The image and the perception of smoking women have changed dramatically over the years. How does this habit affect women’s health and why do they smoke?
You have heard this countless times: smoking is bad for you. Of course, we all know that smoking is bad for our lungs and heart, but how does it affect the woman’s body? Are smoking women more attractive, or less attractive?
Many people smoke, and this habit is spread not only among males. A woman with a cigarette is a topic that is much discussed in our society. People have a negative view of women who smoke, especially pregnant women. But what can society do to help them quit? And most importantly, why do women smoke?
Despite its obvious dangers, people don’t give up smoking easily, which harms not only themselves but also those around them, especially young children. This nasty habit can affect your appearance as well. It can yellow your teeth and give you bad breath.
Women may begin smoking because they believe it looks stylish, but nicotine’s addictive hold soon turns it into a nasty, unappealing habit. How exactly does smoking affect the body?
How smoking affects the body
1. Brain
If you smoke, you almost double the risk of getting a stroke. Toxins in cigarettes contribute to the expansion of blood vessels, which ultimately leads to poorer blood circulation to the brain.
There is another type of disease which is usually fatal and is more likely to affect only women. Hemorrhagic strokes, where the walls of blood vessels weaken and eventually tear, affect smoking women 4-5 times more often than those who do not smoke.
2. Eyes
A smoker is 2.4 times more likely to develop blindness, for which there is no treatment.
In people over 65 years of age, smoking is often the cause of visual impairment. Scientists believe that this is because the chemicals in cigarette smoke affect negatively the molecules in the retina of the eyes.
Unfortunately, even after quitting smoking, a person does not protect themselves from the risk of a severe deterioration of their eyesight. Another danger associated with the eyes is the occurrence of cataracts. Smoking women have a 60% increased risk.
3. Lungs
Lung cancer is a disease that affects people all over the world and, unfortunately, leads to death in most cases.
The risk of dying from cancer among the women who smoke more than one pack of cigarettes a day is 20 times higher than that of non-smoking women. Cancer formations in the throat and even the esophagus are also most common among smokers.
4. Breast
Smoking causes a number of diseases and is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in younger, premenopausal women.
Skin
A smoker’s skin can become dull and take on a pale, grayish hue. Wrinkles will appear sooner and faster. The appearance of wrinkles is progressing. Collagen fibers are broken, and the skin will no longer be the same elastic-like before the woman started smoking.
The skin of smokers heals from cuts and abrasions three times longer than that of non-smokers, and therefore, for example, after surgery, the healing process of scars becomes much more difficult.
When did women start to smoke?
Edward Bernays was one of the important people involved in the popularizing of smoking. In the 1920s, he worked for the American Tobacco Company, promoting cigarettes Lucky Strike for women. In their advertising, smoking was promoted as a habit that helped women lose weight – slenderness became very popular in those years.
Everything went well and the cigarette sales grew. But society still condemned smoking women, who preferred to smoke away from the public view.
In 1929, with the help of his assistant and a few models, Bernays arranged for the performance in the Easter parade in New York. At the right time, when there were journalists and photographers nearby, specially trained girls lit up a cigarette, provoking a public shock.
Then they gave the necessary comments to the press, and the next day the newspapers came out with articles explaining that the cigarette was a “torch of freedom,” a symbol of the movement for women’s freedom and gender equality. And it worked – women began to smoke publicly as if opposing themselves to the power of men.
The image of smoking women today
Although in the beginning smoking was a way for women to break with tradition and become more modern, the reality has dissolved the illusion of cigarettes being stylish and fashionable. First of all, a smoking woman is no longer perceived as more classy and modern. And most importantly, nicotine’s addictive hold and the adverse effects of smoking make this habit detrimental to women’s health.