Supermodels and Photoshop! Oh, my! One LU Student Speaks out on the Definition of Beauty

On March 21 at 7 p.m. in Chichester G12, Co-Chair of the Student Diversity and Inclusion Council Liz Chassey pre­sented, "Under Pressure: Body Image and Our Generation," a discussion on pressure from the media, society and portrayals of perfection and the effect each has on both men and women's per­ception of beauty.

Delving into the unrealistic expecta­tions placed upon each person by un­realistic or negative images, Chassey hoped to take away the pressure of each audience member working towards per­fection by emphasizing that "There is no such thing as perfect, but there is such a thing as beauty."

"The reason that I'm doing this is be­cause this is something that's really near and dear to my heart. I am really pas­sionate about women's issues and gen­der issues in general, but body image is something that's really close to my heart," said Chassey. "It's kind of my mission in life to get everyone to love themselves."

To gain a better understanding of what led to society's fixation on thin and slen­der body types, Chassey researched works, including "Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa" by John Jacobs Brumberg, "That Takes Ovaries: Bold Women and Their Brazen Acts" by Rivka Solomon and "Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body" by Susan Bordo.

"When did skinny become beautiful?" Chassey asked, then dating back to the 1920s with the advent of standard sizing to clothing, where the focus of how one-fit clothing became "bodies to clothes instead of clothes to bodies."

The standard of beauty thereafter viewed being thin as being in control and upright and conversely viewed be­ing fat with moral disgrace. Chassey then referenced an advertisement in a fashion magazine as stating, "It would be a crime to be fat," and an advertise­ment of diet pills with the words, "No­body loves a fat girl," beside it.

Chassey presented a study from Row­an University on women in America, noting that 45 percent of women have tried to diet. She also compared the per­ception of body image in relation to age, noting that 53 percent of women are un­happy with their own body by the age of 13 years old, the percentage raising thereafter to 78 percent of women as un­happy with their own body by the age of 17 years old.

"The body is and has been portrayed as something that you have to over­come, something that inhibits you," said Chassey, later describing one's body as a "jail cell."

Discussing pressure from the media on a man's and woman's body image, Chassey displayed images of Top 40's music videos. One Nelly video showed him "biting onto a woman as if [she were] consumable," while one Lil Wayne video showed "women draped over him like furniture."

"Women are not only expected to be sexy, but sex objects," said Chassy. "At the same time, they project an image of cocky, athletic, attractive men."

Defining body image, Chassey ex­plained that it is not so much the actual, physical image of the body, but "how you think other people see you."

Chassey compared the average Ameri­can woman's body to the average mod­el's body. "I'm here to talk about how different the average model is from the average person."

In her presentation, Chassey noted that a model is 23 percent skinnier than the average person. According to Chassey's research, the average model is 5'11'' and weighs 117 pounds, while the average woman is 5'4'' and weighs 140 pounds. Additionally, Chassey noted that mod­els are skinnier than 98 percent of Amer­ican women.

"And yet we are expected to look like them," said Chassey.

Throughout her presentation, Chassey focused on the pressures dealt by both men and women on their body image, resulting in seven million girls and one million boys struggling with an eating disorder. "It's an issue for everybody."

Chassey dispelled common miscon­ceptions over those with eating disor­ders, saying that, "they tend to focus on a specific area of their body," rather than all of it, while "try[ing] to maintain a 'normal' body weight," not necessarily a body that can be as skinny as possible.

Rather than about self-destruction, "an eating disorder is more about having control in their body," said Chassey.

Thereafter, Chassey read a testimonial from a sophomore student on his trials with bulimia. It read, "I look[ed] at my­self and thought, 'Are you serious?'"

"There's no such thing as perfect," said Chassey, "but there is such a thing as beauty." Addressing every student in the audience, Chassey stressed that "There's not just one type of beautiful."