(U-WIRE) - I wish I were a guy. While this isn't a thought that crosses my mind on an everyday basis, sometimes I find myself thinking it. I imagine what it must be like to throw on some jeans and a striped polo shirt, whip some gel through inch-long hair and be ready for a night out on the town. I wonder what it must be like to have the power to call your latest conquest and ask them out.
But most of all, I wonder what it must be like to not have to worry about how thin you are. Granted, guys have plenty of body image issues. They are bombarded with images of Schwarzenegger-like meatheads with six-, eight-, or 12-packs with bulging pecs and biceps and other muscles I didn't even know existed.
A huge container of whey protein in the kitchen has become a staple for many guys, and they are expected to consume as much as humanly possible in hopes of getting big. The irony here is that getting big is a phrase that will send shivers down most girls' backs.
While the body image issues that guys face are not to be overlooked, the reality is that 90 percent of those with eating disorders are women. Girls are bombarded by images and messages on an even greater scale than guys. We strive to have abs like Janet Jackson, arms like Madonna and legs like Britney Spears. Advertisers tell us we are too flabby, too round - too this or too that - and we buy into it.
We have been taught that looks are what matter and that how we look is what we're worth. Girls assume that being thin is synonymous with being happy, but this phrase does not necessarily ring true.
For example, as long as I can remember I have been told that I'm thin. It was a compliment I once enjoyed. But after awhile, that compliment became what I believed about myself - that my one good attribute was that I was thin. The underlying message was that it didn't matter how smart I was, how nice I was or how creative I was, but if I was thin, that was all that mattered.
It is for this reason that society's emphasis on looks fuels the extreme measures that many girls take to get rid of that five or 10 pounds that someone off in TV land has made them think they need to lose. While many of us may not actually be diagnosed as anorexic or bulimic, too many of us spend a ridiculous amount of time fretting about our bodies. What a waste of precious time. We should be putting our energy into greater things, such as learning about something we always wondered about, helping others or at least just having fun and laughing with friends.
We are above the mind games that advertisers try to play with us, and we must recognize that the images we see in magazines and on TV are not reality.
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Danielle Komis
