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Thin Fad (1) There is no single woman in U. S. who does not take dietary issues close to heart. The so-called thin fad negatively affects lives of many people and allows various diet experts to continue making a lot of many on peoples naivety. In this paper we will try to prove that thin fad needs to be discussed in the context of decline of Western civilization, in order for us to understand its true significance. In the last few hundred years, before ancient Rome was being sacked by the barbarians, its citizens began to take an unhealthy interest in the matters of sex, fashion and entertainment.
Just like in our times, peoples bellyful idleness made them to seriously believe that it was possible to lose weight with the mean of special diets and then to stay thin until the rest of their lives. They used to dye their hair blond in the futile attempt to bring back their former biological essence, which allowed their ancestors to conquer the world. However, all of this proved to be ineffective, because no degenerate can have healthy body and mind, no matter how hard he tries. In America we have the same situation.
Women are being told that the miraculous transition from fat and ugly to thin and beautiful is absolutely possible, for as long as they are willing to buy some newly introduced dietary pills, for example. The fashion shows feature models so thin that it seems as if they were just being liberated from Auschwitz. To make things worse they often have shaven heads. Hollywood stars brag about being able to fit into childrens clothing. This is, of course, is nothing but indication that the process of spiritual and biological degeneration in our society gains momentum. The most threatening thing about it is that the ideals of beauty are now being associated with illness.
If we look at paintings of Renaissance artists, it will become clear that, even as recent as 300 years ago, the ideal of feminine beauty had nothing to do with pathological thinness, as it is the case in present time. This is because beauty derives out of physical health. The feminine health is strongly associated with fertility. Very thin women are incapable of normal childbirth. This is why very thin women can be considered as being attractive, at best, but they can never be referred to as beautiful.
It is very remarkable that the emergence of various social fads began at the end of 19 th century, when decadent attitudes used to be very popular among people. For example, European aristocrats used to swallow small portions of poison, in order for their skin to be very pale. Women were struggling with corsets, which were supposed to help them in keeping their waists thin. Therefore, one does not have to be a professor to realize that popular fads derive out of peoples inner inferiority.
Thin fad is actually dangerous, in the social context of this word, because it encourages people to cause harm to their bodies. The article Singapore Women Dying to be Thin, which can be found on Singapore Window site, provides readers with numerous examples of women losing their lives, because the diet pills they were taking, contained harmful chemical ingredients: One woman is dead, another needed a liver transplant to save her life and several others are seriously ill after taking a herbal slimming aid. The women all took the Chinese-made "Slim 10 " diet pill, which contained the banned substance Fenfluramine and has now been yanked from the market, but its highly publicized side-effects, have had little impact on sales of other brands. Popular Media mislead women by making them believe that they can loose weight fast, without any harmful consequences. However, this is very far from the truth. Our physical appearance is genetically predetermined.
This simple fact is not being widely popularized, as it would be the case in every healthy society. There is a whole industry, which is based on pseudo-scientific approach in dealing with weight management. Diet pills are not considered to be medicinal product; therefore they are not the subject of strict medicinal laws and regulations. Basically, a pharmaceutical company can have them made out of sugar, and still refer to such pills as the most effective way to drastically reduce weight without having to workout physically. The pathological nature of thin craze can also be observed indirectly. A lot of young girls suffer enormously from the fact that they are not thin enough.
They think that there is something wrong about them, while in fact, it is the thin models and movie stars that need to see doctor. The feeling of social inadequateness make these girls psychologically unstable, which in its turn, provides countless psychologists and counsels with very well paid job. Thus, everybody win except for poor women, who want to look in the way that Media tell them they should. Jenifer Hunt in her article Helping Customers Maintain Resolve in Their Weight Loss Resolutions points out to the fact that dieting often leads people to gain additional weight: Americans are consumed with being thin; yet, many struggle to lose weight and others continue to pack on additional pounds and inches while being on diet (Hunt). The thin fad is directly related to the fact that about a half of adults in this country is overweight. In the same article Hunt says: An estimated 127 million adults in the United States are either overweight or obese, with 64. 5 percent of American adults age 20 and over above a healthy weight (Hunt).
Their inability to live a normal life projects itself in grotesque form of thin fad. Therefore, thin craze cannot be talked about in terms of people trying to live a healthy life. It is nothing but a social fetish of overweight women. As practice shows, it is these women that are fascinated by the thin fad the most. (2) I conducted an interview with 26 year old woman on the subject of psychological insecurity, related to thin fad. Her answers confirm earlier statements of this paper: 1.
What part of your physical appearance are you concerned with or have insecurities about? I think that I could stand loosing more weight, because Im being referred to as rather plump. My legs could be thinner, even though that my husband seems to like them just the way they are. 2. How do these insecurities affect your everyday life? Well sometimes I think that my husband might want to have an affair with another woman, because I am not too sure whether he is being honest when he says that he doesnt like thin women. 3. Do you spend significant amounts of time or money trying to "fix" these things with diets, exercise, surgery, make up?
I regularly attend Lady Fitness Club. Ive been doing physical workouts for half a year now, but I dont seem to be loosing any weight at all, so now Im thinking that I need to combine exercises with special diet. Only then I would be able to see results. 4. How do you think that the images portrayed in the media have contributed to these insecurities? I think they have contributed enormously.
Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be thin, because Barbie doll was thin. In movies, the positive characters are usually portrayed as slim and athletic, while villains are often shown as being fat. 5. Do you think our culture is too beauty obsessed? I think our culture is money-obsessed.
The beauty only serves as the mean of making more money. At the same time, I think that it is quite normal for any culture to refer to beauty as one of social ideals. Look at ancient Greek sculptures they are embodiments of health and beauty. It is only within some obscure religious sect that people are encouraged to deny the value of beauty. 6. What is beautiful to you?
Whatever is natural is beautiful. I personally do not understand how top models can be considered as beautiful, while being physically and mentally ill. I do wonder what kind of people promote their sick vision of beauty as something undisputed. 7. How often do you find yourself looking at other women and comparing yourself to them? Very often. Women compete for men on continuous basis.
Therefore, men might think that necklaces and ear rings are just feminine accessories, while they are nothing less then weapons that help women to win men. Im trying to stay in shape, but there are a lot of women who look better then me. This makes me feel very angry. 8. How often are you jealous of someone else's physical appearance? I have to admit that this happens quite often. I can never be quite as slim and attractive as Wanna Rider, for example. 9.
When you see other women looking at you, how does it make you feel? When other women look at me it makes me feel more confident in my feminine powers. I can tell if they look at me with jealousy, which is especially joyous experience. 10. Do you think you would be happy if you looked another way?
I have never thought about it. I think Im quite happy the way I am. However, if I could loose extra 20 pounds, I would probably be the happiest woman on Earth. (3) This interview shows that thin fad is far more influential that it is generally assumed. Therefore, it would be wrong to suggest that only teenage girls are being affected by it. It is doubtful whether our society can come up with any effective measures to deal with the harmful consequences of thin fad. This is because this fad is only an indication that something is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark.
People no longer strive for beauty and health they simply want to appear as being healthy and beautiful. Just like in ancient Rome times, when citizens wanted to look Nordic by dying their hair, while actually being products of racial mixing. Thin fad is simply an element of American pop culture. This culture is being popularized by MTV and Entertainment Channel throughout the world. This is why many countries now consider banning these channels, because they promote socially dangerous ideas, such as thin craze.
It is all about money, as usual. Teenage girls fall easy victims to propaganda of thinness. It is them who become the most gullible buyers of various health products. Ashley Miller in her article Thin is in, Models, Celebs Demonstrate says: This repeated image of emaciated models has lasting effects on teenage girls. They think it is cool to look like that. Many have even gone to astonishingly unhealthy lengths to get that prepubescent figure.
Diet-pill popping, bulimia and anorexia reign supreme when attempting to achieve this look (Miller). We live in consumerist society, where money serves as equivalent of happiness. It is quite natural for the people to be preoccupied with making money; however, there is a line that should not be crossed. It is morally wrong to make profit on womens strive towards socially imposed ideals of beauty. We can compare thin fad to a religious belief.
Both are based of wrong assumptions and both allow cynical businessmen to exploit peoples naivety to make money. Thin fad is a like a Christianity it lures people towards illusionary goals that can never be achieved. In my opinion, thin fad is being purposefully designed for the simple reason of extracting profit. Those who stand behind it have always been associated with spreading spiritual degeneracy, throughout the ages. It is sufficient to simply look at the last names of MTV owners to realize that representatives of chosen people play prominent role in propagating thin craze. Nevertheless, it is only the matter of time, before people will return to the idea of physical beauty as such that directly relates to physical health.
This will signify the end of thin fad. Bibliography: Hunt, Jenifer Helping Customers Maintain Resolve in Their Weight Loss Resolutions. 2005. Nutri Learn. Com. 12 Apr. 2007. web Hunting, Joanna NZ Girls Aren't Buying the Super-Thin Craze. 12 Aug. 2006. The New Zealand Herald. 12 Apr. 2007.
web Kate Winslet Attacks 'Size Zero' Trend. 10 Dec. 2006. Digital Journal. 12 Apr. 2007. web Miller, Ashley Thin is in, Models, Celebs Demonstrate. 18 Feb. 2007. Sun-Sentinel. Com. 12 Apr. 2007. web Singapore Women Dying to be Thin. 2006.
Singapore Window. Com. 12 Apr. 2007. web Abstract: This paper discusses harmful effects of thin fad. Outline: Introduction and Main Part. Interview. Conclusion.
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