PHYSICAL SELF: The Physical Self: Body Image and Self Esteem

PART 2
Understanding the self includes understanding the surroundings and
what influences our outlook in our beauty. Culture may seem to have
an effect also on how people view themselves and how they construct
their images and boost their self-esteem. Physical aspect of the self
may also provide understanding and the importance of beauty.
 The Impact of Culture on Body Image and Self-Esteem: The
Importance of Beauty

● Culture is defined as a social system that is characterized by the

shared meanings that are attributed to people and events by its
members.
● The makeup of a body is a collection of cells, combined into
organs, which themselves operate in systems. In humans, that body
typically takes on a form with two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head.
Bodies are shaped in countless ways by culture, by society, and by
the experiences that are shared with a social and cultural context.
Since it is also shaped by history, there are always changing ideas
about it. It can be assumed that the body is contingent – meaning
molded by factors outside the body, and internalized into the physical
being itself.
● Young adolescents are forced to adhere to society’s definition of
beauty lest they be labelled ugly or “pangit” in local dialect.
● This is what is called the social constructionist approach to
understanding the physical self. This suggests that beauty, weight,
sexuality, or race do not simply result from the collection of genes
one inherited from one’s parents. Instead, these bodily features only
take on the meaning that they have. A person may have a certain set
of facial features, or weigh a certain number of pounds and
attractiveness will come from the time and place in which they live.
● This differs from what might be called an essentialist view of the body.
Essentialism means that bodies are defined entirely by their biological
make-up – bones, muscles, hormones, and the like. Much of human
behavior can also be reduced to many of those biological functions, it is
referred to by social scientists call a reductionist idea that complex human
behaviors can be reduced to something as simple as, for example,
hormones. This simply means that we cannot understand the biological
organism without first understanding social, cultural, and historical context
in which it exists.
● Another example of how norms of masculinity and femininity shape not just
behavior, but public perceptions are those people who did activities of the
other gender.
● Another anthropologist, Mary Douglas (1973) said that the body is the most
natural symbol for and medium of classification, and thus rules associated
with controlling the body and its processes emerge as a powerful means of
social control.
● A controlled behavior from within was made as theory by Erving Goffman
(1982) which is called the Dramaturgical theory. The theory suggests that we
are all actors on a stage, and much of what we do is engage in impression
management during which we must monitor and adjust our own behavior in
accordance with how people want others to perceive them.
● A woman is what she wears – this statement is
from the work of Janes Gaines on fashion (1990)
which implies that women are often defined
completely by their clothing –. In this study, it
suggests that people have body images. Body
image can be described as a representation of how
individuals think and feel about their own physical
attributes. Body image is both internal (personal)
and external (society).
● This includes (1) how a person perceives his body, (2) how a
person feels about their physical appearance, (3) how a person
thinks and talks to themselves about their bodies, and (4) a
sense of how other people view their bodies. Though sometimes
how a person looks has possibly never held as much as societal
importance or reflected so significantly on our perceived
self-worth.
● Body image is the mental representation one creates, but it may or
may not bear close relation to how others actually see you. Body
image is subject to all kinds of distortion from internal elements like our
emotions, moods, early experiences, attitudes of our parents, and
much more. The mass media has increasingly become a platform that
reinforce cultural beliefs and projects strong views on how we should
look, that we as individuals often unknowingly validate. With such
strong societal scrutiny, it is easy to see how the focus is on negative
body image. Nevertheless, it strongly influences behavior.
Preoccupation with and distortions of body image are widespread
among American women (and to a lesser extent, among males), but
they are driving forces in eating disorders, feeding severe anxiety than
can be assuaged only by dieting.
● How to get to this point depends on the acceptance and esteem
that a person has for himself. This can be related to the meaning
of self-esteem. In which, it is related to how much a person likes
himself, how they recognize or appreciate their individual
character, qualities, skills, and accomplishments. Like body
image, self-esteem can also be based on how a person thinks
other people look at them as a person.
● Self-esteem is the overall evaluation that a person has of
himself which can be positive or negative, high or low. Self esteem
is a measure of the person’s self-worth based on some personal or
social standard. It is a global evaluative dimension of the self.
● Charles Darwin in 1871 became one of the first persons, if not the
first, to think and write extensively about human beauty from a biological
point of view, concluding that there is no universal standard of beauty
with respect to the human body and attempts to determine underlying
dimensions of beauty are futile. However, in 1985, contrary to Darwin’s
beliefs, Samuels and Ewy showed that both 3-month-old and
6-month-old infants looked longer at male and female faces previously
rated as attractive by adults, suggesting that infants have the cognitive
ability to discriminate attractiveness. These findings have been further
supported, and it has even been shown that young infants show
preferences for attractive faces, measured by looking time, that
transcends gender, race, and age. Problems and other issues will arise
when a person’s definition of body image is different from the
understanding of beauty.
● Young people put so much pressure on themselves to attain
unrealistic ideals to the point of risking mental and physical health is
unacceptable. The following are some aspects in culture that may
have led to some misconceptions:
1. Society’s ideal for the perfect physical form for men and
women.
2. Images of perfection brought by all types of media i.e print,
television, film, and internet.

3. Since a standard has been set by society and reinforced by

the media, any characteristic that does not conform to the
standard is labelled as ugly. Body diversity in size and structure
due to genetic heritability is not tolerated.
 ● These misconceptions strongly affect how the young form
their body image and its influence on their self-esteem.
Knowing that adolescence is the period where self-identity is
formed, it is important for adults in the environment to listen to
these young people and provide proper guidance and support.

● Being beautiful still depends how a person defines beauty and the
standards he sets to meet this definition.
● ● People are different and each one is uniquely beautiful.