Body Image

Body Image

A quick question to think about before you start reading: Do you find yourself regularly criticizing your body appearance?

RESEARCH:

As stated by the National Eating Disorders, body image is how one see themselves when looking in the mirror or how one picture themselves in their minds. This encircles around the assumptions and generalization of one’s appearance that include how one feel about their body based on their height, shape, and weight. There are two type of body images: 1) Negative Body Image and 2) Positive Body Image.

Negative Body Image:
People who have a negative image of themselves feel ashamed, self-conscious, and anxious about their body. They are convinced that other people are attractive as compared to their own body size or shape to be a failure. They usually see their shape or body parts unlike how it really is. These people are the one who feel uncomfortable and awkward in their body.

Positive Body Image:

People who have a positive image of themselves feel proud and accepting of their body. They are the one who doesn’t want to spend their time worrying about what they eat, how much they weigh, and how many calories they consume. Rather, they celebrate and appreciate how they look in their natural shape. For this, they usually see their shape or body parts like how it really is. These people are the one who feel comfortable and confident in their body.

Outcome:

According to the National Eating Disorders, people who have a negative body image have a higher rate of developing an eating disorder. In addition, they are most likely the people who suffer from low self-esteem, depression, isolation, and weight loss obsession.

Listed by the Eating Disorder Hope, these are signs that show when someone is affected by negative body image:

• Constantly looking at the mirror and self-reflect on their body
• Having degraded thoughts and comments about their body, and also comparing it to other people
• Jealous of their friends, families, or celebrities body

Moreover, both body image concerns and eating disorder clash hand in hand. A person’s dissatisfaction with their body can lead them into thinking that losing weight will make them look better and feel better about their body. After that mindset, one would begin having a restricted diet and excessive exercising. This could then result in an eating disorder such as anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, compulsive overeating or binge eating disorder.

Statistics:

According to data shown, 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to get an ideal body shape and size. Also, 80% of women say the images of women in the media makes them feel insecure. This reflect how much the media actually impact body image. In addition, 58% of college-aged girls feel pressured to be a certain weight. 42% of girls in 1st through 3rd grade who want to be thinner is a reflection on how young of an age when a person starts becoming effect with negative body image concerns.

References:

Body Image Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.statisticbrain.com/body-image-statistics/

What Cause Negative Body Image & Weight Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from

https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/body-image

What is Body Image? (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2017, from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/what-body-image

PERSONAL:

Plenty of people believe that they should strive for the perfect body image. This issue is important to me because I believe what we see on televisions, in magazine, in advertisement, and in movies of perfect bodies making lots of people think that they are not perfect so they can either try too hard to make it perfect or feel depressed over the idea that they can never look like the perfect body the society presents to us. Even mannequin are skinny or shaped perfectly when they display clothing at the mall. Its truthful and wonderful that people comes in all shapes and sizes. Many of these people of different shapes and sizes can be attractive in their own way. A person with an image of a perfect body may not even have a healthy body, which means they don’t have a healthy body.

On a very personal level, since I was 16 years old, I’ve been struggling with how I feel about my body shape. I had constantly felt like I needed to lose weight and become a certain size. When I looked in the mirror, the main imperfections I observed were that I don't have a flat belly and that I have fats in places where I wish they weren't. For this, it had affected how I felt in clothing that I had wore or had tried on. Thinking back, I had not want to buy a lot of clothing pieces at the mall because I had felt like I didn't look as good in it as my friends or the mannequin wearing it. Feeling like that about my body shape really affect my confidence as well. Additionally, when I step on a scale and saw what the number turned out to be, it had made me want to lose some of the numbers. I've came to points where I would have eating restrictions. One of summer when I was 18 years old, I had over pushed myself to do excessive exercises in order to loose some weight. Over exercising was not a good idea because I had almost fainted while doing them. Moving to the present me, my weight and body size have not change as I had hoped since the age of 16; however, I have come to realize that I don't have to be depressed and disappointed over my body image because I know that I matter more as a person than just a physical body feature.

Finally, this issue is really important to me because I feel like a great amount of people out there are facing the same issue. Although my personal experience is not as severe as those who had develop an eating disorder, I still believe that body image concerns is an important issue to address because it does effective people mentally and physically. If this issue is discuss and share among more people, I think that more people will understand the people who are affected by the issue and help them. My hope is that the media would make more realistics output about how size and shape are never perfect. For instance, if models are always shown to be skinny and shaped perfectly, it would put people down. I hope that more people will share with their friends and family who are struggling with the negative body image thoughts that changing their body image will not change who they are. On a side note, I feel grateful that I have surrounding families and friends who constantly remind me that my body shape and size does not reflect who I am as a person. Upon asking the community of people who have experience the issue, I feel like we all shares the same feeling about body image and how it is an issue among people.

Community members:

Wendy Jarquin

"There’s definitely a feeling of inadequacy when you compare yourself to a celebrity or model but then I remember they have 6 inches on me and personal trainers to keep them fit. I do what I can in trying to stay fit but it’s a process to always be okay with yourself and the way you look."

Ada So

“Body image is how one person perceive themselves despite what their weight number says and what others say about their body. One’s body image could be inflicted upon themselves or by others. I do struggle with my body image despite what others have told me not to worry about. I have a negative body image. I see myself as someone dark, slim, flat chested, and plain. In a way my body image is partly influenced by my surrounding and partly by my own perception.”

Senh Chong

“I always try to find something that I can improve on my body.”

Fannie Luu

“To me, body image is how we perceive our body to be. Everyone has different perceptions of what makes a perfect body. In society, beauty is based off of the body. However, all that matters is good health.”

Duyen Pham

“I used to be a little insecure when I see girls with model-like body, but now I try not to compare my body with others and focus on the positives of my own body.”

Lenh Vong

“Sometimes when I see models with perfect body, I would wish I could look like them. However, I do believe that even though looking at the media can bring my self-esteem down, I know that nobody need to have the perfect body to be happy.”