Body beautiful: The quest for perfection

By Michelle Murphy

Spring Break is approaching at a rapid pace. Though the weather may not be a great indicator of its proximity, a bout with most groups of females on this campus will certainly prove this is the case. Conversations of diets and bathing suits are abound and relatively unavoidable. Individuals all over campus, male and female alike, are flocking to the gym in a last minute attempt to mold their bodies into beach-worthy material.à

I entered my house the other day to find shocking additions to my kitchen. The oversized yellow plastic bag of Splenda (fake no-calorie sugar for those of you unfamiliar) was in its usual prominent place on the countertop, open for easy access, but it was joined by some new friends. A large case of strawberry Slim-Fast shakes was sitting directly next to our old standby sugar substitute. Sick. I began to wonder what our house was coming to when I wandered over to the kitchen counter, can of calorie packed Coke in hand and spotted a mail envelope and a Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease DVD. I guess there's nothing like multitasking in the college world. à

This, combined with excessive talk of "W.W." (Weight Watchers) and "points" littered throughout the household put me just about over the edge. You'd think that by our age, we'd be mature enough to accept and love our bodies for what they are and realize that there's not too much we can do to change them. Apparently, this is not the case, and contrary to popular belief, we are not getting wiser as we age.à

According to a slightly disturbing study done in 1996 published on eatingdisorderinfo.org, being thin is a definite priority among college-aged females.à More than half of females between the ages of 18 and 25 would prefer to be run over by a truck than be fat. Further, two-thirds of those surveyed said they would rather be mean or stupid than fat. à

With this kind of an attitude, it's no wonder that 91 percent of women surveyed (published on the same website) on another college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting and 22 percent of that group said they diet "often" or "always." à

I'm sure that each one of these students would be thrilled to know that according to nationaleatingdisorders.org and a study published in 1996, 95 percent of dieters, regardless of lifestyle, gain any weight loss back within one to five years. It may be off for Spring Break this year, but next February, you'll likely have to return to the pain of the high-fiber cabbage diet.à à

But females are not the only ones currently experiencing poor body image. According to the British Medical Journal, the number of men who openly report dissatisfaction with their physical appearance has tripled in the past two decades, and today, nearly as many men as women say that they are unhappy with how they look. In an attempt to get their bodies to resemble those on the pages of the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, males have become vulnerable to a newly coined condition called muscle dysmorphia, where one obsesses about lacking muscle definition and mass, even with a muscular body. This is a phenomenon that has made its way into the forefront only in recent years, and is slowly becoming a recognized disorder. à

Low body image is extremely prevalent in college students nationwide who, in their quest for love and affection from objects of their desire, feel pressure to look "hot." The added pressure of Spring Break bathing suit getaways finds many of us spending our free moments at Malley, ellipticizing our way to a firmer figure. à

"I need to wear a bathing suit in March," joked senior Kristin Lenore about her increased gym attendance. "I'm going to the gym because I clearly need to be hotter than I already am. Any improvement on hotness can't hurt." à

Though sarcastic, there's a bit of truth in Lenore's statement. Since I can probably count on one hand the number of truly overweight people I have seen on-campus in my four years here, diets and trips to the gym for most Santa Clara students mark an attempt to perfect something that's pretty much perfect already. à

Most of us are not Barbie and Ken dolls. We probably never will be. But the fact that they recently got "divorced" indicates that maybe it's overrated anyway. Perhaps perfection can get old when you don't have a brain to back it up.

û Contact Michelle Murphy at (408) 554-4546 or mdmurphy@scu.edu.à