What is Body image?
According to The National Eating Disorder Association(NEDA), body image is the way you see yourself when you see or imagine your reflection. It represents your memories, assumptions and generalizations about your appearance; Including your height, shape and weight and the physical experience you feel in your body (NEDA).
There are two main kinds of body image: positive and negative. Positive body image is a clear and accurate perception of one’s body. Negative is a distorted perception of one’s body.
WHO DOES BODY IMAGE AFFECT?
By age six, 40-60% of elementary girls are concerned about their weight and or scared of becoming fat (NEDA). Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors; such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005)”(NEDA).
Everyone is affected by body image, some more than others, but in different ways. In western culture, girls are held to a societal thin female beauty standard while boys are held to a lean and muscular standard. Whether body image plays a big role or not, each one of us has had moments or even days where we wish we could change something about our body.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT?
Talking about body image is very important for all genders and ages. Our bodies help us move through the world and it is important to build a foundation of love and support surrounding our perceptions of what we look like.
The way we talk about our bodies and others’ plays a big part in how our body image develops. As a result, children learn to either hate or love their bodies from watching the people around them hate or love their own bodies. Therefore, the more hate they see the more they internalize their own dissatisfaction with their body.
The Link Between Body Acceptance and High Self-Esteem
According to The Center for Young Women’s Health, positive body image leads to high self-esteem. The higher your self-esteem the more you believe in yourself. You can read more about self-esteem here: (https://youngwomenshealth.org/2012/05/30/self-esteem/).
Strengthening the way we feel about our bodies in turn helps with increasing our self-esteem. People need to learn and practice talking back to social beauty standards, for all genders, and challenging negative body dialogue; for themselves and the next generation.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
If you are curious about learning more tools to help strengthen your own body image SUBSCRIBE to this blog. Bold Destinations is a travel blog that focuses on helping readers cultivate positive mental health while traveling the world. Mental Health includes body image. Therefore articles look at ways to improve body acceptance and offer tips to do so.
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SOURCES:
“Body Image & Eating Disorders.” National Eating Disorders Association, 22 Feb. 2018, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/body-image-eating-disorders.
Posted under Health Guides. Updated 18 August 2016. Related Content. “Self-Esteem and Body Image.” Center for Young Women’s Health, Boston Children’s Hospital , 18 Aug. 2016, youngwomenshealth.org/2012/05/30/self-esteem/.
