The image of beauty is a characteristic that varies between cultures and ages setting for individuals, particularly women, patterns to follow. These models generally lead to fall in the "Superwoman Syndrome" and "The Beauty Myth". .
In this essay, I am going to compare between the two stories in Between World: Adding Weight to an Image of Beauty by Catherine Pigott and Bodily Harm by Pamela Erens. .
The first story is about how Pigott's perception of beauty changed during her visit to Gambia. The second one is a quite complete exposition of causes and effects of eating disorders. About the theoretical model, I am going to relate to the text of Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth, which appeared also in Between Worlds.
The major concern of this paper becomes to assert that weight watching and eating disorders are consequences of trying to conform to an ideal image of beauty.
This image becomes strongly associated with both the individual and its culture. .
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When trying to be conventional about the ideal image of beauty, women generally tend to radically change their eating habits and to obey to some weight watching "policies". Having a personal diet becomes a challenge to take that implies making some sacrifice. And whether it is to gain or to lose weight it is the same scenario.
In Adding Weight to an Image of Beauty, Catherine Pigott tells us about what she did in Gambia to gain weight and back in Canada to lose her once-in-Gambia beautiful roundness. Pigott underlines the effort she made to be regarded as "normal" in Gambia: "I tried desperately", she said, because she couldn't bear the connotation of "Chicken-hips" that easily became an associated nickname with her thinness. .
This is a common phenomenon in every culture called "peer pressure". It implies that the majority take the decision to shape the personal perception of the different minority. In my example, Gambian women take the responsibility not only to reshape the ideal beauty perception of Catherine but also to reshape her real appearance.