Body Image Issues Don't Discriminate
By Staff Writer
In a disturbing trend, research over the last two decades shows that body image problems are rapidly becoming more serious and widespread among women of all ethnic groups. As recently as the mid-’90s, all the studies revealed that Caucasian women were much more susceptible to negative body image issues and eating disorders than African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic women. But in the last few years, things have begun to level out among all U.S. groups.
In the past, women from Asian-American, African-American and Hispanic descent were given a safety net from body image problems by the unique cultural norms of their respective groups. For example, African-American cultural norms made it more likely for these women to reject external beauty standards and to emphasize inner beauty and strength while identifying with a heritage that assigns beauty to shapely bodies. This helped create a relatively high self-worth among fuller-figured black women.
But all of this has begun to change.
Media Sets Unfair Standards
While these cultural safety nets haven’t entirely disappeared, the power of the 21st Century media environment has changed things. The fact is, across all ethnicities, the average person spends more time in front of the television and the Internet than ever before. Our lives are media saturated, and this inevitably shapes our concept of beauty.
When faced with a steady bombardment of television and movie stars — most of whom are Caucasian — who uphold seemingly impossible standards of beauty and body shape, it’s easy for the ordinary woman to feel as thought she doesn’t measure up. And as the national and global media grow in everyday importance, local cultures fall by the wayside. This leads to a homogenized, one-size-fits-all standard of beauty that fewer and fewer people can live up to.
Declining Health Nationwide
In addition to the Caucasian-centric media environment, there’s also the sad fact that the average American’s health is simply not as good as it used to be. This applies equally to women and men. We exercise less than we used to, we eat larger meals and more processed foods, and we work longer hours.
All of these things contribute to the well-documented obesity epidemic, which comes with other serious issues, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, depression, poor sleep and eating disorders. While the rise in obesity spans all ethnicities, it particularly affects the poorer segments of society, which in the U.S. are disproportionately black and Hispanic.
Group-Specific Concerns
- African-American women: Historically, African-American women have had to define their own standards of beauty, which helped give them relatively healthy self-images for a long time. Today, within the community, African-Americans are still less judgmental of one another’s body types than other groups tend to be. However, increasing obesity combined with increasing media saturation is leading to a stark rise in eating disorders among African-American teenagers and young women.
- Caucasian women: As noted above, Caucasian women have the highest incidence of negative body image and eating disorders. Part of the reason for this is, while the media tends to elevate Caucasian female features as the highest standard of beauty, the average woman simply can’t live up to the Hollywood ideal. Unlike other ethnicities, white women who can’t achieve the Hollywood standard have no cultural safety net to tell them that, even if they don’t measure up to certain external standards, they can still be beautiful.
- Hispanic women: Many Hispanic women complain that they are objectified by the male-dominated Spanish-language media, and many also feel that Hispanic men have unrealistic expectations for how women should look. In general, the men want women to be curvy, big-breasted and round-hipped, while also being skinny — a practically impossible goal for most women. There’s also a perception in many Latin American countries that lighter skin, blonder hair and greater height correspond to being upper-class, educated and European. These nearly impossible expectations leave many Hispanic women feeling less than beautiful. And the fact that Latin American culture is, in many ways, highly sexualized and free can compound negative feelings for women with body image problems.
- Asian-American women: The situation of Asian-American women is quite different. Although it varies depending on country of origin, many Asian-American women are pulled in two different directions. Their parents’ culture may expect women to be small, thin and conservative in dress, while U.S. standards of beauty encourage them to be taller, curvier, more colorful and more Americanized in appearance. Stories abound of Asian-American women undergoing surgeries to make their eyes look European, to augment their busts or even to lengthen their legs. And when Asian-American women have the chance to visit Asian countries, they often feel they stand out among local women, sometimes negatively, which can complicate body image feelings even further.
Can the Trend Be Reversed?
Realistically, to change the growing trend of negative body image and eating disorders in women of all ethnic groups would require widespread, conscious cultural change, which is difficult. What can happen is for women to start reevaluating their attitudes about beauty and body shape on an individual basis. And if enough women find ways to empower themselves and to push back against restrictive views of beauty, maybe it will start a grassroots movement
It can be hard to counter the media-driven image of beauty, especially when so many people, both men and women, seem to buy into it. But by exploring your own cultural heritage and embracing non-mainstream or more expansive versions of beauty, you can do your part for women everywhere.
Most importantly, don’t worry about what other people think. Rather than letting other people’s versions of beauty shape how you view yourself, set yourself up as a unique example of beauty. Find ways to have confidence in who you are, and you’ll begin to set your own standard of beauty.
