It is 2022, and people are still fixated on a particular body type. For women, it is the ideal body that media portrays is mostly lean and hourglass body whereas for men they portray someone who has abs or six-packs as a perfect body.
A lot of researches have shown that most people are unhappy about their body at some point in their life or they are still unhappy about it. Some people are concern about the shape of their nose whereas some else are not satisfied with their body.
Furthermore, most people believe that our body weight and shape are under our control, and is seen as our responsibility to change it to fit society’s standards.
Even though, being concern about body images is not a mental issue. However, it can be a cause of different mental health problem problems such as depression, psychological distress, and eating disorders.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND BODY IMAGE ISSUE
For women, social media constantly portrays “the perfect body” as someone slim, has youthful look with glass skin. Most celebrities have these features thus women, especially teenager, thinks they do not have the picture-perfect body.
For men, again, the idealistic body is v-shaped, muscular, and also has a narrow hip. These body images are considered normal by the media and the youth. The vast majority want to achieve this unrealistic body structure.
Also, social media and the entertainment industry portray certain body types with a certain stereotype. You must have already seen it, but in most movies and series the “fat” boy/girl is always given the comic relief role or someone who dumb and spineless.
These body type images also affected relationships in our life — with our families, relatives, friends, and significant others.
According to a study, more than 50% of people between the age of 18–25 are worried about their physical appearance and most are worried about it after they have seen pictures on social media. It is reported that 1/8 British adults had experienced suicidal feelings due to body images.
Moreover, as people age, they do not feel better about their bodies especially women. Women are always forced to look younger than their age and thus we see multiple anti-aging products.
In recent years, a lot of these beauty products are targeted men. In a survey done in 2018, about 84% (from 1000 samples) of men use beauty products like fairness cream, etc.
Thus, a lot of us (both women and men) spend huge amounts of money on supplements, cosmetic products to achieve the ideal type and if they cannot do it they go for photoshopping their body.
USE OF PHOTOSHOP
A lot of celebrities photoshop their body in an unrealistic manner which is humanly impossible to achieve that. Even a few years back from celebrities to influencers were photoshopping every bit of their body to fit the “society beauty standard”.
However, there are a lot of pages on social media that expose celebrities to photoshopping their bodies. A lot of influencers coming forward with their story about how they photoshop their body and they are trying to change it.
We can see even famous people who have millions of dollars are forced to change their bodies cause how the majority of the people harshly criticize them. Everybody is getting criticized for their physical appearance.
Though we are seeing a difference in the recent 1–2 years it is still a long journey.
EFFECT ON MENTAL HEALTH
When a person thinks they have a poor body image goes beyond negative thoughts. A study has shown that people who have body dysmorphic disorder displays more signs of anxiety and depression and sometimes they have suicidal thoughts.
Thus to have healthy mental health every individual needs to think that their body image is healthy too. If someone treats their body with respect and tries to self-love for the body they can improve their mental health.
However, the negative thoughts won’t go away in a day but here are some things that you can do:
First, you need to cut out all the negative people from your life. Try to surround yourself with family and friends who are positive and do not taunt you.
Secondly, unfollow people on social media who make you uncomfortable and promote unrealistic body standards. Social media like Twitter also has the option to mute words hence you can filter your home page even further.
Thirdly, whenever you have any negative thoughts try to think from where these thoughts are coming from? Is it someone who said something to you in the past? A post you have seen that made you anxious? Try to figure out the reason.
Fourthly, do not compare yourself to others. Your journey and their journey are different.
Fifthly, do you sometimes think negatively about someone else’s body? Whenever you feel negative about someone else try to turn it into positive.
Sixthly, the food you are eating and the clothes you are wearing should make you happy.
Lastly, talk to a professional who will guide you correctly and help you to practice self-love.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Unrealistic body standards affect our mental health immensely. Society should stop putting these standards on both women and men.
We all should come forward and try to fight against this stigma that certain body type is only acceptable.
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