Body Image in Modern Society

Body Image can be defined as how one mentally perceives their own body. It has taken a title in which depicts the importance of a majority of our modern society. An individual’s body image becomes affected when they too closely relate their unique bodies to their own personal happiness and, in some cases, their own identity. People take such great measures in order to alter their appearance without themselves even knowing what they are exactly doing or what is going on because of the fact that body image has such an influence in the current human’s everyday life.

With that being said, it is unfortunate to obtain awareness upon the fact that there are vast amounts of plastic surgeons in the world who are capable of altering one’s breasts in order to drastically changing the look and shape of one's face. Plastic surgeons make a great deal of money— making an annual income waging from around $270,000 to $500,000 — by being able to regain a person's confidence based upon changing their outer appearance. Anyone can view on their televisions that there is a wide variety of celebrities who have endured plastic surgery. Therefore, the huge population of people who are inspired by these celebrities take after their actions in hopes to, quite easily, transform themselves into looking like their favorite actor or singer. In fact, there was even a case taking place in 2012 where a mother gifted her seven year old daughter a gift certificate containing $9,252 worth of plastic surgery. In addition, there are numerous television shows in which are produced today glorifying to act of indulging in plastic surgery.

Next, on a much more serious note, one’s body image could potentially lead them to developing severely detrimental disorders. For example, anorexia is a very unfortunate and alarming eating disorder in which is commonly diagnosed amongst those who view their body image as insufficient and not enough. Along with that, bulimia is another disease in which one may obtain due to the same causes of anorexia. Individuals suffering from these diseases strive to achieve this artificial image in which they perceive could be considered “acceptable”. However, they sadly accomplish so by starving themselves and forcing themselves to throw up. The effects of these disorders cause humans to being so thin that it becomes extremely dangerous for their health.

In conclusion, an individual’s body image is majorly susceptible to losing its individuality, especially in our world today. As you can see, it leads to life threatening cases. Both plastic surgery and the previously stated disorder are just a few of the fatal risks in which put one’s life on the line in order to be physically “beautiful”. We must promote a change to how our society views the term “body image,” and instead reach a point of content in regards to our unique bodies.

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