Self-love and body positivity are two things that are much easier said than done. They are something we all strive to achieve, but the road to get there can be difficult, especially with the media’s impacts on how we view our bodies.
Shutting down body-shaming mindsets is a crucial step for achieving body positivity, according to research done by Mind Journal. No one is born with these body-shaming mindsets; it is the environment around us, like the media, that instills it in us and continues to promote it. Media can find any form to do this whether it is television, social media, advertisements and so much more. Media has a negative impact on body image by promoting unrealistic body ideals on multiple platforms. While in the past couple of years the media has made improvements on this, there is still much more change to be made.
Body shaming mindsets can have serious and dangerous consequences such as depression and eating disorders. Studies have also found that these mindsets are especially prevalent in college-aged women. In fact, “negative body image was determined to be a predictor of suicidal thoughts among college students, especially among young women,” according to the Journal of Adolescent Health. The danger of body shaming mindsets instilled and promoted to us by society and the media is very real, and in some cases, life-threatening.
Because negative body images are exposed all around us, body shaming mindsets can start at a very young age and only worsen as individuals reach the adolescent years. These unrealistic expectations for body image affect both women and men. Society makes us think that body image is a woman’s problem, but men are also challenged by impossible standards set by the media. Therefore, when we talk about dismantling body shaming images, we need to make sure we are doing this for all individuals.
In the society we live in, the journey to body positivity can be extremely difficult when body-shaming mindsets constantly surround us, but according to Mind Journal, a crucial step to positive body image is by dismantling these negative mindsets. This can be done with the help of society, by turning around the negative mindsets into positive ones.
In France, there is a law that requires companies to label images on advertisements or commercials that have been photoshopped or edited to say “retouched.” Warning labels like this are a good start, but there is much more that can be done. Mind Journal explains that advertisements need to start promoting actual healthy living and not the false idea of a “perfect body.” This idea of promoting healthy living not only includes physical aspects but emotional and mental well-being as well because we know how a negative body image can affect us in other ways, such as depression and anxiety.
Your body is your home; it nourishes you and keeps you sustained. Your body loves and cares about you, and the goal is to give it that back in return.
There is still a long way to go, but it is crucial that we continue to dismantle these body-shaming mindsets and turn the media around in a positive way that helps individuals on their journey to self-love.