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THE PHYSICAL SELF that it is through the genes that traits were passed
"You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably from parent to off spring through several
flawed. And you are beautiful." - Amy Bloom generations (Cummings, 2016).

INTRODUCTION Genetics definitely has a hand on our physical

There is always a pressure in our society to look appearance. Our biology dictates that our looks are
good, and to seek a visually better version of a result of the genes transferred to us by our
ourselves. We often get so caught up with the ways parents. From our skin tone, hair color, to our
we can make sure that we look beautiful and nice, height, our physical features are an evidence that
that sometimes, we frown at our natural looks, our we are our parents' children. When heredity is
dark complexion perhaps, or even our short stature. actually at work, we find ourselves being the
mirrors of our parents, which was the result of their
The social pressure of looking perfect gave rise to DNAs (deoxyribonucleic acid) at work in us, and for
the many beauty products and enhancement some, even looking like carbon copies of them.
procedures, patronized by a large portion of our
population, no matter how expensive they might be, CULTURAL STANDARDS OF BEAUTY
just to fit in, to be accepted, and be beautiful. In the Defining beauty can be a very daunting task.
global society where fairer skin and a size zero for Suffice it to say that describing such would be very
women are deemed attractive if not stunning, we problematic since it is contextual to say the least.
can only expect ourselves to follow and abide by As culture decides the norms of the society, its
the mantra, "Beauty is Power", no matter how concept of what is beautiful is similarly invoked
destructive it might be for us. from a cultural perspective.

Our physical selves have become so dependent on Different cultures have different standards of
the judgment of our appearance, and not with the beauty. During the 19th century in the African
celebration of it. In this chapter, we will look at the country of Tahiti, it was recorded that some men
work of nature and nurture, and how it greatly and women were set aside in a special place for
influences the features of our physical selves, fattening purposes (Pollock, 1995). In addition, they
particularly how we look, and how standards of were covered in large amounts of tapa barkcloth,
beauty, both in local and global contexts have which, after the ritual is over, reveals a lighter skin
affected our self-acceptance. We will also look into for those who were selected. The goal of this ritual
the different cultural standards of beauty and how it is to enhance their beauty, not only by feeding them
has affected our self-concept, our self-esteem and but by making sure that they get a lighter skin
body image, and realize that beauty, in all shapes afterwards.
and sizes, is meant to be celebrated.
"Fattening Rooms" are used less these days but
WHY DO I LOOK LIKE MYSELF? are still relevant among well-off families (Brink,
Have you ever faced the mirror and asked yourself, 1995). This was also recorded in Nigeria during the
"Why do I look like me?" Science explains that our ancient times when being fat was viewed as a sign
parents are very much instrumental in of prosperity, fertility and beauty (The Fattening
understanding why we look how we look. Gregor Room, Nkugho, n.d.). These examples impeccably
Mendel first figured out how genes are passed depict how beauty is espoused distinctly in different
from parents to offspring in plants, including societies.
humans. His experiments on pea plants showed
that genes are passed Intact from generation to Lakoff and Scherr (1989), in their book Face Value:
generation and that traits are not blended. Mendel's The Politics of Beauty, explain this perfectly saying
discovery was that... beauty was not just a product of wealth, but a
commodity in and of itself. In other words, it was no
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longer a matter of looking to wealth to find beauty, afforded to good-looking people (Estrada, 2017).
but of looking to beauty to find status. Now, beauty As our society puts premium to Eurocentric centric
could give the illusion of wealth." standard of beauty, we victimize our own people for
looking otherwise. For Xander Ford, it was good
In the Philippines, the construction of local that he was sponsored by a cosmetic surgery clinic
standards of beauty can be traced from our colonial unlike many who shell out thousands if not millions
influences. Skin color signifies the value of the just to look physically appealing.
people in society. Lighter skinned individuals are
considered higher in terms of social status, and Xander Ford's cosmetic surgery perhaps can be
therefore, in the social rank compared to those with called a success. Yet, not all surgeries are deemed
brown or dark skin (Rondilla, 2012). Our concept of safe. Dr. Samuel Eric Yapjuanco, Xander's plastic
physical selves as Filipinos is largely associated Surgeon, conducted three procedures on
with our skin color. Historically, our people were businesswoman Shiryl Saturnino, March of last
colonized by fairer skinned races- the Spaniards, year, but the latter died in the process. Reports
the Americans, and the Japanese. from the Philippine National Crime Laboratory say
that Ms. Saturnino died of fat embolism- a condition
The colonization of our country by these where there was fat in the blood vessels which
white-skinned people lasted for more than three entered into the lungs of the victim, making it hard
centuries. We were forced to believe that they were for her to breathe (Sallan, 2017).
the more superior people, more civilized, and even
how they look were deemed as standard beauty- a Truth is, women have been evaluated based on
very Eurocentric perspective which has influenced their appearance more than men (Wade, 2017).
our concept of attractiveness even today. Free as They have been valued and devalued based on
we are claiming we are, still our mindset is still a how they look. It is for this reason that many of
slave to the white culture. Their whiteness has them fall prey to even unnecessary cosmetic
become a goal for most Filipinos that even our surgeries hinging from that desire of wanting to look
television and movie personalities here mirror their good, if not perfect.
looks.
Health concerns are foremost to
THE FILIPINO OBSESSION WITH BEAUTY: THE be considered before going through these kind of
CASE OF XANDER FORD surgeries. Yet, there are those who feel that there is
The Filipinos obsession with beauty translates not always a need for them to alter whichever part of
only with women, but also with men. Take the case their body, because they feel that they do not look
of Xander Ford, previously known as Marlou beautiful, even if you tell them that they already are.
Arizala, a former member of Hasht5- a teen boy This perspective seems to be the case not only for
band which became an online sensation not a lot of millennials but for those who are suffering
because of their attractiveness, nor talent, but from Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD.
because of the disgust and animosity they receive
for their 'ugly' faces. Those who are suffering from BDD are so
obsessed about their appearance, thus think about
Xander's decision to alter his physical appearance their flaws, real or not, incessantly and
was not without the pressure of the society to look uncontrollably (Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Quest
good, if not better. He was not spared from bullying for Perfection, 2012). Those who are diagnosed
since he became an internet sensation because by with this disorder are very much preoccupied by a
our standards, he simply is unattractive. perceived physical flaw that is either absent or so
trivial that only the one suffering from it sees it as a
His decision to go under the knife was because of a problem, being so much distressed about it, that
lookist culture which dictates that happiness is only daily routines are affected (Wilhelm, 2006).
UTS : CHAPTER 4
Those who are suffering from this disorder are so This is not the only suffering of those who have
self-anxious that they seek cosmetic surgeries to been criticized for their weight. Body Shaming,
finally solve their body issues. Dr. Yapchangco which is criticizing yourself or others because of
explains this obsession of millennials with plastic some aspect of physical appearance (Vargas,
surgery, in the case of millennials saying, "They 2014), has resulted in the loss of self-confidence of
want to be more pleasing, to be more beautiful. those who have been thin-shamed or fat-shamed.
They consider that having a beautiful face and body
is always an edge in most aspects of life, especially Body image disturbance (BID) is an important
in getting into their chosen career," (Sallan, 2017). aspect of several pathologies in psychology,
particulary eating disorders. it has two components:
A HEALTHY BODY IMAGE, AND SELF-ESTEEM The pereptual component which refers to how we
IN PERIL accurately perceive our body size, also known as
The quest for physical perfection has brought us to body size estimation, and the attitudinal component
an ordeal that will not end unless we get to the which refers we think and feel about the size and
bottom of the problem. Our society has not only /or shape of their body, which if not correctly
placed so much importance on looking beautiful, processed, will result to body dissatisfaction
but also has done a great job in commercializing (Greene, 2011).
the same. Even the Americans are in trouble for
wanting to be physically appealing, as seen in the Stice and Whitenton (2002), found out that body
statistics. dissatisfaction is also linked with mental disorders
including depression and anxiety among
Perhaps, at one point in our lives, we have been adolescents. This is very much alarming since
implicitly or explicitly criticized, or even ridiculed for statistics have shown how much of today's
how we look. Our standards have become so generation have fallen prey from body image
unbearable that our society mocks us for looking disturbance.
imperfect. This has caused many of us to lose
confidence in ourselves and break that one last MASKNE AND THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC
strand of self-esteem that we do have. When In an article written by Spigariolo et. al. (2022)
women in particular get called out for being heavy, entitled "Maskne: The Epidemic within the
if not obese, they are not called as such by people Pandemic: From Diagnosis to Therapy", published
to remind them to get healthy for their own good, in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, maskne found
but to just vilify their looks, and magnify their its way in the English dictionary because of the
imperfections.This, in turn, results to, not only Covid 19 pandemic and humanity's way to survive
having a strong desire for the bullied to get thin, but through it. In the study they conducted, the
with it also comes that fear of gaining weight, thus, prolonged wearing of masks has caused what is
restricting themselves from food intake. now known as maskne, particularly in the last two
years of the SARS-Cov-2 outbreak.
Anorexia is defined as "a serious mental illness
where people are of low weight due to limiting their While putting masks on is an effective way to
energy intake. It can affect anyone of any age, prevent contracting the virus, this has caused
gender, or background. As well as restricting the physical displeasures to those who had acne
amount of food eaten, they may do lots of exercise outbreaks for wearing one. Thus, in their study,
to get rid of food eaten. Some people with anorexia there had been an increasing request for
may experience cycles of bingeing (eating large consultations to remedy maskne before it got worst.
amounts of food at once) and then purging," This has added to the self's struggle to adjust with
(Anorexia, 2017). the after effects of the pandemic as it has brought
discomfort to individuals experiencing maskne. This
has become an additional struggle to an individual's
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self-esteem at a time when everyone has wrestled We are challenged at this time to speak up against
to keep his or her sanity in the midst of the body shaming particularly that we are living in an
pandemic. image-driven virtual society. Embracing our
physical selves entails affirming each other
THE FILTERED SELF regardless of our skin color, stature, and body mass
The advent of social media put pressure on us to index. There is a need to defend those who do not
look even better. On Instagram, the most famous fall under the idyllic image of thin and beautiful (Fat
photo-sharing application known to us to date, we Shaming and Body Shaming, n.d.) We should
post our most physically appealing self, and more never allow ourselves to be victims of this since we
often than not, we use filter applications, where we are supposed to celebrate the authentic us, where
can hide our imperfections, creating, and recreating we do not need to hide our physical flaws and to
a self that is better approved by our online friends. resist the demands of a deprecating image driven
Instagram, together with the many other photo society.
sharing applications, give us the freedom to alter
our looks, and present our physical selves, not just YOU ARE WHO YOU LOOK! EMBRACING YOUR
the way we want it, but the way our society PHYSICAL SELF
approves it. In a society that worships perfection, embracing our
physical selves is not going to be easy. Still and all,
Today's youngsters are sadly the happy victims of being positive about how we look can definitely
such since we live at a time when our self-approval work miracles. In the book of Psalms in the sacred
depends on the likes, shares, and comments of our Scriptures, we are deemed as the masterpiece of
social media posts. the Creator of the universe, carefully, precisely, and
worthily created (Psalm, 139:14, NIV). This idea of
When our filtered photos look better than the embracing one's value is also seen in sacred texts
unfiltered ones, and the virtual world agrees, we of other religious beliefs.
tend to keep everything that way. There is that
possibility, however, that the more we approve of The significance of self-acceptance is necessary in
the filtered us, the more that we disregard our real, embracing our physical selves. We need not fret if
unfiltered physical selves. the way we look do not live up to the standards set
by our society. We have to be reminded that our
CELEBRATING BEAUTY IN DIVERSITY health is foremost in all these. Remember that body
Cultural concepts of beauty should be celebrated. size, shape, skin color, and stature are never
However, practices that enhances attractiveness, correct indicators of a healthy life. There is nothing
yet, are severely harmful to our health, should be more important than to learn to accept and
stopped. In her book, Beauty and Misogyny: embrace who we are, with all its beauty, flaws and
Harmful Cultural Practices in the West, Shell effreys imperfections, because this is the only way that we
(2005) explained thatitis not enough to know that can live in peace and at peace with our selves.
there are a lot of beauty enhancement practices
that are detrimental to women's health. For her, UNIT SUMMARY
women should stand against the cultural It would be impossible to live a contented life if we
requirement on what they should do with their are not happy with our physical selves. We need to
bodies. Thus, a celebration of beauty in diversity be reminded that our looks are a testament that we
requires, as she calls it, a culture of resistance. are a by-product of our parents love for each other.
This is a culture that veers away from the dictates This is something that every time we look in the
of what women in society should look like to be mirror, we need to remind ourselves that we are full
called beautiful. of our parents' love, care and acceptance.
Nonetheless, as we embrace our looks, we need to
help others affirm their distinct
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beauty inclusive of its flaws, its scars, and all of its
imperfections. We need to be a part of a culture of
resistance in a society that dictates beauty in
physical perfection. As Amy Bloom puts it, and
something for us to ponder on.."You are imperfect,
permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are
beautiful."

#KEYWORDS
#Anorexia: It is defined as "a serious mental illness
where people are of low weight due to limiting their
energy intake. It can affect anyone of any age,
gender, or background. As well as restricting the
amount of food eaten, they may do lots of exercise
to get rid of food eaten. Some people with anorexia
may experience cycles of bingeing (eating large
amounts of food at once) and then purging."

#BodyDismorphicDisorder: Those who are suffering

from this disorder are very much preoccupied by a
perceived physical flaw that is either absent or so
trivial that only the one suffering from it sees it as a
problem, being so much distressed about it, that
daily routines are affected.

#BodyShaming: The act of criticizing yourself or

others because of some aspect of physical
appearance.

#Heredity: the procedure of passing of traits from

the parent to the offspring.