Ch 7

Question 1

Physical appearance

Answer 1

• Serves as the basis of which we judge and are judged by others (meanings, interpretations, stereotypes); appearance can be a master status with supplementary traits
• some aspects are voluntary (makeup, tattoos, clothes, piercings) and others are involuntary (height, visible disabilities)
• cultural appropriation: adopting clothes, hairstyles, and body modifications of other cultures without consideration of their history or meaning which can be offensive
• Cultural appreciation: applies to language, art, music, holidays, religion etc.

Question 2

Body modifications

Answer 2

• Objectivists: focused on both risk (behavioural, psychological, physical) and motivations (aesthetics, individuality)
• subjectivists: focused on individuals’ understandings of self, others, and the world around them (front-stage and back-stage)
  → narrative approaches: how body modification tells stories about people’s lives, signify important events, spiritual beliefs, group membership
  → stories of gender: established femininity (embody cultural ideas, use tattoos to enhance femininity, small feminine tattoos in feminine associated locations) vs resistant femininity (rejection of dominant gender codes, larger masculine designs in more visible locations)
  → stories of work: body modification as an indication of someone’s membership with a specific occupational group
  → stories of interpersonal relationships: body modifications are interwoven with our relationships with others and connect us with each other

Question 3

“Too fat,” “too thin,” and “ideal”

Answer 3

• The ideal body is shaped by social and scientific standards
• medicine emphasizes heath risks associated with being outside of the ideal (harm)
  → overweight: heart disease, high risk of diabetes and cancer
  → underweight: vulnerable to infections, week bones, irregular heart rhythms
• body mass index (BMI)

Question 4

Anorexia

Answer 4

• Deadliest mental disorder (due to cardiac arrest or suicide)
• characterized by extremely low body weight and distorted perceptions
• causes include individual, biological and psychological:
  → vulnerabilities: histories of abuse, compulsive need for control, perfectionism, obsessive thinking), family dynamics (rigid and controlling parents), and sociocultural factors

Question 5

Muscle dysmorphia (bigorexia)

Answer 5

• Body dysmorphic disorder (type of OCD)
• characterized by negative body image and an obsession with developing muscle; accompanied by a problematic relationship with food and anabolic steroid use
• steroid use: associated with health risks including heart disease and liver disease
  → males: suppress the body’s own production of testosterone (shrunken testicles, lower sperm count)
  → females: steroids have a masculinizing effect (deeper voice, more facial and body hair)

Question 6

Society emphasizes the thin ideal (standards vary across culture and time)

Answer 6

• Reinforced by media; thin ideal is all we see, when other body types are represented they do not have the same value or importance
• being “fat” is associated with numerous negative stereotypes (laziness, lack of intelligence, self-indulgence, lack of discipline) and is presences as word than any other possible experience

Question 7

Social Control of “too fat”

Answer 7

• Discrimination at the interpersonal level and institutional level
• media (weight loss advertisements) and commercial industry (pills, videos, gym memberships)
• medicalization (prescriptions to did in weight loss, surgery to sculpt the body)
• governments
  → fat tax: additional taxes on unhealthy food
  → tax deductions: for parents to allow kids to play sports
• communities (school programs, recreational facilities)

Question 8

Consequences of Social Control

Answer 8

• Distorted receptions (about what’s normal, what’s healthy), self-esteem issues, depression, chronic dieting/ eating disorders, steroid use/abuse

Question 9

Resisting the label of “too fat”

Answer 9

• Tertiary deviance: challenging deviantication, pushing back against the labels
• “fat acceptance” groups (remove stigma, improve health)
• media coverage of the dangers of diet pills or weight loss surgery
• body positivity

Question 10

Social Control of “too thin”

Answer 10

• A drastic deviation from the ideal is needed to label someone as “too thin” (easier to be labeled as “too fat”)
• medicalization:
  → primary prevention: present anorexia from starting in the first place (school/community programs that bring awareness to eating disorders and their consequences, challenging body ideals)
  → secondary prevention: focused on those in the early stages of an eating disorder, intervening before it develops into a full blown disorder
  → treatment: psychotherapy, CBT, family counseling, group therapy, drug therapy
• media: stigmatization of celebrities that are perceived to be too thin
• society: shift in ideals, increased preference for bodies that are fit rather than very thin or muscular
• interpersonal: greater scrutiny from family and friends
• government: legislation banning underweight models

Question 11

Resisting the label of “too thin”

Answer 11

• Messages and products that install you can never be too thin (not much resistance directed at the concept of too thin)
• stigma management strategies: wearing baggy clothes, not going to the washroom after eating (fear people will assume they’re purging), reframe negative comments from others (condemnation of the condemners)
• “Ana” websites: devoted to supporting and encouraging anorexia