Body Image: A Matter of Choice or Necessity?
It is an issue that almost every individual has thought about, particularly women. We live in a culture that is heavily focused on the physical appearance of women. From a young age, girls start worrying about what they look like and by the time they reach their pre-teens, they are conditioned to be preoccupied with the amount of body fat.
Girls who don't fit the criteria of what a female should look like become the object of ridicule among their peers. This forces them to do whatever they can to meet their peers expectations -- which can sometimes lead to dire results and a viscious circle that can torment a girl well into womanhood.
On the campus of George Mason University, a diverse group of women walk the campus. They represent all ages, races, nationalities, geographic regions and cultures. They are a mosaic, with every individual female bringing their own unique contribution of womanhood to this institution of higher learning.
However, even though there is much for every woman to take pride in at George Mason, there are many who deal with the challenges of fighting weight gain, being admitted into their circles of peers and fitting into the brackets of social acceptance. While confronting these challenges, some of these women tend to develop dissatisfaction in their appearance -- becoming more self-critical, developing unrealistic expectations, sometimes developing problems that overflow in other areas of their lives.
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