By Maggie Moran, MSW, LCSW
My body image is terrible. At times I’ll even skip events because I don’t like how I look. What causes poor body image?
You’re not alone. As a therapist specializing in eating disorders, I see the devastating impact of poor body image daily. Unfortunately, poor body image isn’t exclusive to those with eating disorders. In fact, most women and some men experience negative body image at some point in their lives.
What is body image? Body image is the picture of your body you hold in your mind. It is the complex result of a myriad of factors including family attitudes, cultural views, friends, peers and colleagues’ attitudes, and messages and standards set by the media. At its most severe, body dysmorphia develops, causing a distorted perception in which one truly sees themselves as if through a fun house mirror. Many people with a negative body image are convinced that only other people are attractive and their body is a symbol of personal failure. They may feel awkward and uncomfortable, or ashamed, self-conscious and anxious about their body. The extent negative body image impacts your life is significant. In other words, there’s a difference between being unsatisfied with your looks one morning but getting on with your day anyway, and canceling outings such as the beach to avoid being in your bathing suit in public.
So what can one do about negative body image? Here are some tips:
Recognize You Are More Than Your Body: I have found that those who see themselves as having many identities (for example, good student, artist and loyal friend) are less likely to crumble when their body image is low. Those whose identities are built exclusively around appearance are more likely to have poor body image and suffer significantly as a result. For many with eating disorders, their world has narrowed so much that their mood and well-being depends on one thing, the number on the scale that day. Recognizing all the unique and beautiful aspects of what makes you you is a protective factor.
Understand That Negative Feelings About One’s Self is What Underlies Negative Body Image: When a person looks in the mirror and says, “I’m gross” what she’s really saying is “There’s something wrong with me or what I’m feeling.” Obsession with body type can be an avoidance from more authentic issues that should be addressed. Learn to discover — or seek help in discovering — what’s going on under the surface. Focusing exclusively on your body is only distracting you from what is truly bothering you.
Get Mad at Media: Study after study shows that a girl’s or woman’s body image drops significantly after viewing the computer enhanced and airbrushed images we see in magazines and media. And we are bombarded with them. These are money-making advertisements designed to prey on our insecurities so we’ll spend money on the next diet or beauty aid. And it’s generally men who are benefiting. Refuse to be manipulated.
Understand the Subjective Nature of Body Ideals Throughout the Years: With negative body image, people are generally comparing themselves to some current beauty ideal that they feel they are falling short of. What’s fascinating is that the beauty ideal is a very subjective moving target. In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, a full figure was desirable and represented wealth because they had an abundance to eat. Impoverished servants were thin making that body type less desirable at the time. Consider Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s. Coming off the wartime years when food was no longer rationed, women with full breasts and hips were seen as healthy and desirable. Marilyn Monroe’s size 14 would be seen as overweight by today’s standards. Most recently, experts are finding that Kim Kardashian’s “Slim-Thick” body ideal is a huge contributor to women’s body dissatisfaction. Slim-thick refers to large breasts, butt and thighs while simultaneously maintaining a small waist and flat stomach. The current ideal necessitates not just spare time and resources for a robust exercise regime but plastic surgery to sculpt the body into something that is highly unnatural for 99 percent of women.
We need to take accountability for what we choose to consume. Pay attention to how certain social media accounts, magazines, etc. make you feel. If it’s robbing joy as opposed to enhancing your well being, avoid it. Focus on health, not size. And stop comparing, particularly to some unrealistic photoshopped ideal. Change starts with you. If you feel you need additional help, I encourage you to reach out to a professional. Samaritan Center is always available.