1. Introduction 1.1 Background. According to my understanding body image can be described as the manner in which an individual sees their body structure and their aesthetic features. A lot of women suffer from body image difficulties that are related to their self-image and self-esteem because of the pressures they are subjected to by the society, their peers, the media, how they engage with each other in the community and by the expectations of what a perfect body is and what it means to be beautiful. This essay is aimed at elaborating the initial origins behind the body image issue which many women may be subject to or might have, the effects that body image issues have on women and the extreme lengths to which women would venture out to …show more content…
The signs that a women with a negative self/body image may display are avoiding social situations due to their appearance, always wearing heavy makeup, believing that they would be happier with themselves if they change the way they look and believing that the way she looks prevents her from doing certain activities. These ideas thus increases the women’s body image anxiety especially around people who are unfamiliar to her or people who are said to be perfect. A slight minority of women do recover from having body images issues, but for many women it remains to be a life long struggle where they will continue to battle with their self-image and self-concept for their entire …show more content…
A poor body image can cause eating disorders such as anorexia and binge-eating. Anorexia is an eating disorder whereby the women or girl will prevent herself from gaining weight by starving herself, vomiting after every meal and substitute food intake by eating cotton wool. The binge-eating disorder occurs when the individual overeats in order to feel better about themselves or the situation in which they are in. Body image issues also result in depression, anxiety problems, and substance abuse problems. These effects may lead the girl or women to resort to cosmetic plastic surgery, which is said to be the best way to fix what a person believes to be wrong about their bodies. Plastic surgery is the process of repairing parts of the body by transferring fat and tissue to desired places on the body. There are two type of plastic surgery, the reconstructive plastic surgery and the cosmetic plastic surgery. The reconstructive plastic surgery is usually done to repair the body parts of a person who has been injured or a person who was born with some body disfiguration. Cosmetic plastic surgery is mainly done for aesthetic purposes, this is the surgery that most women who have poor body images undergo in order to obtain the ideal