Self-Presentation. Self-Awareness. Self - Consciousness.
Stephanie Naumoska is a beauty contestant vying for the top spot to be crowned in Australia’s Miss Universe Pageant. Like the other 31 contestants, her beauty cannot be denied, but at 5 feet, 11 inches, and 108 pounds, there has been much criticism over her petite and “too skinny” frame. While Naumoska is insistent on leading a healthy and active lifestyle, images of the 19-year-old’s protruding rib cage and hip bones have drawn much scrutiny. With a body mass index of 15.1, which is well under 18.5--the benchmark for being underweight, critics still suspect that an eating disorder is to blame.
According to her BMI, it is without a doubt that Naumoska is significantly underweight. This can result from the importance of self-awareness in her life. Because Naumoska is in the media’s eye, her public self-consciousness is increased, which is defined as how others perceive you. Although it cannot be inferred for sure whether Naumoska is naturally built to be this skinny or whether she actually is suffering from an eating disorder, it does bring to light the social psychological ideas of self-awareness and public self-consciousness.
For Naumoska, her slender frame strikes up debate over the possibility of her own eating disorder. In trying to meet the standards of a pageant contestant, she may feel less positive about herself and become more likely to develop a disorder. When people fall short of their standards, the negative feelings lead them to react by changing or escaping (Becker et al., 2002; Harrison, 2000, 2001, 2003; Lavine et al., 1999; Tiggermann & Pickering, 1996).
Oftentimes, high self-awareness can lead to destructive behavior when people are aware of themselves in a bad or upsetting aspect. For many women, binge eating is a way to escape self-awareness. These women tend to hold high standards and expectations for the self and are troubled when they fail to meet them or experience a setback in doing so. As they try to lose weight, binge eaters will occasionally engage in fits of consuming massive amounts of food at once. Eating provides a distraction from thoughts about the self, which make them miserable. Eating helps them turn off these negative emotions for the time being. During eating, awareness is lost so they often are unable to keep track of the food consumed.
Naumoska may be the healthy woman she defends herself to be, but in her highly pressurized lifestyle, she could also be suffering from an eating disorder. Social psychological effects in self-awareness and public self-consciousness are capable of explaining why this eating disorder can occur. It sheds light as to why so many women in the public eye have suffered from excessive weight loss or weight gain in order to meet the standards of beauty.
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