Dieting, Women and the Search For Perfection

Women throughout the ages have had a tremendous interest in their physical appearance. The concept of beauty has been idolized in poetry like Keats and his "Ode on a Grecian Urn". Keats says, "Truth is beauty and beauty is truth." Women from all cultures and throughout the centuries would be inclined to believe him.

Both men and women look at beauty as synonymous with truth and purity and everything that is good in humanity. Ugliness is equated with distortions and evil and witchery and all that is bad in humanity. At least, that is the perception in some Western cultures. In ancient Greece, a witch named Circe who turned men into swine and ate them was supposedly quite beautiful. 

We are sent a batch of mixed signals, we meaning men and women. But the one signal that we all get loud and clear is that throughout the years a beautiful body equals success in life. Because of this keen desire to succeed in life, to be one that manipulates others rather than to be manipulated, to be able to control other people with an intimidating perfect body, that women spend much of their time and energy on dieting. 

Dieting, really, is easy in planning a path to physical perfection. Trying to change one's way of thinking, one's lifestyle, one's work environment to create an environment that would reduce one's stress would be too hard. It would mean that we would have to take an active part in other people's lives and how they make our lives miserable or pleasant. It is much easier to diet and to blame ourselves for not finding the right diet to give us the perfect body. 

Women who search for perfection are deeply influenced by other people. They are highly sociable and they want to be seen as caring about how their presence affects others. Nothing will ever change that pleasure principle inherent in human nature. For these women, Keats's words, "That is all ye know on Earth and all ye need to know," is their guiding light. It is that inherent need to impress others with our physical beauty that the cosmetic industry is a billion dollar business and that the programs promising a new diet are all very popular