Women often measure their worth through beauty standards, leading to pressures that can feel like a matter of life and death. The concept of giving up can evoke negative connotations tied to self-worth and societal acceptance. Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips suggests that giving up dieting can be unconsciously equated to a resignation from life itself. Beauty for women and gender non-conforming individuals is often viewed as essential to survival, impacting economic and social opportunities. This cultural narrative makes acceptance of one's true appearance feel like a significant and difficult shift.
One reason talk of giving up leaves a bad taste in the mouth, writes psychoanalyst Adam Phillips in his book On Giving Up, is that it is felt to be an ominous foreshadowing of, or reminder of the ultimate giving up that is suicide.
We often think of beauty as a declaration of self, a means of survival, a signifier of societal worth. It increases our economic and social potential.
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