive enough. Experts say that this problem should be solved during
school times (Espinoza, 2015).
Generally, women listen to men, want to be attractive for
men. Based on that, school time is the period when children are to become
adolescents, when they experience their first successes and failures, first
friends and love. So, child health experts tell teachers to encourage boy
students to share their attractive images of girls (Espinoza, 2015). It is
believed that this open sharing since childhood might overcome a lot of
problems connected to women obesity, unattractiveness, and dissatisfaction with
images of themselves.
According to Sigman (as cited in Espinoza, 2015), it is more
effective to take boys from older year groups, because girls tend to look up to
them. He proffers boys to speak also about such things as hair, eyes, and body
language, that also attracts men. However, slim fit body and
beautiful looks are not enough to describe a woman. He suggests teachers to get
boys speak about moral qualities as well such as caring, loving, gentle
(Espinoza, 2015), because nowadays girls like to look more “masculine”, dress
like men, have their haircuts like men’s, speak more bossy and aggressive.
Results of the survey conducted in 26 countries show that "desire for thinness is
commonplace". Dissatisfaction of women of their
body image became widespread with he popularization of mass media. That is what we can see everyday while
searching the Internet – many ads come up on the screens of our computers
suggesting to loose weight supported with pictures of model – like girls.
Having watched that, girls usually start to compare themselves with the women
on the screens that leads to neurosis among women. Even though those pear –
shaped bodies are hated among women, according to the findings of Dr Sigman,
men find them appealing (Espinoza, 2015).
So, do those ads just cause neurosis among women? Attractive
body images of women differ from place to place, from time to time, and even
from person to person. What is the best body image in the eyes of men of our
country? Can we solve the issue of body dissatisfaction among girls starting
from school times?
Reference:
Espinoza, J. (2015, March
18). 'Schoolboys should tell girls their idea of a perfect woman,' says expert.
Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11477512/Schoolboys-should-tell-girls-their-idea-of-a-perfect-woman-says-expert.html
Dear Arailym, it is a pity you cannot see my shocked face. I think Bereday's (1964) precious words are the most ssuitable to this topic:
ReplyDelete"We cannot wander at pleasure among the educational systems of the world, like a child strolling through a garden, and pick off a flower from one bush and some leaves from another, and then expect that if we stick what we have gathered into the soil at home, we shall have a living plant." (p. 310).
Therefore, we cannot assume that the idea which works in countries with completely different culture and perceptions can be suitable in the local educational context. I cannot imagine the schoolchildren having the image of their perfect wives and girlfriends, as they only see thir classmates and watch Winks at Nickelodeon. How can they have a propper image in their minds? Instead of asking boys, it might be useful to show BOTH boys and girls the people, who have gained a lot despite their appearances or physical disabilities, to build the perception that appearance is not the main indicator. With all due respect, asking boys about the perfect image of girls might also create negative attitudes to each other among classmates.
Dear Malika, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and ideas!
DeleteNo doubt that any system needs to be adopted not copied. I think I can interpret your ideas using a Russian saying that says "Vse sredstva horoshi" (All treatments are good). It is apparent that following only one technique might be less successful than trying several ways. All in all, there is a problem and we should solve it.
Great topic, and a clear explanation with evidence to support your argument.
ReplyDelete1) Careful with word choice ("proffer" is used with a direct object, an idea or a thing).
2) As for citations, don't feel like you have to cite every single sentence if the whole essay is largely from one source. Cite at the end of a paragraph, for example, if all the information from that paragraph comes from the same place.
Dear Mr. Montgomery, thank you very much for the feedback! I will take into consideration each and every point!
DeleteDear Arailym!
ReplyDeleteThat is actually great topic to discuss!!!
I absolutely agree with each word of you because such neurosis could influence girls' mood, desire to study and personal well-beings. At the period of 13-14 girls are tend to be to critical and try to find a fault with their appearance. However, the mass media can not stop showing beautiful faces on the screen simply because that is their field of interests and their business. So, the method you described could become a partial solution to this issue
Thank you for this interesting topic!!!
Dear Mariyam, thank you for sharing your thoughts!
DeleteThis touchy issue of the girls' dissatisfaction with their physical appearance is widespread around the world. Unfortunately, these negative feelings lead to the decrease of the self-esteem. I do believe that the media and fashion industry are to blame. When I was a teenager I also used to compare myself and my thin peers. However, it was in vain. Now I do understand that everyone has its specific body constitution. The parameters 90-60-90 do not work for everybody. Therefore, I suppose that the community, media, psychologists, and parents should unite to crunch through this issue. If we let it go, it can result in different diseases: physical and psychological. Children should grow up and know that they are loved not for how do they look like but for being who they are.
ReplyDeleteA very thoughtful comment! However, even though earlier different cultures had their own models of beauty (as an example, Indian girls were beautiful if they were NOT slim) nowadays it is becoming the same for all. And Kazakh culture appreciated girls with thin waist and gentle ones. So, I think that the ideals of beauty will still be slim models and most of the people will try to become so in different ways.
DeleteVery interesting topic! I think every girl was disappointed with her look during school time. And the cruelness of peers make the situation even worth. Today it is becoming normal to judge a person, especially a woman, by his or her appearance. Your beauty now has become much more important than your personality or your knowledge. I think teachers and parents are responsible to teach young minds that internal beauty is more essential than external. And such a great idea to encourage boy students to share their positive attitudes toward personal qualities of girl students would be a solution.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shynar! You are absolutely right! Definitely, moral values are higher than beauty, but it should be adapted in children from early childhood.
DeleteI really like the topic selection of yours. In fact, closely related “Mass media and perceived attractiveness” was one of the tentative topics on my list as well. This post is great in its organization, structure and sequencing of ideas. Most importantly, you managed to raise the problems of our generations pandemic disease – low self-esteem and persistent depression.
ReplyDeleteThe influence of mass media and schools is often be underestimated when discussing the issues of personality formation. Yet, forcing boys to give compliments to girls and discuss their personality and appearance problems sounds a bit artificial to me. The kids, especially in their “awkward age”, might be quite cruel at times. Mass media, in its turn, is rarely under common people’s control. Implying an individual can fully stop its impact is immature. At this point, the central role must be given to another key agency, family. Without feeling parents' loved, children of both genders are likely to experience problems with self-esteem while communicating with the peers of opposite sex. This puts more responsibility on parents who need to emphasize the inner value within their children.
Coming back to your questions about female appearance in the eyes of Kazakhstani men, I would say tastes differ. You managed to perfectly express it in one of the last sentences: “Attractive body images of women differ from place to place, from time to time, and even from person to person.”
Thank you very much, Shynar! I absolutely agree with you! Undoubtedly, each and every point you mentioned must be taken into account in the process of upbringing a child. So, if we start from ourselves as educators, as parents, and as peers results might be different in recent years.
DeleteThanks Arailym for the interesting topic. My viewpoint is according the "saving from neurosis" somehow different. For example, taking boys for the self-esteem of girls is a short-tern achievement. Tomorrow, in the real world, after few comments those girls will start to doubt about their attractiveness. I think, all girls have to be given an psychological support at school level; they should be aware that standards of beauty were created by people or even may be by men and they do not have to correspond with the 90-60-90 standard; they should learn to love themselves by their own not by the help of men. May be I look very radical, however, I do believe that people will stretch forward to people, who accept herself and who love herself. Of course, every woman wants to be attractive to man, but first of all, you should be attractive for yourself
ReplyDeleteThank you, Diana! I do not claim that this is the only solution of the problem, but it is one of the ways to build models of beauty in girls through boys' views. For sure, it will not work at all ages. So, taking into account all possible risks and estimating good results might make this type of solution work.
DeleteIt's interesting, but what about boys? Do you think they are very confident in their teen ages?
ReplyDeleteI guess initially such things as ability to care, appriciate, respect and love come from a family. Usually children look at their closest examples: their parents. So teachers, of course, can do a lot in explaining students how to build relationship (any kind of), but home atmosphere is much more crucial, because every of us return home every day. And if an ideal picture of cardinal virtues shatters when a child crosses the treshold of his/her home, it is so easy to forget what teachers were telling at school.
P.S. What physical type of women man prefer depends on his Venus =) And Venus can be in 12 different signs, so just let's be ourselves!