I am writing this to raise an issue we talked about rather frequently but never seem to resolve - body image issues. Have you ever so desperately wished to be someone else to the extent of harming your body? Despising the way your body protrudes in certain parts, cursing the places of your body that do not fit in society's beauty standards, and ignoring all your body's needs, all for the sake of a compliment. Well, all of us must have had these thoughts running haywire in the back of our minds at some point in life as we struggle to accept our insecurities. And as someone who experienced constantly feeling like a stranger in my own body and not being able to embrace my insecurities from a very young age, I can say that body image issues should not be taken lightly. Body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and self-objectification are all subsequent issues that follow.
As a start, the lack of attention to body image issues will lead to body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction, in simple words, is when a person dislikes or is dissatisfied with their own body. Imagine how dreadful it must be when you feel an unending sense of detestation for your own body, the very body you were born in and lived with for days and months and years. Along with time, this gradually leads to low self-esteem because when you are dissatisfied with your body, it can be very difficult to feel good about yourself. For example, scientific instances have indicated that victims of body dissatisfaction are usually girls and women because the idealised beauty standard is to be “slim”. Thus, those who do not fit into the so-called “beauty standard” will perceive themselves as inferior, eventually causing them to lose their self-esteem (Pop, 2016). Additionally, body dissatisfaction also results in depression. According to Beck's cognitive theory of depression in 1973, a person's negative view of their body is a major contributing factor to depression because victims of body dissatisfaction are proven to have a higher chance of being diagnosed with depression that results from their constant negative state of mind towards themselves (Benas et al., 2010).
Besides that, when body image issues are neglected, eating disorders will soon follow. Unable to enjoy the food you love, being forced by your mind to throw up whatever goes down your throat, and being hospitalised for days and weeks from using too many laxatives. One of the most common types of eating disorders is Anorexia Nervosa, in which patients tend to stop themselves from eating in fear of gaining weight, even when they are dangerously thin. For instance, telling people that you are not hungry even though you are starving, skipping dinner because you feel guilty for eating too much for lunch, or going to the extent of not having the appetite to eat even though you haven't had a proper meal in days are all symptoms of Anorexia (Crowther et al., 2024). In addition, another common type is known as Bulimia Nervosa, whereby patients will binge eat in extremely large portions and then forcefully expel the undigested food out of their body to avoid gaining weight. Some instances of this condition include forcing oneself to throw up or using excessive amounts of laxatives to cause diarrhoea (McKnight et al., 2023).
Last but not least, the prolonging of body image issues also causes self-objectification. Self-objectification is when someone perceives themselves not as human beings but as objects. So, why do people objectify themselves? People objectify themselves because of distorted idealisations encouraged by society. Since olden days until now, we have been conditioned to believe that we must follow what is shown on the media to “fit in with everybody else” or “keep up with the trend". With this, unrealistic beauty standards have distorted our idealisations as we begin to value appearance over competence (Jongenelis et al., 2014). Some examples involve hiring employees based on how attractive they are, or even choosing romantic partners based on their attractiveness rather than on emotional connections between two people. Other than that, some people also sexualise themselves as a form of self-objectification (Grower & Ward, 2021). When we are insecure about our bodies and cannot learn to love ourselves the way we are, we tend to seek affirmation from others. And when this feeling becomes desperate, people sexualise themselves because they believe that they will only have value or that they can only be loved through lust, thus viewing it as the only way to obtain affection and validation from others.
In summary, dismissing the severity of body image issues not only brings about destructive consequences but also worsens the existing twisted ideals and values our society has. Therefore, we as people of this society should not overlook the brutality of body image issues that occur within us and others. By being kind to ourselves and other people, we can definitely overcome such issues and learn to love ourselves in due time. Whether it takes days, months, or even years, perseverance and patience will conquer all.
References
Benas, J. S., Uhrlass, D. J., & Gibb, B. E. (2010). Body dissatisfaction and weight-related teasing: A model of cognitive vulnerability to depression among women. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 41(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.03.006
Crowther, E., Lewis, V., Minehan, M., & Joshua, P. R. (2024). Knocking on locked doors; a qualitative investigation of parents’ experiences of seeking help for children with eating disorders. Clinical Psychologist, 28(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/13284207.2024.2404123
Grower, P., & Ward, L. M. (2021). Differentiating contributions of self-objectification and self-sexualization to young women’s sexual agency. Body Image, 38, 63–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.005
Jongenelis, M. I., Byrne, S. M., & Pettigrew, S. (2014). Self-objectification, body image disturbance, and eating disorder symptoms in young Australian children. Body Image, 11(3), 290–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.04.002
McKnight, E. R., Gardner, S. M., Cottrill, A. C., Levy, C. B., & Bonny, A. E. (2023). Trauma and resilience in adolescents and young adults with opioid use and eating disorders. Clinical Pediatrics, 62(8), 856–861. https://doi.org/10.1177/00099228231181742
Pop, C. (2016). Self-Esteem and body image perception in a sample of university students. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 16(64). https://doi.org/10.14689/ejer.2016.64.2
Kelly Tan (tanjialing.55@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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