Description

Have women really fallen deeply to society’s image of beauty? 15 years ago, significant number of women started facing issues that greatly affected their mental and physical well-being. The essay “The Slender Trap” by Trina Piscatelli in 2004 highlighted the effects of anorexia nervosa to the body and how a person ends up with the disorder. Society had pushed women to become so concerned about their weight that resorted to unhealthy eating patterns. Young women were found to have the desire to please people around her and craved for positive remarks that they end up depriving themselves of food. This may not be the case anymore today. The article is unsubstantial at present as women have become empowered and media now uses their strength to further positive body image making the author’s main points irrelevant and inaccurate.

Back in the year 2004 at the time of the author’s writing, there was an alarming number of cases of young women belonging to middle and upper class families in westernized countries who practice starvation as means to gain control of their weight to feel good about themselves (Allen, Byrne, Oddy, & Crosby, 2013, p. 118). Back then, thin physique was associated with success, beauty and happiness. The author talked about eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa and how it is affecting young women as influenced by mental challenges in the adolescent stage, pressures coming from family and friends and a probable effect of the media portraying unrealistic body images (Dynes, Norton, & Green, 2019, p. 129). The author expresses that in order to reduce the likelihood of having inferior-feeling and unhealthy women today and in the future, we must promote healthy lifestyle and positive body image by engaging in campaigns that take women out from self-inflicted physical harm just to obtain a slim physique.

The author’s argument is not as relevant as it was back in the day. In 2004, media had widespread misuse of their power in promoting unrealistic and unattainable body models which made women feel so distraught about themselves. A lot of women were vulnerable enough to give in to what media and society tells them to be like thus manifesting harmful physical symptoms. Media, in today’s age confer acceptance of all body types, thick or thin. The media has now become a significant tool to spread about body positivity campaigns and used the hashtag #positivebodyimage in social media to raise awareness, promote healthy eating and exercise habits and feature diverse body types with uplifting messages (Wegenstein & Hansen, 2006). Young women who may have potential or have had unstable mentality are now able to stand up and be heard; they are getting all the support they need.