Exposing Media's Aesthetic Traps and Obesity Discrimination: Establishing a Scientific Monitoring System to Reclaim a True Body Image

People often believe that physically attractive people are more sexually attractive, leading to a more fulfilling sex life. While physical beauty may make you more attractive, it has absolutely nothing to do with sex. Aren't there countless stories of love at first sight that end without fruition? Most people in life are of average appearance and build, yet they still find their partners and enjoy harmonious sex lives. If being beautiful were a prerequisite for finding someone who loves you or a sexual partner, humanity would probably have gone extinct thousands of years ago. Being fat means discrimination. You may not actually want a perfect body; you just want to control your weight to avoid discrimination because of your weight. If you discriminate against farmers, people will criticize you, saying, "What would you eat without farmers?" If you discriminate against disabled people, people will criticize you, saying, "How heartless you are, look how pitiful they are." But what about overweight people? In life, your family and friends might say, "Although you are fat, you are healthy"; "Although you are fat, you have a kind heart." The harsh reality is that if you're overweight, you'll be "prioritized" for elimination in the first round of job interviews, regardless of whether the job requires an attractive appearance; during promotions, leaders will prioritize you and consider you last. Even the way others look at you is different, as if you're hiding something different beneath your clothes. In China, people often associate overweight people with pigs. This perception is so ingrained that discrimination has become almost a convention. This view hides an assumption: being overweight is due to a lack of self-control; it's due to greed and gluttony; it's due to laziness. This assumption completely ignores the influence of genes and environment on body shape. This reasoning and discrimination are even more severe for women, making them even more afraid of gaining weight. Beauty is a societal expectation of women. The importance of thinness for women is becoming a growing cause of depression among them. Even if men don't look like bodybuilders, they can still be proud of their bodies. But even if a woman is beautiful, if she doesn't meet the standards of a media idol, she still doesn't like her body. The importance of thinness for women is becoming a growing cause of depression among them. Although societal expectations regarding women's figures are decreasing, you need to change your body image and your perception of your own body now. Stop paying attention to others' definitions of beauty; you may not live to see the day when everyone finds prominent collarbones and ribs unattractive. The media is a "pusher" of negative body image. Who is constantly attacking our bodies? Who is constantly shaking our beliefs, making us uneasy, and undermining our confidence and self-esteem? It's the media! We're starting to lose ourselves, falling into the trap of the media's superficial and simplistic definition of beauty. What is the media? It's a machine, a propaganda machine. Just as a machine itself has no purpose, the media also has no purpose; its direction is entirely determined by the person operating it. The purpose of this person is to use the constant noise of the machine to shake our confidence, constantly reminding us "you're not good enough," "you haven't tried hard enough," making us feel insecure. It uses unrealistic models in television, movies, and fashion magazines to make us insecure about our appearance. They package these inherently false things, mixing the real and the fake to make you feel that they are real, that they are not far removed from you, and that you can be like them. Why do these people who operate these machines expend so much energy to make us uneasy? They have a very simple purpose-economic gain. They know perfectly well that ordinary people can never become those few, and the fake can never become the real. Those who don't understand this fact will never stop pursuing, and will never be happy. Don't you see these people operating these machines, strategizing, confidently and happily smiling? Because they know perfectly well that many people are controlled by their machines, and many people simply cannot see this fact. When admiring these figures, do you care more about their appearance? Do you consider their uniqueness more? Do you care more about their wisdom and spirit? Do you comprehensively evaluate their integrity as a person? You don't! Because you yourself know very well that they are just for viewing, not for taking too seriously. The damage that women inflict on their finances, lives, bodies, and minds by pursuing physical beauty throughout their lives is immeasurable. The waste of money, the damage to their bodies, the destruction of their minds, depression, despair, and loss of self-esteem are unimaginable to others. And the most devastating damage does not come from others, but from our own continuous self-destruction! Love your body again. Look at our bodies. She is a miracle! She works tirelessly and silently every day, accomplishing great work. Our bodies are not our enemies. She allows us to enjoy delicious food and sustain our lives; she enables us to walk and bask in the embrace of beautiful nature. When our bodies are threatened by the external environment, she signals us to escape danger; when our bodies are threatened by ourselves, she coordinates for us, preventing us from collapsing. Free yourself from self-hatred! Hatred will not bring you any real change. If you still believe your body is flawed, if you are still trapped in depression and anxiety, now is the time for change. Start now, make a complete transformation from the inside out! Face yourself, challenge yourself, solve your problems. Challenge our society and culture; although you cannot change it, you can change yourself! For your body, for your life, for your worth, for yourself and your friends, you need to stand up and truly liberate yourself. Monitor your body image. To change your body image, you must first monitor it. Find a small card or notebook to record your body image. You can divide it into three columns: "Triggers," "Thoughts/Feelings," and "Behaviors." Triggers are any external stimuli that remind you of your body. This could be walking past a mirror, seeing an old dress, hearing someone talk about dieting, or anything else that draws your attention to your body. Thoughts might include, "I'm too fat," "I'll never fit into that dress," or "My pants will burst from my thighs." Feelings are the pain, pessimism, anxiety, guilt, shame, and other emotions that accompany these thoughts. Behaviors are the actions that accompany these thoughts and feelings. You might look away from the mirror, you might consciously suck in your stomach, or you might change your clothes. Behaviors also include deliberately avoiding something you enjoy. For example, you might want to go swimming, but the thought "I'm too fat in a swimsuit" makes you anxious and worried, so you decide not to go. When you fill in the "behaviors" section, put some thought into it. You can think about it from another angle: what would you want to do if you were thinner? Because some behaviors you've avoided for so long that you've long forgotten about them. For example, you might think you're too fat to sing in front of others and never even consider going to karaoke. Even though you didn't intend to go to karaoke, it's a result of your body image, and you should record it. At first, you might find it difficult to grasp your thoughts and feelings. This is because many of these thoughts are formed over a long period, and you've become accustomed to them, no longer aware of them. If you want to more easily identify these natural thoughts and feelings, write down the situations that make you particularly uncomfortable. For example, you can list what places, people, and behaviors most likely trigger negative thoughts and feelings about your body. The next time you encounter these triggers, carefully observe your thoughts and feelings and quickly write them down. Gradually, you'll become more aware of these triggers and thoughts.