Understanding The Self - Physical Self Module PDF

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF MIDTERM MODULE TOPIC: PHYSICAL SELF Introduction There is always a pressure in our society to look good. and to seek a visually better sign of ourselves. We often get so caught up with the ways we can make sure that we...

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF MIDTERM MODULE TOPIC: PHYSICAL SELF Introduction There is always a pressure in our society to look good. and to seek a visually better sign of ourselves. We often get so caught up with the ways we can make sure that we look beautiful and nice, that sometimes, we frown at our natural looks, our dark complexion perhaps or even our short stature. The social pressure of looking perfect gave rise to the many beauty products and enhancement procedures, being patronized by a large portion of our population, no matter how expensive they might be, just to fit in. to be accepted, and be beautiful. In the global society where fairer skin and a size zero for women are deemed attractive if not stunning, we can only expect ourselves to follow and abide by the mantra, "Beauty is Power", no matter how destructive it might be for us. Our physical selves have become so dependent on the judgment of our appearance, and not with the celebration of it. In this chapter, we will look at the work of nature and nurture. and how it greatly influences the features of our physical selves, particularly how we look, and how standards of beauty, both in local and global contexts have affected our self- acceptance. We will also look into the different cultural standards of beauty and how it has affected our self-concept, our self-esteem and body image, and realize that beauty, in all shapes and sizes, is meant to be celebrated. Why Do I Look Like Myself? Have you ever faced the mirror and asked yourself. "Why do I look like me?" Science explains that our parents are very much instrumental in understanding why we look how we look. Gregor Mendel (Father of Genetics) first figured out how genes are passed from parents to offspring in plants, including humans. His experiments on pea plants showed that genes are passed intact from generation to generation and that traits are not blended. Mendel's discovery was that it is through the genes that traits were passed from parent to off spring through several generations (Cummings, 2016). Genetics definitely has a hand on our physical appearance. Our biology dictates that our looks are a result of the genes transferred to us by our parents. From our skin tone, hair color, to our height, our physical features are an evidence that we are our parents' children. When heredity is actually at work, we find ourselves being the mirrors of our parents, which was the result of their DNAs (deoxyribonucleic acid) at work in us, and for some, even looking like carbon copies of them. Cultural Standards of Beauty Defining beauty can be a very daunting task. Suffice it to say that describing such would be very problematic since it is contextual to say the least. As culture decides the norms of the society, its concept of what is beautiful is similarly invoked from a cultural perspective Different cultures have different standards of beauty. During the 19th century in the African country of Tahiti, it was recorded that some men and women were set aside in a special place for fattening purposes (Pollock, 1995). In addition, they were covered in large amounts of tapa barkcloth, which, after the ritual is over, reveals a lighter skin for those who were selected. The goal of this ritual is to enhance their beauty, not only by feeding them but by making sure that they get a lighter skin afterwards. "Fattening Rooms" are used less these days but are still relevant among well-off families (Brink, 1995). This was also recorded in Nigeria during the ancient times when being fat was viewed as a sign of prosperity, fertility and beauty (The Fattening Room, Nkugho, n.d.). These examples impeccably depict how beauty is espoused distinctly in different societies. Lakoff and Scherr (1989), in their book Face Value: The Politics of Beauty, explain this perfectly saying that... "beauty was not just a product of wealth, but a commodity in and of itself. In other words, it was no longer a matter of looking to wealth to find beauty, but of looking to beauty to find status Now, beauty could give the illusion of wealth."  UNDERSTANDING THE SELF MIDTERM MODULE In the Philippines, the construction of local standards of beauty can be traced from our colonial influences. Skin color signifies the value of the people in society. Lighter skinned individuals are considered higher in terms of social status, and therefore, in the social rank compared to those with brown or dark skin (Rondilla, 2012). Our concept of physical selves as Filipinos is largely associated with our skin color. Historically, our people were colonized by fairer skinned races- the Spaniards, the Americans, and the Japanese. The colonization of our country by these white-skinned people lasted for more than three centuries. We were forced to believe that they were the more superior people, more civilized. and even how they look were deemed as standard beauty- a very Eurocentric perspective which has influenced our concept of attractiveness even today. Free as we are claiming we are, still our mindset is still a slave to the white culture. Their whiteness has become a goal for most Filipinos that even our television and movie personalities here mirror their looks. The Filipino Obsession with Beauty: The Case of Xander Ford The Filipinos obsession with beauty translates not only with women, but also with men. Take the case of Xander Ford, previously known as Marlou Arizala, a former member of Hasht5 a teen boy band which became an online sensation not because of their attractiveness, nor talent, but because of the disgust and animosity they receive for their 'ugly' faces. Xander's decision to alter his physical appearance was not without the pressure of the society to look good, if not better. He was not spared from bullying since he became an internet sensation because by our standards, he simply is unattractive. The decision to go under the knife was because of a lookist culture which dictates that happiness is only afforded to good-looking people (Estrada, 2017). As our society puts premium to Eurocentric centric standard of beauty, we victimize our own people for looking otherwise For Xander Ford, it was good that he was sponsored by a cosmetic surgery clinic unlike many who shell out thousands if not millions just to look physically appealing Xander Ford's cosmetic surgery perhaps can be called a success. Yet, not all surgeries are deemed safe. Dr. Samuel Eric Yapjuanco, Xander's plastic Surgeon, conducted three procedures on businesswoman Shiryl Saturnino, March of last year, but the latter died in the process. Reports from the Philippine National Crime Laboratory say that Ms. Saturnino died of fat embolism a condition where there was fat in the blood vessels which entered into the lungs of the victim, making it hard for her to breathe (Sallan, 2017). Truth is, women have been evaluated based on their appearance more than men (Wade, 2017). They have been valued and devalued based on how they look. It is for this reason that many of them fall prey to even unnecessary cosmetic surgeries due to that desire of wanting to look good, if not perfect. Health concerns are foremost to be considered before going through these kinds of surgeries. Yet, there are those who feel that there is always a need for them to alter whichever part of their body, because they feel that they do not look beautiful, even if you tell them that they already are. This perspective seems to be the case not only for a lot of millennials but for those who are suffering from Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD. Those who are suffering from BDD are so obsessed about their appearance, thus think about their flaws, real or not, incessantly and uncontrollably (Body Dysmorphic Disorder A Quest for Perfection, 2012). Those who are diagnosed with this disorder are very much preoccupied by a perceived physical flaw that is either absent or so trivial that only the one suffering from it sees it as a problem, being so much distressed about it, that daily routines are affected (Wilhelm, 2006). Those who are suffering from this disorder are so self-anxious that they seek cosmetic surgeries to finally solve their body issues. Dr. Yapchangco explains this obsession of millennials with plastic surgery, in the case of millennials saying. "They want to be more pleasing, to be more beautiful. They consider that having a beautiful face and body is always an edge in most aspects of life, especially in getting into their chosen career," (Sallan. 2017).  UNDERSTANDING THE SELF MIDTERM MODULE A Healthy Body Image, and Self-esteem in Peril The quest for physical perfection has brought us to an ordeal that will not end unless we got to the bottom of the problem. Our society has not only placed so much importance on looking beautiful, but also has done a great job in commercializing the same. Even the Americans are in trouble for wanting to be physically appealing, as seen in the statistics. Perhaps at one point in our lives, we have been implicitly or explicitly criticized, or even ridiculed for how we look. Our standards have become so unbearable that our society mocks us for looking imperfect. This has caused many of us to lose confidence in ourselves and break that one last strand of self-esteem that we do have. When women in particular get called out for being heavy, if not obese, they are not called as such by people to remind them to get healthy for their own good, but to just vilify their looks, and magnify their imperfections. This, in turn, results to, not only having a strong desire for the bullied to get thin, but with it also comes that fear of gaining weight, thus, restricting themselves from food intake. Anorexia is defined as a serious mental illness where people are of low weight due to limiting their energy intake. It can affect anyone of any age, gender, or background. As well as restricting the amount of food eaten, they may do lots of exercise to get rid of food eaten. Some people with anorexia may experience cycles of bingeing (eating large amounts of food at once) and then purging," (Anorexia, 2017). This is not the only suffering of those who have been criticized for their weight. Body Shaming which is criticizing yourself or others because of some aspect of physical appearance (Vargas, 2014), has resulted in the loss of self-confidence of those who have been thin shamed or fat shamed Body image disturbance (BID) is an important aspect of several pathologies in psychology. particularly eating disorders. It has two components. The perceptual component which refers how we accurately perceive our body size, also known as body size estimation, and the attitudinal component which refers to how we think and feel about the size and/or shape of our body, which if not correctly processed, will result to body dissatisfaction (Greene, 2011). Stice and Whitenton (2002), found out that body dissatisfaction is also linked with mental disorders including depression and anxiety among adolescents. This is very much alarming since statistics have shown how much of today's generation have fallen prey from body image disturbance. The Filtered Self The advent of social media put pressure on us to look even better. On Instagram, the most famous photo-sharing application known to us to date, we post our most physically appealing self, and more often than not, we use filter applications, where we can hide our imperfections, creating, and recreating a self that is better approved by our online friends. Instagram, together with the many other photo sharing applications, give us the freedom to alter our looks, and present our physical selves, not just the way we want it, but the way our society approves it. Today's youngsters are sadly the victims of such since we live at a time when our self. approval depends on the likes, shares, and comments of our social media posts. When our filtered photos look better than the unfiltered ones, and the virtual world agrees, we tend to keep everything that way. There is that possibility, however, that the more we approve of the filtered us, the more that we disregard our real, unfiltered physical selves. Celebrating Beauty in Diversity Cultural concepts of beauty should be celebrated. However, practices that enhance attractiveness, yet, are severely harmful to our health, should be stopped. In her book, Beauty and Misogyny Harmful Cultural Practices in the West, Sheila Jeffreys (2005) explained that it is not enough to know that there are a lot of beauty enhancement practices that are detrimental to women's health. For her, women should stand against the cultural requirement on what they should do with their bodies. Thus, a celebration of beauty in diversity requires, as she calls it, a culture of resistance. This is a culture that veers away from the dictates of what women in society should look like to be called beautiful.  UNDERSTANDING THE SELF MIDTERM MODULE We are challenged at this time to speak up against body shaming particularly that we are living in an image-driven virtual society. Embracing our physical selves entails affirming each other regardless of our skin color, stature, and body mass index. There is a need to defend those who do not fall under the idyllic image of thin and beautiful (Fat Shaming and Body Shaming, n.d.) We should never allow ourselves to be victims of this since we are supposed to celebrate the authentic us, where we do not need to hide our physical flaws and to resist the demands of a deprecating image driven society. You Are Who You Look! Embracing Your Physical Self In a society that worships perfection, embracing our physical selves is not going to be easy. Still and all, being positive about how we look can definitely work miracles. In the book of Psalms in the sacred Scriptures, we are deemed as the masterpiece of the Creator of the universe, carefully, precisely, and worthily created (Psalm. 139:14, NIV). This idea of embracing one's value is also seen in sacred texts of other religious beliefs. The significance of self-acceptance is necessary in embracing our physical selves. We need not fret if the way we look does not live up to the standards set by our society. We have to be reminded that our health is foremost in all these. Remember that body size, shape. skin color, and stature are never correct indicators of a healthy life. There is nothing more important than to learn to accept and embrace who we are, with all the beauty, flaws and imperfections, because this is the only way that we can live in peace and at peace with our selves.