The Pressure on Women to be Attractive and its Lasting Impact
- QWIL
- Apr 8
- 4 min read
Introduction
“Your greatest asset is your appearance”
This sad message is reiterated to women and girls every day through snide comments such as: “She slept her way to the top” or “She never would have gotten to where she is if she didn’t look like that”.
In this blog, I will talk about the pressure inflicted on women to look a certain way. This sentiment implies that a woman's only value lies in her physical appearance, rather than her personality, education, or accomplishments. This narrative is incredibly damaging in many ways, but today I would like to focus on disordered eating and its impact on the lives of millions of women.
Disordered Culture Perpetuated by Society
Our society has long glamorised the “ideal” thin female figure, with a woman’s size being directly associated with her worth and value.
Many women brag about their size zero or double zero jeans, creating a culture of competition among friends and peers, particularly among young women. It is incredibly common for groups of university, high school and even middle school girls to come together and encourage one another to participate in weight loss activities that can be mentally and physically damaging. This is especially sad, as girls who might never have fallen into this trap are influenced to do so by their friends and peers.
In truth, this is yet another money grab, cleverly set up by large companies that target impressionable young girls and create loyal customers for life. Advertisements depicting heavily photoshopped, conventionally attractive women encourage girls to spend copious amounts of money on this product or that pill, forever chasing an unattainable standard.
Despite the rise of the body positivity movement, the image of the thin, desirable women remains dominant. This allows these businesses to continue profiting, and the weight loss industry to grow exponentially, with a CAGR of 9.7% and an expected value of 305.30 Billion by 2030.
The Impact of Social Media
This glamorized ideal of thinness has only been amplified with the rise of social media and the use of Photoshop, angles and clever lighting. The few women for whom achieving this appearance is realistic are now viewed as the norm, setting the benchmark against which others measure themselves.
As social media continued to gain popularity, the average age of new users began to decrease to as young as 10 years old. Now, young girls have more exposure to body image content in the mass media than ever before, leading to deep-rooted insecurities and eating issues that follow them into adulthood.
A study conducted by Bernadetta Izydorczyk and Katarzyna Sitnik-Warchulska found that young girls (ages 12 - 15) are at the highest risk of developing disordered eating. Sadly this, paired with the growing number of children on social media has caused eating disorders in teens to skyrocket. Between the years 2012 and 2022, hospitalizations for teens with eating disorders increased by over 600% - a timeline that closely aligns with the rising popularity of various social media platforms.
Young girls are particularly vulnerable to developing eating disorders, and once they do, they are unlikely to fully recover with age. In fact, only 1 in 10 individuals diagnosed with eating disorders report having fully recovered.
Effects on Personal and Professional Lives
So, we can now see how easy it is for disordered behaviours to creep up on young women - but what happens when they grow up and enter adulthood? How does this illness affect their personal and professional lives?
Disordered behaviours can have a negative effect on women’s relationships and daily activities. Many women admit that a fear of weight gain consumes their thoughts, causing them to miss social events and cancel plans with loved ones if those events do not fit into their strict diet and workout regimen. A shocking number declaring that they “value aesthetics over friendship” (Jessica DeFino). This self-inflicted social isolation can contribute to the development of additional mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression which often come hand in hand with eating disorders.
Professionally, eating disorders can be incredibly debilitating, with links being found between individuals with eating disorders and a lowered socio-economic status. 1 out of every 4 individuals suffering from eating disorders report unemployment due to their disability as sick leave rarely covers months of intensive inpatient care for an illness that despite its severity, many fail to take seriously.
Those that manage to maintain employment often experience lethargy due to malnutrition and subsequently fail to meet standards of productivity. Additionally, the self isolating behaviours discussed above can lead to missing work events that in the corporate world often lead to career development opportunities and promotions. One could argue that there are careers ‘designed’ for thin, conventionally attractive women. However, these positions such as waitresses, flight attendants, dancers and models offer far inferior compensation than high paying, male dominated roles.
Looking forward
In summary, women are conditioned to find fault in their appearance from an extremely young age. For many, this can escalate into a dangerous and incredibly debilitating mental disorder, one that negatively impacts their personal lives and limits them professionally, all while companies profit off of their unhealthy habits.
So, what can be done? How can we begin to undo this harmful narrative that is deeply entrenched into our society? Unfortunately, the necessary steps to be taken such as enforcing strict age restrictions on social media and enforcing stricter laws surrounding weight loss technology is far out of our control. However, what we can do is work to protect our loved ones. Talk to your sister, daughter or niece. Make sure they know their worth extends beyond their perceived level of beauty and jean size.
Sources
-Anonymous Writer
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