Body image
Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in several disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, philosophy, cultural and feminist studies; the media also often uses the term. Across these disciplines, there is no single consensus definition, but broadly speaking, body image consists of the ways people view themselves; their memories, experiences, assumptions, and comparisons about their appearances; and their overall attitudes towards their respective appearances all of which are shaped by prevalent social and cultural ideals.
Body image can be negative and diminishing, positive or neutral in character. A person with a negative body image may feel self-conscious or ashamed and may feel that others are more attractive. In a time when social media use is pervasive, people of different ages are affected emotionally and mentally by the appearance ideals set by the society they live in. These standards can contribute in part to body shaming – the act of humiliating an individual by mocking or making critical comments about a person's physiological appearance.
Often, people who have a low body image will try to alter their bodies in some way, such as by dieting or by undergoing cosmetic surgery. Such behavior creates body dissatisfaction and higher risks of eating disorders, isolation, and mental illnesses in the long term. In eating disorders, a negative body image may also lead to body image disturbance, an altered perception of the whole one's body. Body dissatisfaction also characterizes body dysmorphic disorder, an obsessive-compulsive disorder defined by concerns about some specific aspect of one's body, which is severely flawed and warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix. On the other hand, positive body image consists of perceiving one's appearance neutrally or positively, celebrating and appreciating one's body including its functionality, and understanding that one's appearance does not reflect one's character or worth.
Many factors contribute to a person's body image, including family dynamics, mental illness, biological predispositions and environmental causes for obesity or malnutrition, and cultural expectations. People who are either underweight or overweight can have poor body image.
A 2007 report by the American Psychological Association found that a culture-wide sexualization of girls and women was contributing to increased female anxiety associated with body image. An Australian government Senate Standing Committee report on the sexualization of children in the media reported similar findings associated with body image. However, other scholars have expressed concern that these claims are not based on solid data.
History
The phrase 'body-image' was first coined by Austrian neurologist Paul Schilder in his book The Image and Appearance of the Human Body.Specific ideals of appearance have always existed. This is well demonstrated by statues in Classical Antiquity that idealized slim and young female bodies and athletic male bodies.
Appearance ideals have also fluctuated according to sociocultural values. In many cultures, any appearance feature that implied social status or wealth was ideal. Because of the historical link of wealth to food, those with full-figured frames were seen as rich or powerful particularly before the 20th Century. In the Han dynasty, features such as clear skin and dark hair were highly prized, as it was thought that damaging the skin and hair your ancestors gave you was disrespectful.
Ancient Egyptians, Buddhists and Christian monks have also associated bald heads with holiness and cleanliness.
Today, advancements in communication technology and expansions of the fashion, beauty and cosmetic industries have resulted in unprecedented levels of appearance pressures and body image concerns. Social media in particular has reshaped the "perfect body", and presents inconsistent and unrealistic ideals for our bodies including hair, body type, genital appearance, skin tone among other features.
Demographics
Women
"Social currency for girls and women continues to be rooted in physical appearance". Women "all over the world are evaluated and oppressed by their appearances", including their ages, skin tones, or sizes.Many advertisements promote insecurities in their audiences in order to sell them solutions, and so may present retouched images, sexual objectification, and explicit messages that promote "unrealistic images of beauty" and undermine body image, particularly in female audiences.
Body dissatisfaction creates negative attitudes, a damaging mentality, and negative habits in young women. The emphasis on an ideal female body shape and size is psychologically detrimental to young women, who may resort to grooming, dieting, and surgery in order to be happy. "The prevalence of eating disorder development among college females is especially high, with rates up to 24% among college students." Body dissatisfaction in girls is associated with increased rate of smoking and a decrease in comfort with sexuality when they're older, which may lead them to consider cosmetic surgery. The pressure on women and girls "to cope with the effects of culturally induced body insecurity" is 'severe'. Many reported that "their lives would be better if they were not judged by their looks and body shape, this is leading to low self-esteem, eating disorders, mental health problems and depression."
Women who compare themselves to images in the media believe they are more overweight than they actually are. One reason for this is because "idealised media images are routinely subjected to computer manipulation techniques, such as airbrushing. The resulting images present an unobtainable 'aesthetic perfection' that has no basis in biological reality."
Global eating disorder rates such as anorexia and bulimia are gradually rising in adolescent girls. The National Eating Disorders Association, reported that 95% of individuals who suffer from an eating disorder are aged 12 to 26, and anorexia is the third-most-common illness among teenagers. Teenage girls are most prone "to internalize negative messages and obsess about weight loss to obtain a thin appearance". "Cultural messages about beauty are often implicitly conveyed through media representations of women."
However, other researchers have contested the claims of the media effects paradigm. An article by Christopher Ferguson, Benjamin Winegard, and Bo Winegard, for example, argues that peer effects are much more likely to cause body dissatisfaction than media effects, and that media effects have been overemphasized. It also argues that one must be careful about making the leap from arguing that certain environmental conditions might cause body dissatisfaction to the claim that those conditions can cause diagnosable eating disorders.
When female undergraduates were exposed to depictions of thin women their body satisfaction decreased; when they were exposed to larger models, it rose. Many women engage in "fat talk", a behavior that has been associated with weight dissatisfaction, body surveillance, and body shame. Women who overhear others using fat talk may also experience an increase in body dissatisfaction and guilt.
Monteath and McCabe found that 44% of women express negative feelings about both individual body parts and their bodies as a whole. 37.7% of young American males and 51% of young American females express dissatisfaction with their bodies.
In America, the dieting industry earns roughly 40 billion dollars per year. A Harvard study published in 2000 revealed that 86% of teenage girls are on a diet or believe they should be on one. Dieting has become common even among very young children: 51% of 9- and 10-year-old girls feel better about themselves when they are on diets.
According to a study by Dove, only 4% of women thought they were beautiful, while approximately 70% of women and girls in the UK believed the media's portrayal of impractical beauty standards fueled their appearance anxieties. As a result, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that, 91% of women were mostly unhappy with their bodies, while 40% will consider cosmetic surgery to fix their flaws.
Men
Similarly, media depictions idealizing a muscular physique have led to body dissatisfaction among young men. As many as 45% of teenage boys may suffer from body dysmorphic disorder, a mental illness whereby an individual compulsively focuses on self-perceived bodily flaws. Men may also suffer from muscle dysmorphia and may incessantly pursue muscularity without ever becoming fully satisfied with their physiques.Research shows that the greatest impact on men's criticism of their bodies comes from their male peers, including likeminded individuals or potentially people they admire who are around the same age, as opposed to romantic partners, female peers, or male relatives like fathers or brothers. 18% of adolescent males were most worried about their weights and physiques ; 29% frequently thought about their appearances.; 50% had recently complained about the way they looked. 25% of males report having been teased about their weight, while 33% specify social media as the source for self-consciousness. Following celebrities on social media sites makes it possible to interact personally with celebrities, which has been shown to influence male body image. A number of respondents also admitted to being affected by negative body talk from others. 53% of boys cited advertisements as a "major source of pressure to look good; social media and friends exerted more influence, while celebrities were slightly less persuasive". 22% of adolescent boys thought that the ideals depicted by the media were aspirational, while 33% called them healthy.
The ideal male body is perceived to feature a narrow waist and hips, broad shoulders, a well-developed upper body, toned "six-pack" abs. The figure may be traced back to an idealized male doll, G.I. Joe. The "bulked-up action heroes, along with the brawny characters in many video games, present an anatomically impossible ideal for boys, much as Barbie promotes proportions that are physically impossible for girls." Action dolls have been found to gain more muscularity and lose body fat with successive editions. Boys who are exposed to depictions of muscular warriors who solve problems with their fists may internalize the lesson that aggression and muscles are essential to masculinity.
Some studies have reported a higher incidence of body dissatisfaction among Korean boys and girls than among boys and girls living in the United States, while noting that these studies fail to control for the slimmer and smaller size of Koreans as compared with Westerners. A cross-cultural analysis of the United States and South Korea focusing on social media found that between South Korean men and American men, Korean men are more concerned with their body image in relation to their social media use.
Teenage boys may participate in extreme workouts and weight training, and may abuse supplements and steroids to further increase muscle mass. In 2016, 10.5% acknowledged the use of muscle-enhancing substances, while 5 to 6% of respondents admitted to the use of steroids. Although dieting is often overlooked, a significant increase in eating disorders is present among men. Currently, males account for 1 in 4 of those suffering from eating disorders, while 31% have admitted to purging or binge eating in the past.
Men often desire up to 26 pounds of additional muscle mass. Men who endorse traditional masculine ideas are more likely to desire additional muscle. The connection between masculinity and muscle can be traced to classical antiquity.
Men with lower, more feminine waist–hip ratios feel less comfortable and self-report lower body esteem and self-efficacy than men with higher, more masculine, WHRs.