Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women

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Whether we are tall or short, fat or slim, we don't want to be treated as an object," Tang said, looking adamantly at the camera. I live with that struggle every day. When I was a teenager, I was always doubting whether my face was too big, whether my nose was too wide. And now, I'm afraid of getting old," said Tang Xuemeng. Turning 30, she said she fears the wrinkles creeping onto her face and cheeks sagging due to loss of collagen. Research Faculty, Visiting Scholars, and Postdoctoral Fellows ExpandResearch Faculty, Visiting Scholars, and Postdoctoral Fellows Submenu Engeln-Maddox, R., Miller, S.A., & Doyle, D. (2011). Tests of objectification theory in gay, lesbian, and community samples: Mixed evidence for proposed pathways. Sex Roles, 65, 518-532.

Johnson, S., & Engeln, R. (2020). Gender Discrepancies in Perceptions of the Bodies of Female Fashion Models. Sex Roles, 84, 299-311. Engeln-Maddox, R., Salk, R. H., & Miller, S.A. (2012). Assessing women’s negative commentary on their own bodies: A psychometric investigation of the Negative Body Talk Scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36, 162-178. I'm not the standard-looking actress in Chinese society today, so I could barely get the part," Wei said. Upon graduation, she slimmed down to 104 pounds after a bout of alcoholism and insomnia. Ironically, her unhealthy weight loss led to her getting the only two parts out of 20 auditions she attended over those years.Engeln, R., & Zola, A. (in press). These boots weren’t made for walking: Clothing choices as a gendered form of self-objectification. Sex Roles. Objectification Theory: BAM has been conducting a series of studies testing proposed mediators, moderators, and outcomes of Objectification Theory. We have examined self-objectification in specific, relevant contexts (e.g., sorority rush) and among different social groups (e.g., members of dance groups, roller derby skaters, gay men and lesbian women).

Engeln, R., & Imundo, M. N. (2020). I (don’t) love my body: Counter-intuitive effects of body-affirming statements on college women. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 39, 617-639. Maybe the willingness to talk about body image in public is progress, though tiny, as women try to define their own worth and beauty instead of having others do it for them. As the protagonist in "Magic Mirror" asks near the end of the episode, "Why has beauty, which is supposed to be the most inclusive and diverse, become so narrow?" Stern, N., & Engeln, R. (2018). Self-compassionate letter-writing increases college women’s body satisfaction. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 42, 326-341. Unsurprisingly, in societies such as China and greater East Asia where the competition to be the best and look the most beautiful is fierce, looking pretty and keeping fit is the feminine ideal. For young women in urban China, body image is a topic that's often discussed, yet not nearly enough. Monica recalled that her mother had once told her then-boyfriend to watch her diet because in her eyes she was "fat" while her then-boyfriend was in good shape. "She even cried, leaving me quite surprised." That's one way to parent in many Chinese families – the thinking is that girls should keep fit so that they'll be more popular in society.Foster-Gimbel, O., & Engeln, R. (2016). Fat chance! Experiences and expectations of antifat bias in the gay community. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 3, 63-70.

Sladek, M., Engeln, R., & Miller, S.A. (2014). Development and validation of the Male Body Talk Scale: A psychometric investigation. Body Image, 11, 233-244. The Hair and Beauty Award covers employers in the hair and beauty industry and their employees who fit within the classifications of the award.Sladek, M., Salk, R., & Engeln, R. (2018). Negative body talk measures for Asian, Latina(o), and White women and men: Measurement equivalence and associations with ethnic-racial identity. Body Image, 25, 66-77. For 26-year-old Rani Wei, the experience hits close to home. The former actress said in most of the auditions she had attended, she was discriminated against because she was "overweight" and "not that beautiful" by filmmaking standards. To lose confidence in one's body is to lose confidence in oneself," said French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir. This quote by an icon in philosophical feminism from the last century still has relevance today. Engeln, R., Sladek, M., & Waldron, H. (2013). Body talk among college men: Contexts, correlates, and effects. Body Image, 10, 300-308. Salk, R. H., & Engeln-Maddox, R. (2012). Fat talk among college women is both contagious and harmful. Sex Roles, 9, ­636-645 .

performing or carrying out body hair removal, including waxing chemical methods, electrolysis and laser hair removal The Hair and Beauty Award doesn’t cover employers and employees when they are covered by the Retail Award. Engeln, R., Shavlik, M., & Daly, C. (2018). Tone it down: How fitness instructors' motivational comments shape women's body satisfaction. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 12, 508-524 . Every day, every week, every year, I would always find somewhere on my body I'm not satisfied with," said Tang. To her and her female colleagues, the pursuit of beauty is never-ending. "It's common sense in my company that we have to watch our diet and stay in shape." An award-winning Northwestern University psychology professor reveals how the cultural obsession with women's appearance is an epidemic that harms women's ability to get ahead and to live happy, meaningful lives, in this powerful, eye-opening work in the vein of Naomi Wolf, Peggy Orenstein, and Sheryl Sandberg.

Beauty sickness in India, a reality

Fat Talk: BAM researchers have been examining the frequency, content, and impact of the types of social exchanges in which women engage in mutual body disparagement. Of particular interest is the finding that this type of talk appears to be most common among women of a healthy body weight. Salk, R., & Engeln-Maddox, R. (2011).“If you’re fat then I’m humongous!”: Content and impact of fat talk among college women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 8-28 . Engeln, R., & Salk, R. (2014). The demographics of fat talk in adult women: Age, body size, and ethnicity. Journal of Health Psychology, 19, 1-10. Need help finding the answers to other questions about the workplace? Get help. Looking for another award?