Paulin's 'Cruelty, Civility, And Other Weighty Matters'

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As I flipped through the latest “Seventeen” magazine, my eyes centralized solely on the teenage models dressed in tight fitting clothes with the headline saying, “How to Look Hot”. I carefully read the tips on diets and fitness routines that could help me lose weight. My goal was to look as skinny as those girls in the magazine. If I didn’t look like them, I wouldn’t be attractive. I mentally prompted myself to stay clear of carbs and to only eat three meals a day with only snacks with less than hundred calories in between. I glanced at my scale in the corner of my room that I stole from my parents reminding myself that I recently gained two pounds in the last twelve hours; I weighed myself every day. My mind was interrupted as my mom asked …show more content…
Paulin argues how society is superficial by thinking appearance is what dictates a person when it should not. She correctly states obesity is depicted as a sin and disgusting, while thinness is promoted as the most important goal in a woman’s life. With constant advertisements exhibiting women promoting a slimming product, being thin is “the happiest thing that has ever happened to them” (Mauk). “The consumer is the center of the universe, and being thin is the only way to ensure the universe remains a fun place to live,” (Mauk). Not only is thinness being described as the only goal in a women’s life revolting, but it also is lethal. Promoting skinniness perpetually is devising low self-esteem in young girls resulting in eating disorders. Paulin rightfully ends her essay stating that skinny should not be everything, but she does not intricately extend her argument following the dangers of the conflicting mindset that skinny is everything. The veneration of skinniness and confounding of obesity shape our society significantly. Society construes skinniness as being the only important goal; that it gives others the “ideal” life if pursued. This “important” goal is extremely harmful to young girls and women often resulting in physical and mental

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