Self-esteem and body image

Webster's dictionary defines self-esteem as having "confidence and satisfaction in oneself - having a good opinion of oneself - self-worth, self-respect". Diets deal another blow in the area of self-esteem. We may feel completely in control and competent in all other areas of our life except with regard to food and weight. And because of the social push to conform to the idealized image and/or lifestyle, we end up feeling totally incompetent as people.

A principle reason so many women perceive their bodies as problems is that we live in a culture that says women must be beautiful to be worthy, and then sets up standards for female beauty that are not only impossible for most women to live up to, but are unhealthy as well

Our images of womanhood are almost synonymous with thinness. Fashion lets us know what our culture expects us to be, or to become, or to struggle to become, in order to be acceptable to it, thereby exercising a devastating power over our lives on a daily basis. The image of women that appears in the advertisement of a daily newspaper has the power to damage a woman's health, destroy her sense of well-being, break her pride in herself, and subvert her ability to accept herself as a woman.

According to fashion, large size, maturity, voluptuousness, massiveness, strength and power are not permitted if we wish to conform to our culture's current ideal. No matter what the historical period, the common denominator for women has been to conform. Women attempt to conform to what others find pleasing and attractive and also what she perceives them to consider pleasing and attractive. Women are made to believe their body is not satisfactory as it is. This fact keeps women "off balance", in a constant state of confusion.

Self-esteem is the sum total of all that a person feels about himself/herself. This includes four major aspects: (1) the body self: which has a functional (what can I do?) and an aesthetic (how do I look?) subfactor; (2) the interpersonal self: which is comprised of both and acquaintance relations as well as intimate, sexual interactions; (3) the achieving self: which contains elements of work or competition efforts such as career or school behavior; and (4) the identification self: which is comprised of those attitudes and behaviors which are related to spiritual, ethical or ethnic matters.

Genuine self-esteem is how you feel about yourself privately, not whether you can put up a good front or accumulate wealth and status. Self-esteem is the measure of how much we like and approve of our self-concept. Self-esteem is the relationship you have with yourself. It is the integrated sum of self-confidence and self-respect. It is the conviction that one is competent and worthy of living. With low self-esteem and a poor body-image or self-concept, a feeling of helplessness can set in.  Obesity promotes low self-esteem and as a result, life is put on hold. However, the fantasy that "life begins when I get thin" is just that, a fantasy. Life is now, every moment. There are no time outs. 

The Declaration of Self-Esteem, author unknown, would do well to be integrated into the belief systems of all people - women in particular.

 An extract from The Psychology of Ideal Body Image as an Oppressive Force in the Lives of Women

by Barbara A. Cohen, Ph.D.