Way back in the 19th century, when women huffed and puffed to squeeze themselves into corsets the girth of Barbie dolls and men carried scent and powder on their form in head swooning quantities, one British lady asserted that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Locally, us being presumably less refined than the British, we adopted our own refined, more earthy version of ‘Il-baqra tinbiegħ kollha’ (all parts of the cow are sold) to stress the perceptual reality surrounding body beauty.
The pressure to look like a walking set of matchsticks constantly expressed by the media and shopwindows is a daily reality.- Moira Mizzi
Our body image is not just the way we see ourselves but more so the way we would like to be seen by others. Naturally, we all would like to look like concertina cut-outs of model Ivana Mrazova – that, alas, is a dream in a very dark closet for most of us and we have to contend ourselves with our average girl or guy next door body composition.
This acceptance, for some, comes easy and they just get on with more important matters. In such cases, body image becomes important for special star-for-the-day occasions like weddings and photo shoots. For others, maintenance of body image revolves around a healthy lifestyle, regular visits to the hairdresser and the nail technician, and the occasional encounter with collagen infiltration.
However, others see their body image as their main focus and they refuse to be seen in public if they are not wearing a perfect cover of make up. Any hint of wrinkles or body sag is quickly trimmed at the most exclusive of beauty clinics and kilos and body hair are shed with gusto.
I believe that the fixation with body image is inversely proportional to the same person’s self esteem. Self-esteem is a perception of oneself borne from the bond between parent and child especially during adolescence, when constant appraisal by the parent of the opposite sex is of tantamount importance.
When such an appraisal and acknowledgement is lacking, especially if it is compounded by constant criticism, the growing child starts believing that there is something wrong with him or her and the confidence to present themselves to the outside world is shattered.
Unfortunately, the societal environment of the 21st century is not very welcoming either. The pressure to look like a walking set of matchsticks constantly expressed by the media and shopwindows is a daily reality which can tilt the confidence balance even of the most resilient. The constant message portrayed is flawlessness, perfection and exhibitionism, to the extent that one is made to feel inferior unless one looks perfect.
In its extreme form, the fixation to body image can prove lethal. The media sensation around the death due to anorexia nervosa of French top model and actress Isabelle Caro in December 2010 uncovered the tip of the proverbial iceberg in the dark and lonely realm of eating disorders – here the erroneous perception of one’s body image plunges the affected person in a deadly spiral either of starvation or continuous cycles of bingeing and purging or alternatively living solely on one type of food.
As in every type of healthy relationship, one can only hope to achieve a balance between an individual and his or her body image if two basic factors are taken into consideration. The first is continuous support of one’s self-esteem especially during the critical years of adolescence when we are asserting ourselves in the adult world as a fully fledged independent individual. The second, equally cardinal factor is education about healthy lifestyles – this should not only be instilled at an early age, but be continuously mirrored by the key people in the development of the growing child. Body image is an integral part of every person and one of the most basic factions of our identity. Likewise it should be acknowledged and supported in its reality not projected into a hazy world of fantasy where the individual is put in the same realm as a plastic doll in a glittering shop window.
Caro put this very aptly a few weeks before her untimely death when she said, “I thought this could be a chance to... finally put an image on what thinness represents and the danger it leads to, which is death... to make people react, for young girls who see this to think, ‘Oh, so that’s what lies behind the beautiful clothes, the hair, the image that we are shown of fashion.’”