sex and cellulite
Does poor body image affect an individual’s sex life?
Self-image is complicated. It can be reality and it can be fantasy. For a particular individual there is the image that others see; there is the image of the individual believe others see; and then there is the image that the individual sees of himself. Certainly there are extremes. While anorexia is a disease or clinical problem, a really skinny person will look in the mirror and see a fat person looking back. We’ll be talking about the non-extreme person with common, everyday image issues and how those issues can affect intimacy and even love life.
There is another subset of people with a poor body image. Those are the ones who had negative reinforcement when they were teenagers. Our brains are wonderful computers. Those of us who study Neurolinguistic Programming will tell us that positive affirmations can change our lives. By saying positive mantras over and over again, our brain begins to believe what we are telling it. This works, but requires work.
On the other hand, if someone were to tell a preteen in puberty that she is fat or that her thighs are huge, the more she is told this, the more she will believe it. Even if it wasn’t true and was said out of pettiness or spite. No matter how much weight the girl lost, she would always feel overweight and she would believe that her thighs were fat. Reversing this belief also requires a great deal of mental work.
According to Brown University Health Education, “Body image is a widespread concern. In a study of college students, 74.4% of normal-weight women said they thought about their weight or appearance “all the time” or “frequently.” The women weren’t alone; the study also found that 46% of normal-weight men surveyed responded the same way.
The encouragement to focus on appearance is at an all-time high in this culture, and with it comes the potential for a significant increase in negative body image. According to the authors of The Adonis Complex, “there is often a vicious cycle here: the more a person focuses on her body, the worse they tend to feel about her appearance: obsession breeds discontent.”
People with a negative body image tend to feel that their size or shape is a sign of personal failure and is a very important indicator of worth. Poor body image has been linked to decreased mental performance, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, dieting, and eating disorders.
According to an article from Harvard University, “‘The brain is the most important sexual organ in the body.’ This oft-repeated phrase has more than a little truth: while the initial prerequisites for sexual activity are physiological (functional sexual organs , adequate hormone levels, and the absence of health conditions that interfere with the body’s ability to respond to erotic cues), these elements do not “guarantee sexual satisfaction. Stress, anxiety, self-esteem issues, negative past experiences, lifestyle demands, loss of loved ones, and relationship conflict can weigh heavily. During midlife and beyond, these factors, combined with naturally occurring physical changes, can make you vulnerable to sexual problems.”
Almost every woman in the United States compares herself to the women who appear in television commercials and believes that this is how they are supposed to look. This is the norm. In fact, it is as far from the truth as possible. Many do not realize that the most expensive cosmetic companies use 15-year-old girls as models for their skin creams. What 30-year-old woman wouldn’t want to have the same supple, smooth skin that she had when she was 15?
Do you think that magazine models are all sugar and spice and everything is perfect and ideal? Think again. (Remember when your mom always said you had another idea on the way?) Because of all the media hype lately, most women know that fashion magazines use the airbrush liberally. Even witty posts like Playboy Airbrushed photos of all your models and playmates.
Every generation has had an image of the perfect body. There were the pin-up girls during World War II. Although many soldiers kept the girls inside their lockers, they would not have traded her for wife and family back home. God only knows how many kids had Farrah Fawcet posters on the back of their bedroom doors. This is not reality.
Women with poor body image may be sacrificing the opportunity not only to have a great sex life but also to share intimacy with a potential life partner. A woman who is ashamed of her body will always want the room to be dark during sex. She will seem unadventurous when making love because she is afraid that her partner will be put off by cellulite or sagging skin. She will wear dowdy and unsexy clothing because she believes that she is hiding her flaws. Sexy teddies, thongs and bustiers should only be sold to those with a perfect body. That long flannel dress is sure to turn on her man.
While there is no such thing as a perfect body, women with a poor body image that gets in the way of their sexual pleasure and satisfaction have options. Today there are totally non-surgical methods to get rid of cellulite, orange skin and to sculpt a body more to a woman’s internal image of her perfect self. Some cosmetic surgeons require that the patient go through psychological counseling before any procedure. This is to ensure that the patient is not expecting a miracle in her life. If she is poor, she will remain poor. If her husband has left her for a younger woman, she will still be gone. Going under the knife is a risky business.
Non-surgical treatments are just as permanent as liposuction and other procedures, but there is no risk that general anesthesia can cause. The old adage ‘no pain, no gain’ is no longer true. A woman can have her thighs sculpted to remove fat deposits without an invasive procedure. Bumpy buttocks are a thing of the past. With Young You International’s Endermologie Machine, both men and women are discovering easy, non-surgical ways to sculpt those areas they think are getting in the way of their positive body image, as well as learning about supplements and tips to help them shed unwanted pounds. . More information on these leading high-tech procedures can be found at http://youngyouint.com.
While we all agree that there is no such thing as the perfect body, we do agree that having a small, uplifting event can give a woman a huge lift in her spirit and encourage her to be more open and sensual with her man. With just a little work in the area that concerns her the most, she can invest in teddies, thongs and bras. She can turn her flannel dresses into dust rags.