2023-12-22 18:15:16
How do women see themselves? The survey ‘Liking yourself and pleasure’ tries to answer this and other questions from the female universe. The relationship of women with their bodies’ conducted by Eurispes (Institute of political, economic and social studies), in collaboration with the Filocolo Association. Female beauty has become a social value, a constant ambition and a task to be fulfilled. The majority of women evaluate the relationship with their body positively (63.6%), but over a third of them rate it negatively (36.4%). Years have improved this relationship: 66% of the ‘over 65s’ have made peace with their body compared to 58.8% of the younger ones. The report, crossing individual, social and political aspects, takes stock of how the collective imagination has modified and shaped women’s perception of the self, so much so as to imprison them, in some cases, in ‘mental cages’ from which it is difficult to escape. The questionnaire – which involved, between June and July 2023, a sample of 1,048 women throughout the national territory, equally distributed by age group from 18 years old and above – also favored an intergenerational analysis of the data.
Regarding the appreciation of one’s external appearance – we read in the report – 57% of women like themselves, but 43% do not. Women in couples without children are more satisfied with their external appearance (63.1%) than those who live alone (53.7%) and single mothers with children (53.4%). Even if for a clear majority (74.5%) taking care of one’s external appearance is of some importance, one in 4 interviewees does not think so. After all, feeling beautiful is important in the relationship with oneself for 7 out of 10 women, it positively influences the mood and the way of relating to others, so much so that over half do not leave the house if they have not first taken care of their appearance and almost 4 in 10 confess to monitoring their image often through selfies, bathroom breaks, fleeting glances in a mirror or shop window.
Feeling beautiful is important first of all in relationships with others for almost half of the sample, it positively influences work performance (42.5%) and appearing more powerful (39.3%), but the impact is reduced with the passing of the years. In any case, the beauty treatments chosen by women are above all those aimed at counteracting weight gain (56.7%) and the effects of time with anti-aging (44%): 41% are distressed by the change in their body. Specifically, the majority would partially change their body and would like to be thinner, which is why they carry out physical activity (50.8%). About half (49.6%) believe that if she reached her ideal weight she would feel better about herself, and this would allow others to like her more (30%). Just under one in 10 women have experienced anorexia and bulimia. 22.9% have nervous hunger attacks.
Judgments about the body for 70% of women
Over the last year, 7 out of 10 women have received judgments on their body size, in particular appreciation for having lost weight (69.4%), encouragement to take better care of their external appearance (66.9%). Over two thirds – Eurispes records – also wore clothes favoring the way in which they highlighted their body and not their actual comfort and 54.3% gave up a social occasion due to dissatisfaction with their appearance ( 54.3%). There are quite a few women who report having been encouraged to resort to cosmetic surgery to ‘improve’ some physical characteristics: 43.8%. Furthermore, 63.8% feel envious towards women considered more beautiful and more than half feel inadequate compared to the female models proposed in films, TV series, on social media or in television programmes.
To take care of their beauty, one in 4 women – the survey continues – allocates over 100 euros a month. Over a third dedicate 10-30 minutes a day to taking care of their appearance: just under half dedicate over half an hour, while one in 5 more than an hour. A fifth, on the other hand, reserves less than 10 minutes. For the care of their appearance (cosmetics, hairdressing, hair removal, nails, etc.) a third of the sample spends on average between 10 and 50 euros per month, 29.5% between 51 and 100 euros. A quarter of women (25.3%) admit to having undergone cosmetic surgery (15.3% once, 6.6% twice, 3.4% three times or more).
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