Body shapes differ in body fat levels and muscle accumulation and are determined by genetics. People have different body shapes, with men having rectangular shape and women having hourglass shape.
The society has focused on how people appear, but an individual’s view of his/her own appearance may not meet the society’s expectation. This paper focuses on body fitness and health as factors to an ideal image.
According to Zygmunt (1995, p.114), “body types can be classified into three; endomorph, mesomorphs and ectomorphs”. In endomorph, both sexes tend to have larger thighs and hips. They also have short legs and high wastes.
The second body type is the mesomorphs, whose body appearances are athletic build. They are likely to lose weight as compared to endomorphs. The ectomorphs have low body mass and narrow hips and shoulders.
Their whole body shape appears like a ruler. Fashion and beauty magazines put photographs of models that have perfect bodies, such as women with curves.
Yuill and Barry (2008 p. 36) argues that “both male and female do different types of exercises so that they can acquire their preferred body shapes and due to complex social relations, especially in the universities, females are anxious of their body shapes and the need for being attractive to their male fellows while seeking their approval”.
Media and cultures has been a factor that has led to men and women dissatisfaction of their bodies. Older women are likely to be more satisfied as compared to younger ones who will do all kinds of exercises to have a perfect body figure.
Men also spend time on weight training to achieve the same images as those that appear on the media. They do exercises such as jogging, cycling, swimming, shoulder presses, and squats.
Young women focus on their hips and abs and they concentrate on exercises such as sit-ups, and rope jumping. Exercises boost self-image as well as good eating habits, which encourages healthy skin and hair growth.
The body’s wellness in health also contributes to achieving the ideal body. The body flexibility, composition and muscle strength are very important. Nettlon (2006 p. 33) suggests, “Peoples lifestyles determines their patterns of consumption such as eating habits and body maintenance”.
Both social and economic state determines health of an individual. People who come from a community or countries whose economic state is high tend to have good health as compared to those from low economic status. Stress and depression can be harmful on health and the body shape.
Many people are taking diet supplements such as multivitamins to achieve the best body figure. However, these diet supplements are only affordable to some individuals who have high incomes Crogan (2008).
In conclusion, when the body image is in shape, men and women feel comfortable with their bodies, but if they do not feel good about their body shapes, they make a comparison of their bodies to those of friends.
They may be ashamed, thus having low self-esteem, bad eating habits which lead to diseases like depression, loss of hair and stomach ulcers. Women are the most affected because they gauge a certain social and society ideal of beauty and some do extreme exercises to loose weight.
Therefore, people should think positively about their body images because what they think is what they become. Healthy eating is also important in improving body image.
References
Barry, A.M. and Yuill, C., 2008, Understanding the Sociology of Health, an Introduction, Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Crogan, S., 2008, Body Image: Understanding Body Image Dissatisfaction in Men, Women and Children, New York: Routledge.
Nettleton, S., 2006, The sociology of Health and Illness, Cambridge: Malden.
Zygmunt, B.,1995. Life in Fragments: Essays in Postmodern Morality. Oxford: Cambridge.