An international survey revealed that around 56% of women and 43% of men are dissatisfied with their overall appearance. I'm sure you might be wondering, "why is it that so many people find it so hard to like their own bodies? Well, we're gonna be discussing just that today.
To start with, we all have two sides to how we view ourselves. The individualistic aspect is what comes from what you see and what you feel, while the collectivistic aspect is how you think your body should look based on your social group and other external factors.
One major component that affects a lot of people today is self-objectification. This is when you compare your body to a collective other. Social media has definitely not made it easier for those who deal with body dissatisfaction. A 2017 study looking at 3000 female models from 20 different modeling agencies calculated that the average BMI amongst them was 17.3 which is far below the average woman's BMI of 26.5.
We start thinking about the size and shapes of our bodies pretty early in life. Another study showed that about 3/5 children between the ages of 8-11 wanted their bodies to be different in some way, and by the age of 16, only 16.6% of boys and 12% of girls were at their desired body image.
Let's also talk about visual adaptation. The more you look at something, your sensitivity, and stimulus to that thing changes. Your frequent exposure to "perfectly engineered" bodies tunes your mind to perceive them as "normal" and yourself as the "outlier". A more fundamental cause of this, however, could be our basic human need to fit in and be regarded as though we "belong".
With all that being said, what can we do to normalize things? My general rule of thumb is to be around people who love and accept you and would allow you to build a solid base for your self-confidence. Influencers are continually portraying unrealistic body types as the norm and what we see impacts our self-image so strongly. Many people believe that the beautiful, highly-edited images of people on social media are what they have to be like in order to be accepted. Scrolling through Instagram and seeing the so-called beauty standards in the form of photoshopped celebrities or stick-thin fashion models affects how people actually view themselves.
Social media has been proven to be correlated with body image concerns. Posting pictures of yourself is often the cause of the negative thoughts people have about their bodies. “People are comparing their appearance to people in Instagram images, or whatever platform they're on, and they often judge themselves to be worse off,” says Jasmine Fardouly, a postdoctoral researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
On the flip side, let's talk about body positivity. No matter the form, size, shape, or color of your body, you are beautiful. Beauty is a social construct and your self-worth should not be based on what someone thinks is ideal. Accepting and loving yourself is critical in the kind of society we are in now. I personally made up my mind that I was never going to have an Instagram account because I believed it was just a place for fake people who were trying to conform to the ideal of the world. I only created one for the publicity of my blog and by the way, if you're not following me, do so now, haha! (@qween_demis_blog).
When people ask me whether it is okay to be fat, I always respond that as long as you're healthy and happy, that's all that matters. Imagine being so low in life to think it's cool to hate on someone because of their size. In case you didn't know, body shaming has been known to cause long-term effects such as depression, anxiety, as well as eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and body dysmorphia.
Finally, to be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
I hope you enjoyed today's blog post. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. See you next Saturday. I want to end with the lyrics from Justin Bieber's Intentions song, because.... why not? :)
"Picture-perfect, you don't need no filter Gorgeous, make 'em drop dead, you a killer"
"Heart full of equity, you're an asset"
"Shout out to your mom and dad for making you Standing ovation, they did a great job raising you When I create, you're my muse The kind of smile that makes the news Can't nobody throw shade on your name in these streets A triple threat, you a boss, you a bae, you a beast You make it easy to choose You got a mean touch I can't refuse"
"Already passed, you don't need no approval Good everywhere, don't worry 'bout no refusal Second, to none, you got the upper hand now Don't need a sponsor, no, you're the brand now"
"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." Timely truth, well done dear
"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." Timely truth, well done dear