Body Image Dissatisfaction: The origins of and steps toward a healthy ideal
If you are like 63% of women and 40% of men you have experienced dissatisfaction with your body image that affects how you feel about yourself. Sadly, the body ideals that we internalize are not always realistic or healthy. This produces a level of dissatisfaction that is disheartening and unnecessary. Understanding the origins of unhealthy ideals can support steps toward a healthy and satisfying body image.
History of Body Ideals
The history of the ideal body type has varied for men and women across the scope of time. About three-hundred years ago it was prestigious to be overweight and obese because it symbolized the privileged few who could afford a surplus of food. Through the 21st century, a shift toward a young, slender body type for women evolved with a corresponding spike in eating disorders. Among men, a lean-muscular ideal and an associated use of steroids grew as well. Thus, body image disturbances are no longer a women’s only issue, prevalence among men is also on the rise.
From where is the source of our societal body ideals?
1. Mass Media
The current social standards that are glamorized on the front of magazines, as the heros in movies, and in Miss America contests are unhealthily thin for women and unrealistically muscular for most men.
For example, research has demonstrated that Miss America contestants from 1979 to 1988 weighed 13% to 19% below expected weights for women their height. Based on that body weight, the majority of these pageant participants meet the criteria for anorexia nervosa (DSM-IV, APA, 1994).
Research on Playgirl Centerfolds (i.e. nude male models) showed a positive correlation between body mass index, fat free mass, and the year of publication. Specifically, over 25 years, these male models have lost 12 pounds of fat and gained 27 pounds of muscle. These body types romanticized by the mass media create pressure on males to live up to this high, often unrealistic, and sometimes unhealthy standard.
A rail thin body type is not a clinical marker of health but rather an unrealistic, unhealthy, status symbol crafted by the mass media. The intent of the media message is not malice, but rather an attempt to create eye-catching, unique body types that sell their products. None-the-less, these ideals impose an implicit message that excessively lean body types are the gold standard.
2. Gender Socialization
Influences on males and females come at an early age by way of gender related role models, cartoon characters, and toys. In the last 40 years, girl- and boy-targeted dolls like Barbie and action heroes like Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo have developed a more extreme shape.
If you extrapolate the body proportions of Barbie, her body weight is significantly lower than that of women with anorexia. In fact, Barbie’s body fat is so low that a women her size would be amenorrheic, which is the absence of menstruation. When a woman’s body fat is unhealthily low, the body shuts down the reproductive system in efforts to survive by conserving energy for vital functions like keeping one’s heart beating and digesting food.
Likewise, the male ideal physique has literally grown two-fold per the upper body. For example, Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo transformed from a couple of regular guys in the 70’s (figures on left) to super-hero like bodies in the 90’s (figures on right).
I often hear a response from people that, “oh- playing with Barbie’s and action hero’s didn’t have an affect me. I don’t feel my body has to look like those dolls just because I played with them.”
Interestingly, implicit attitudes develop without conscious awareness. In fact, decades of research shows that children do absorb messages about body image and identity from toys and play. One study found that girls exposed to Barbie reported lower body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body shape than those who had been given dolls reflecting larger body types or no dolls at all.
Furthermore, children as young as 7-11 years old have negative attitudes towards people who are overweight (this is called an anti-fat-bias), 50% of 6-8 year old girls want to be thinner and begin dieting as early as 9 years of age. For boy’s, the muscular ideal develops between 6 and 7 years of age and increases each subsequent year in childhood.
3. Negative Commentary and Teasing
Another developmental factor is the role that teasing or negative verbal commentary plays in the formation of body image. For example, family members who playfully call their child their “little chubby tubby” underestimate the long-term damage they instill within their child’s inner dialogue and body image. Research shows that teasing comments (regardless of intent) and commentary on food intake is significantly related to body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and self-esteem. Experts agree that teasing during childhood has lasting effects.
Does this mean we are all destined to a life time of body image dissatisfaction via mass media, socialization, and rude commentary? No.
So, how do we promote a positive body image and healthy body ideal?
The classic, yet, ineffective answer is to lose weight. However, research shows that body image dissatisfaction preoccupies even people who are at a healthy weight and who are underweight. Furthermore, even when people lose weight, their body dissatisfaction often continues.
Therefore, the following strategies have been shown to be effective in promoting a healthy body ideal and increasing body image satisfaction:
• Reduce Unhealthy Media Sources.
If you are regularly exposed to TV, movies, and magazines that depict the thin female and herculean male standard—stop buying the magazines and turn off the TV! Furthermore, consider that these models spend many hours with professional hair and makeup artists for a single photograph. They also have the means to employ a rigidly controlled diet and exercise regimen. In addition, with our modern technology, these photos are often digitally edited.
• Bust the Food Police.
Teasing comments about your body shape or size and unsolicited commentary on food intake are a complete violation of healthy boundaries between two adults. If you have a friend or family member that polices your dinner plate or tells you that it’s time to go to the gym, it’s time to give them a serving of their own and tell them where they can stick their advice!
• Choose Confident Friends.
If you are a person who is at risk for body image disturbances and eating disorders (e.g. you tend to be a perfectionist, neurotic, narcissistic, and/or conformist), spending time with others who obsess over their body image will likely make your body image dissatisfaction worse. Consider limiting the time that you spend with people who fixate on topics related to dieting and weight loss.
• Focus More on Lifestyle, and Less on Image.
Thinness is not a synonym for health. There are thin people who have high blood pressure, a low cardiac output, a poor blood lipid profile, and are overall unhealthy. Don’t make the mistake of equating thinness with health. Instead, focus on meeting the physical activity guidelines and eating a diet that is balanced and nutritious. Research shows that even if you are overweight, if you live a physically active lifestyle, you likely have a healthy cardiovascular profile.
Finally, my hope is to promote a movement (pun intended! 🙂 ) in which we focus less on how we look and more on how we are. Let’s turn off the TV and get moving- not to fit in our jeans from high school, but in order to feel our bodies come alive, promote a healthy cardiovascular profile, and get living.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
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Reference:
Thompson, K. J. Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Obesity. American Psychological Association. Washington, DC.
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