Body and Society Essay

Stefano Murro
213641519
Section B
Waheed Hoque
Tutorial 20
Short Essay
Date: October 20th, 2014

2014-2015 KINE1000 6.0 Socio-cultural Perspectives in Kinesiology
York University

The body and society correlate to each other in a way where someone’s body image is what makes them unique from the rest of the population on the planet. Every single person on earth is different and unique. The body image of someone can be reflected as a positive or negative image in society under many circumstances, such as the media, opinions of others, etc. One of the many arguments that the body and society causes is negative and positive connotation that someone’s body reflects through the lens of society. An individual’s body can insinuate many of these connotations and the best way to evaluate that is to review your own personal image of your body in society. On a personal echelon, your body is what differentiates you from the rest of society, so it can show what type of person you are not only physically but on a personal level also. If someone has a more athletic portrait, then they might act more confident compared to someone who seems less fit. People with portraits that are less fit and more round can tend to feel less important in society and might have mental instability due to the fact of the pressure they can fell from society and the way society portrays the body image, usually slimmer and more athletic body types. This is a prime example of how people connect body image (physical) to personality and mentality. Body image doesn’t necessarily deal with someone’s weight. It also encompasses skin condition, mainly in teens with acne, skin color and height. In teens, the condition of their skin is very important. Society tends to say that clear skin is what is usually deemed appropriate. And this is mainly due to the influence of the media. Treatments and remedies for acne care is widely publicized in every sort of media form. Acne free skin is the best type of skin. This affects teens and young adults in a large way. It plays with a person’s confidence level very much, creating a less-confident and more media-dependent younger population. Skin color creates stereotypes in society that tend to harm the way people look at different skin types around the world. A perfect example of this is African-American people, or black people, in different societies all around the world. Personally i have no problem with black people. I have no bias or stereotype towards any skin type, but the media in most western countries creates these stereotypes, where other skin types have stereotypes applied to them. As an example, if a white woman is walking her baby in street during the night and a black man is either walking in back of her or towards her, she might fear the gentleman just because of the color of his skin, where if it would be an Asian man or a white man, she wouldn’t pay attention to the color of his skin, as long as he isn’t black. The last factor of body image is tied to the height of a person. A shorter person is less important than a taller person, from society’s point of view. This has absolutely nothing to do with the body image but society always tends to say that it factors in with body image. For women, they are more likely to seek taller men, but for men, if the woman is taller, then they might not be attracted to them because of the inferiority they might feel. This is another type of ignorance society, but moreover the media, implies. Personally, my body type is a more athletic and muscular type. This makes me feel more confident because I know that being fit is what the social norm is more likely to be rather than being larger. I feel better in my shoes knowing that i’m a normal person, according to the social norm. This sometimes causes me to become more confident and makes me look downwards to people who do not fit the ideal body type in society, which is a slimmer