ABSTRACT
An inevitable question arises from the discussion of shame in the previous chapter and the participant accounts already presented: in what circumstances do women evaluate their appearance? Evaluation is, at its most basic, an assessment process undertaken to establish and attribute value. Lewis (1971) and Morrison (1989, 1998) denote the failure to live up to a desired ideal or ideal self as implicated in the manifestation of shame. There appears to be some agreement (see also Nathanson 1987, Wurmser 1981) that these processes occur when the self measures itself against an ideal version of itself and concludes that it is inferior. This study found that failure of this type was frequently affirmed through the mode of comparison with a significant other. Lewis (1971:40) writes, ‘shame involves a failure by comparison with an internalized ego-ideal’, but the actual role of comparison in self-evaluation is something she only touches upon. In this study the theme of comparison emerged as an important medium through which participants established a sense of worthiness or otherwise relating to their appearance. Schilder (1935) contends that the attitudes of those who are interested in our bodies unequivocally influence the formation of body image, and the perception amongst participants that significant others disapproved of or devalued their appearance appeared to impact body image construction in complex ways. Many participants described their poor body image as emerging in childhood. For some, interpreting their appearance as inferior was something a parent had encouraged them to do. For others, negative self-evaluation occurred when they compared their appearance with that of another person who played a significant role in their lives, and here sisters were the group most frequently nominated. Perceptions of fatness, plainness or unusual height commonly entered a nascent self-consciousness in childhood or adolescent years, their painful origins identified as an outcome of appearance consistently being assessed as inferior, either overtly or by implication, by one or more significant others. Themes of comparison, criticism of appearance and, to a lesser degree, being drawn into a competition around appearances instigated by a significant other were important characteristics of the measuring-up processes which participants spoke of undertaking, and which inadvertently affirmed that their appearances were inferior.
