Women and Diet Pills, Part 1

Adolescent girls (as well as older women) are the group most vulnerable to the
advertising claims of diet pills and other OTC products claiming to reduce
weight. Our culture tells girls that being "pretty" is often more important than
being smart or healthy or kind. In desperate attempts to conform to the cultural
definition of prettiness, girls may turn to OTC products. This emphasis on
physical appearance is one of the major distortions of our society. It fails to
recognize that other qualities are far more essential to both an individual's
personhood and the entire culture's well-being. What's more, cultural
definitions of beauty are variable, depending on many factors.

Historically, beauty standards have often been set by the upper classes in a
society. In many cultures, physical attributes that are associated with wealth
also become associated with beauty. For example, in societies that are
experiencing famine or lack of food, a plump body (a sign of wealth and
strength in an otherwise bleak picture of wasting and emaciation) is often seen
as beautiful. In a society that has plenty of food (like North America), thinness
becomes associated with wealth because wealthy people have the time and
the money to dedicate to things like fitness and special diets. In such a well-fed
society, being thin or skinny becomes beautiful. In situations like these, people
do not necessarily consciously associate the physical attributes of wealth with
beauty, but wealth is desirable, and therefore the physical attributes of wealthy
people become desirable. Similarly, in societies where large families consisting
of many children are desirable, physical attributes that are associated with
fertility, like wide hips and large breasts in women, are also associated with
beauty. In societies where few children are desired, these physical signs of
fertility may not be considered beautiful. These trends are of course not
universal, but there are many examples throughout history of beauty being
associated with wealth and good health.

Part 2 >>

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