Body dissatisfaction is the emotional experience associated with a negative body experience, a psychological distress related to our disturbed body experience.
Body dissatisfaction can be defined as negative feelings and thoughts about the body, especially its appearance.
Body dissatisfaction: Introduction
Body dissatisfaction is a negative body experience. Indeed, people who are dissatisfied with their appearance often feel embarrassment, shame, and even disgust about their bodies.
Generally, these people lack confidence, feel less attractive and appealing, and may also come to doubt their intelligence or sociability.
People who are dissatisfied with their bodies are usually more depressed and anxious than people who value their appearance.
This article will introduce you to what body dissatisfaction is and the impacts it can have on our daily lives.
Definition of body satisfaction
Body satisfaction can be defined as the affective expression of a body experience, whether positive or negative. It is the affective component of our body experience.
It is also the result of a subjective evaluation:
- between the “lived body” (i.e., our bodily experience) and the “idealized body” (represented by the body of our dreams, the one we would like to have), and
- between the “lived body” and the “socially expected body” (i.e., the body that we believe others expect of us).
Some typical expressions of body dissatisfaction ????
We often hear certain expressions from people who are dissatisfied with their bodies.
Namely, they will tend to say the following phrases:
- I don’t like my body.
- I am not happy with my body and weight.
- My outfit doesn’t look good on me.
- The more I look in the mirror, the more I disgust myself.
- I feel ashamed and embarrassed when I am in my underwear or naked in front of someone else.
- I hate it when others look at me.
- I avoid drawing attention to myself as much as possible.
Body satisfaction is a function of several factors
Indeed, body satisfaction depends on several factors, such as the following:
Self-esteem
Generally, people who doubt themselves experience body dissatisfaction more often than those who are confident and have good self-esteem.
Age
A child is more indifferent to his appearance than a teenager, who will be more concerned about his appearance. During adulthood, body dissatisfaction tends to decrease.
In late life, a loss of strength, agility, and flexibility or physical problems and pain can lead to body dissatisfaction.
Sex ♀♂
Girls seem to be more attentive to their appearance than boys. They see this as an essential characteristic of their gender identity.
They seek to be beautiful to feel feminine and to please others.
Please refer to the section below for a more detailed explanation of body dissatisfaction for women and men, and its consequences.
Mood ????
People who are depressed or anxious have a harder time accepting their appearance than people who don’t suffer from depression or anxiety.
Personal investment in physical appearance
People who are very concerned about their appearance are more likely to be dissatisfied with it.
In the presence of critical people, people with physical complexes feel insecure.
Dress code ????????
People who wear clothing, adornments, or accessories that are appropriate to the circumstances are more satisfied with their appearance than those who are “poorly dressed” for the context.
Body sensations
People with good physical health are generally more satisfied with their bodies and appearance than people with physical ailments, limitations, or pain.
Perfectionism
People who are perfectionists are more demanding of themselves and potentially more dissatisfied with their appearance.
Body dissatisfaction in daily life
In our Western societies, body dissatisfaction has become the norm rather than the exception!
Namely, more and more teenagers (especially girls) are concerned about their weight and body appearance. They are following slimming diets, even though their weight is quite average.
Disturbed eating behaviors
In some cases, this body dissatisfaction may be accompanied by disturbed eating behaviors such as:
- self-induced vomiting,
- abuse of laxatives,
- excessive use of diet drugs, or even
- binge eating.
Typically, these behavioral disorders are associated with decreased physical and psychological health, such as:
- fatigue,
- insomnia,
- depression,
- somatic complaints,
- etc.
Studies of young people between the ages of 14 and 25 have confirmed that girls are more dissatisfied with their appearance and weight than boys:
- about half of girls of all body types want to lose weight,
- a large majority of overweight young women want to lose weight,
- most young women of average weight want to lose weight, and
- even some underweight women want to lose weight.
Therefore, overall, young women find themselves less beautiful than young men.
Only half of women are satisfied with their body appearance, though this body dissatisfaction is less pronounced among older women.
In general, girls want to slim down their (in order of preference):
- thighs,
- bellies,
- hips,
- buttocks, and
- calves.
At the same time, they want to tone up their (in order of preference):
- butts,
- bellies,
- thighs, and
- chest.
Teenage girls would like larger breasts, while young adult women would like them to be firmer.
This body dissatisfaction pushes young women to undertake diets or practice sports:
- one-third of them diet or exercise,
- one-third of them plan to diet or exercise, and
- the last third prefers to watch their diet.
By the way: It is interesting to know that more men than women complain about being too thin. Namely, a majority of underweight boys would like to gain weight. In contrast, a minority of underweight women would like to gain weight!
Girls and boys do not have the same goal when exercising:
- ⚖ girls often play sports to lose weight, while
- ???? boys often play sports to gain muscle.
Some women want to firm up their bodies, while men want to build muscle mass in their arms, pecs, shoulders, and calves.
Therefore, all studies have shown that body dissatisfaction is widespread among adolescent girls and young women.
This phenomenon is observed more in cases of overweight but does not spare people of average build. Indeed, girls dream of a slender and toned body, while men dream of a muscular body.
In general, girls complain about their lower body, which they would like to be thinner, and boys have a complex about their upper body, which they would like to be more muscular.
Women tend to approach a Barbie-like ideal of thinness with a generous and firm chest. On the other hand, men are leaning towards an all-muscle objective.
Generally, body dissatisfaction is observed in societies where ideals of performance and beauty prevail.
This phenomenon appears early in life (around 5 years) and will grow from childhood to adolescence. Then it tends to diminish in early adulthood and fade later in life.
Body dissatisfaction in women and men
This part of the article will discuss how body dissatisfaction differs for women and men.
♀ Women’s body dissatisfaction
Generally, women of all ages are more dissatisfied with their physique than men.
Women’s childhood and their bodies
Generally, little girls are more dissatisfied with their bodies than little boys. They are more often exposed to messages valorizing beauty (which, in our societies, implies thinness) via their parents, the other children, and the media.
Little girls start worrying about their weight and shape at an earlier age.
Children recognize their image in the mirror around the age of 2.
As early as age 3, they are already confronted with the stigma of being “fat.” They are discriminated against and discriminate against others based on their body type.
Body dissatisfaction will start to appear as early as age 6 in girls.
Half of the 9-year-old girls want to be thinner (compared to one-quarter of boys), and one-third watch their diet (compared to one-fifth of boys).
Among school-aged girls, problems with overweight and anorexia nervosa are on the rise. This phenomenon is related to profound changes in our society.
Indeed, the marketing targeted at children between 8 and 12 years old is more and more aggressive: it sells high-calorie food ???? under the guise of energy needs during growth and dietary rules that are supposedly revolutionary.
At the same time, advertising aimed at young people promotes branded clothing ????, i.e., physical appearance, and financial autonomy, i.e., consumerism.
Children’s TV shows and preteen media show slimness as an example and give tips on staying fit and slim.
For example, girls play with totally abnormal Barbie shapes with extreme thinness, long legs, and large breasts.
Women’s adolescence and body dissatisfaction
Body dissatisfaction is at its peak among teenage girls and particularly among 12 to 15-year-olds.
Among these young adolescents, we observe:
- weight gain,
- an increase in body dissatisfaction,
- a desire for thinness, as well as
- a resort to restrictive diets.
In terms of numbers, researchers have shown that:
- 40-70% of teenage girls complain about their bodies, especially their mid and lower bodies.
- 50-80% of teenage girls want to be thinner.
- 80% of them will try to lose weight at least once, even though their weight is usually quite average for their sex and age.
The explosion of diet plans can be explained by a series of factors:
- puberty leads to significant weight gain,
- puberty also leads to an increase in body fat,
- increased academic pressure ????????, and
- new relational challenges ???? (being popular with and wanting to be attractive and thin in the eyes of the other sex).
The appearance of curves is experienced by young girls as the opposite of the socio-cultural ideal of thinness. Often, these curves lead to a depressive experience and sometimes even a real depression.
Body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls determines:
- a desire for thinness,
- dieting behaviors, and
- purging behaviors (more rarely) are detrimental to an individual’s physical health and psychological well-being, and it’s also crucial to acknowledge the role physical insecurities play in exacerbating health issues.
These negative effects of body transformations are primarily observed in young girls who are:
- perfectionists,
- anxious, or
- concerned about their physical appearance when they experience stressful life events.
Generally, teenage girls face more stressful events, such as pubertal development away from cultural standards of beauty ????, sexual harassment, etc., and therefore feel more insecure. ????
To reassure themselves, they will tend to get closer to their prescribed social role, a feminine identity based on beauty through thinness and self-sacrifice.
It is only at the very end of adolescence that body satisfaction stabilizes or improves a little.
Women’s adulthood and their bodies
Remember that the body changes throughout life. As such, our appearance changes:
- we gain weight more easily,
- we settle down,
- we lose more and more hair ????,
- our skin ages and is less firm,
- etc.
The functioning of the body is also changing, resulting in a loss of competence:
- breath becomes shorter,
- sleep is disturbed,
- agility and strength decrease ????,
- etc.
Physical health can also deteriorate with, for example, the onset of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, joint pain, etc.
Therefore, all these changes require adaptations to maintain a sense of well-being.
An aging woman faces the problem of maintaining her sense of identity, i.e., wanting to remain the same person despite the passing years.
She has to learn to get used to her aging body, which can disrupt her sense of physical, psychological, and social identity.
Throughout their lives, women tend to be concerned about their physical appearance and seek to make little or no changes to their weight and shape. This will be more pronounced before menopause, particularly after pregnancies. ????
In contrast, body preoccupations diminish in older women, and so do body control behaviors.
Overall, menopausal women will care less about their appearance, tolerate a heavier build, and be less careful about their bodies and diet.
Although body concerns persist, their negative consequences become less and less significant over time.
The gradual acceptance of the effects of body aging allows women to:
- preserve their self-esteem,
- remain unaffected by anti-aging cultural stereotypes, and
- stay physically active.
All this reinforces their sense of efficiency and body satisfaction. ????
How to better understand women’s body dissatisfaction
Several possible explanations exist to explain why women are more conscious of their appearance.
For evolutionary psychologists and sociobiologists, women who are attractive and coveted by men would have a reproductive advantage over less attractive women.
Moreover, women who are loved for their beauty would guarantee a healthy bloodline. ????
Psychologists point out all the social advantages that the most beautiful people have:
- they are more popular,
- they receive more compliments,
- they are more appreciated, and
- they are considered more friendly and even more intelligent.
There are other socio-cultural explanations for the importance of beauty, particularly women’s desire for thinness.
First, we must realize that obesity is strongly stigmatized because it is considered the consequence of an inability to control oneself: the obese person is supposedly the only one responsible for their weight problem. ????
This false conceptualization of obesity leads women to want to avoid the blame associated with being obese or overweight.
Secondly, in our society, thinness has long been the standard of beauty, especially for women. Thinness is not only a sign of beauty but also of social and economic success.
And finally, beauty has always been the characteristic of femininity, the mark of gender identity.
Consequences of women’s body dissatisfaction
To conform to the ideal of beauty specific to one’s sex (i.e., thinness for women) is to affirm one’s femininity and thereby reinforce the stereotype according to which femininity is linked to beauty through thinness.
This socio-cultural ideal of thinness pushes women to control their weight and silhouette, at the risk of opposing the laws of their biological nature and even their fertility.
This ideal of thinness is often conveyed by the media, relayed by relatives, and affects especially the most vulnerable people facing this mass indoctrination.
♂ Men’s body dissatisfaction
Just like women, more and more men are concerned about body image.
Today, many men are dissatisfied with their appearance, as indicated by the growing number of men suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia.
The childhood of men and their bodies
Just like little girls, little boys hear derogatory remarks about fat people from a very young age.
They are also influenced by television shows and movies that stigmatize fat people and value skinny people.
Little boys like to play with male dolls (GI Joe type) that are abnormally muscular and thin. ????
Therefore, all these anti-fat messages make boys sensitive to their physique. Still, their body satisfaction remains good and stable until late childhood.
School-age boys are more satisfied with their body appearance than girls and tend to be more concerned about their height ⬆ than their weight.
Men’s adolescence and body satisfaction
Body satisfaction decreases in early adolescence and then naturally increases again when teenagers begin to be concerned about their looks:
- Because they (perhaps unconsciously) wish to conform to male beauty standards (a muscular figure without being overweight).
- For the sake of popularity with the other boys but also to please the girls.
Teenagers are afraid of looking fat, flabby, and shapeless. They want to have a muscular and firm body. They want to increase the volume of their upper body, namely their arms, shoulders, and torso.
Men’s adulthood and their bodies
When adult men are successful professionally and socially, they are free of these body concerns. Indeed, they prefer to attach a sense of personal value to their socio-professional success. ????????????
However, they feel less assured of their physical attractiveness when they experience professional, financial, or romantic disappointments.
After these milestones, adult men are less concerned about their physique and relax their efforts to transform their bodies.
Sometimes, specific bodily concerns reappear when there are health problems such as prostate cancer, erectile difficulties, baldness ????, etc.
From then on, the man feels that his body is aging. But it is mainly the perception of a loss of physical competence (strength, stamina, agility) or fragility of the state of health that undermines older men.
How to better understand men’s body dissatisfaction
Why do men care about their looks? Here are some of the reasons why:
Physical beauty can be a way to assert one’s social status within a group of society. Therefore, a high stature, a strong build, or an angular face are perceived as signals of superior social position.
Therefore, there is competition between men to possess the physical attributes associated with high social status.
Second, a culturally valued physique promotes popularity and social success. Thanks to this beauty and success, there is also a superior power of seduction with women and, therefore, a reproductive advantage.
Finally, a competition arises between men and women. The female ideal of thinness is matched by the male pursuit of muscularity.
Indeed, “super-males” compete against “super-females” in a sort of battle of the sexes where the winner is the one who pushes the limits of the body and is able to surpass himself.
Consequences of men’s body dissatisfaction
In their daily lives, men’s preoccupation with the body is not without consequences.
In fact, for several years, sales of cosmetic products ???? for men have increased (such as lotions against hair loss and anti-wrinkle creams), as well as more frequent recourse to cosmetic surgery (such as facelifts, abdominal liposuction, Botox injections ????, etc.).
Some men like to play sports (such as cycling, swimming, running, fitness workouts, weightlifting, and jogging) and may abuse anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, sometimes to the detriment of their health.
More and more men are experiencing eating disorders (and their symptoms) such as binge eating and purging.
This mental problem is underdiagnosed in men because it is still poorly understood and taboo. Men’s bulimia is considered as gluttony, and their thinness as constitutional thinness.
However, eating disorders in men are as severe as those in women. They are often accompanied by depression, alcohol problems, health problems due to laxative abuse, and physical hyperactivity.
Body dissatisfaction: Conclusion
Body dissatisfaction concerns both men and women. At each stage of life, men and women experience body satisfaction differently.
We must learn to love ourselves with our physical complexes to avoid falling into psychological and physical disorders (and eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia nervosa).
And finally, know that you are beautiful as you are and that no one in this world is physically perfect!
Sources
- Thompson, et al., Exacting beauty: Theory, assessment, and treatment of body image disturbance, American Psychological Association, 1999
- Higgins, Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect, Psychological Review, 94(3), 319–340, 1987
- Smolak, Body image development in children;
- Striegel-Moore & Franko, Body image issues among girls and women;
- Whitbourne & Skultety, Body image development: Adulthood and aging;
- Westmoreland Corson & Andersen, Body image issues among boys and men;
- in Cash & Pruzinsky, A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice, Guilford Publications, 2004