Body Image

[AppleBiter]

What do you think has had the biggest effect on your body image? Media? Family? Friends? Was it a positive effect or a negative effect?

This was the subject of a fellow classmate's research paper, and I'm very curious to know, on a whole, what people feel effects their body image the most.

 

[AppleBiter]

I'll go first. For me, I think the BIGGEST impact was my mother. She was always dieting and never happy with her figure no matter what. I modeled that behavior and now I can never shake the feeling that my body isn't perfect enough no matter what I weigh or how I look.

 

[Dar~]

my health. I was never unconfident abou tmyself. Whenever I looked in the mirror I saw a sexy desireable person. Which is probably why I had so many boyfriends in school. Esp: considering I didn't have sex in high school. Until my health started declining I never saw how big I had gotten.

 

[CharleyH]

Me, and what I am happy with

 

[SeaCat]

I think I am the exception to the rule here in the United States. I view my body not for how it looks but by what it can do. If I can do what I want to, when I want to, then I'm happy with my body. If I can't do what I want or need to do then I'm unhappy with my body until I change enough to fix the problem. What I look like actually doesn't really matter any more. (If they don't like how I look then they can fuck themselves because I'm not going to be fucking them.)

Cat

 

[rgraham666]

All I ask of my body is that it carry my brain around.

 

[minsue]

My mother had a huge impact on my body image growing up, comparing her weight at whatever age I was at the time to my own. She was always thinner than I at any given age and for some reason felt the need to share that fact.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

What do you think has had the biggest effect on your body image? Media? Family? Friends? Was it a positive effect or a negative effect?

This was the subject of a fellow classmate's research paper, and I'm very curious to know, on a whole, what people feel effects their body image the most.

The media shaped (and still does for the most part) how I feel about my body. At 5 feet tall, every extra pound shows and it makes me nuts. Looking back on my life...I know I have compared myself (unfavorably) to the girls I see online, in magazines, newspapers and on tv.

My mother (gods bless her and keep her) worked hard to fix my body image...but it didn't work..I still find myself in the lose weight so I can feel pretty cycle...it's just gotten a bit better in the past few years. (Once I cut out tv and and the rest)

 

[CharleyH]

The media shaped (and still does for the most part) how I feel about my body.

How could the media shape a fucking thing unless ... I dare not say unless ....

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

How could the media shape a fucking thing unless ... I dare not say unless ....

Ahh but you see...when I was younger...I thought all black women should be cocoa colored with tiny waists and straight dark hair...

My mum being white did not fit what I thought I should look like, so I went looking for those I thought looked like me...(does that help any?)

 

[Remec]

I would say that friends and acquaintances were the primary shapers. Although, when it comes down to it, my own anxieties and low self-esteem is what allowed the typical jibes and teasing to take hold and become more or less self-fulfilling.

As I got older, however, I took a view that this is me and screw everyone else, if appearances is all they're going off of, then they're prolly not someone I'm going to want that much to do with anyways.

Today, after being told I was diabetic last year, I've been more attentive to my diet and stress levels--although I need to try and make more time for exercise still--and have tried to follow through on my doctor's suggestions for gradually dropping about thirty or so pounds. Not there yet, I don't think, but it has become noticeable that I have been slimming and toning compared to where I was at this time last summer.

 

[Liar]

Ability. I'm not in the shape I wan tto be in to feel satisfied with my body. This has not much to do with any pressure to match up to a beauty ideal from any direction. In that aspect I have no ambitions, it has been confirmed enouigh for my esteem that my body and looks are good enough for social situations.

Rather it's my physical performance. I can not run as fast or as long as I want it to, don't have a strong enough grip, and so on. And I worry what this might do to my health later in life. That's from where my ambition to get into shape comes from. If it makes me look better too, then so be it.

 

[CharleyH]

Ahh but you see...when I was younger...I thought all black women should be cocoa colored with tiny waists and straight dark hair...

My mum being white did not fit what I thought I should look like, so I went looking for those I thought looked like me...(does that help any?)

When I was younger I thought everyone looked like Barbie We are happy with ourselves, or not - despite what media says. Women are brought up to objectify themselves, as do men, learn to objectify, and hence fetish ... women are not trained to objectify anything but themselves and therefore women have fewer fetishes.

I know this has nothing to do with your question ... but it was on my mind when you spoke.,, so I articulate.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

When I was younger I thought everyone looked like Barbie We are happy with ourselves, or not - despite what media says. Women are brought up to objectify themselves, as do men, learn to objectify, and hence fetish ... women are not trained to objectify anything but themselves and therefore women have fewer fetishes.

I know this has nothing to do with your question ... but it was on my mind when you spoke.,, so I articulate.

Yea well you have hit the button. For a long time I was completely unhappy wth how I looked. (I didn't look like other *pretty* people) It wasn't until recently...when I started working out (for muscle gain) that I got away from that dealdy lil diet cycle. Now I find myself a bit happier yet I still find myself comparing body types every time a black woman walks by me....

(ya know I never even thought of the other point..the trained by society..home etc...to objectify one's self..See I knew there was a reason for dragging you into interesting conversations...)

 

[AppleBiter]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I find myself relating to a lot of you. This is good stuff. Keep it coming.

 

[CharleyH]

Yea well you have hit the button. For a long time I was completely unhappy wth how I looked. (I didn't look like other *pretty* people) It wasn't until recently...when I started working out (for muscle gain) that I got away from that dealdy lil diet cycle. Now I find myself a bit happier yet I still find myself comparing body types every time a black woman walks by me....

(ya know I never even thought of the other point..the trained by society..home etc...to objectify one's self..See I knew there was a reason for dragging you into interesting conversations...)

I see in my way, and we make an imprint wherever we go.

 

[Sunnie]

I'm rather happy with my body -- it borders on narcissism at times. Sometimes I wish my breasts were larger or I weighed 5 pounds more (yes, more) or that my mom would stop telling me I'm too skinny (I'm 5'6" and 115lbs, but I swear to God I eat a lot, lol) ... But overall, I think, as long as my husband's happy, it's all good.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Women.

Pure and simple.

Most women are, by all likelihood and my experience, just as superficial as most men. They want someone fit, toned, maybe tanned. They want strong arms, they don't want hugely obese osbcured-cock guys. They want someone with one chin. They want a good looking man.

That was what influenced me the most.

The more fit I got, the more women I attracted, the more socially confidant I could be, etc. I was lucky to learn that at a fairly young age and it has stuck with me ever since. Notably, I also have never developed the opinion that only the shallow care about looks.

I think one should take pride in their body, and no sooner let it go to waste or to seed or liter it with crap than you would do your mind. Self improvement begins every day.

 

[Boota]

My body image has been established, I think, primarily by the sum of my social interactions. I am a physically imposing guy and I hear about it a lot. For the most part it's had a very positive effect, considering the line of work I was in for a long time. (Fighting, security, etc.) I think it has hindered me in a few ways, though. I don't get certain kinds of jobs because of how I look. Sales are basically out. I scare too many people to be an effective salesman, I guess. People do occasionally have preconceptions that I am less intelligent than I am because of how I look. I've heard quite often that people expect me to be the stereotypical big dumb guy, before we speak.

 

[Dar~]

My body image has been established, I think, primarily by the sum of my social interactions. I am a physically imposing guy and I hear about it a lot. For the most part it's had a very positive effect, considering the line of work I was in for a long time. (Fighting, security, etc.) I think it has hindered me in a few ways, though. I don't get certain kinds of jobs because of how I look. Sales are basically out. I scare too many people to be an effective salesman, I guess. People do occasionally have preconceptions that I am less intelligent than I am because of how I look. I've heard quite often that people expect me to be the stereotypical big dumb guy, before we speak.

Well, I haven't met you, but I have always held your opinion in high regard. you always seem well educated and well reason. (aside from which you are incredibly hot)

 

[Belegon]

I think that I would also say that my abilities have shaped some of my body image. The better I have performed athetically and romantically the more confident I have felt about my body.

Mind you, I don't mean "sexually" when I say "romantically". More I mean the manner of my success in being noticed and whether I felt I was judged desireable. My abilities at the point after that are a different concern.

I am more confident when I am in shape. While I do think that my being in shape may make me more attractive, I know that being more confident does.

I rarely consider myself attractive in looks. I do feel attractive in deeds and words.

 

[Dar~]

I think that I would also say that my abilities have shaped some of my body image. The better I have performed athetically and romantically the more confident I have felt about my body.

Mind you, I don't mean "sexually" when I say "romantically". More I mean the manner of my success in being noticed and whether I felt I was judged desireable. My abilities at the point after that are a different concern.

I am more confident when I am in shape. While I do think that my being in shape may make me more attractive, I know that being more confident does.

I rarely consider myself attractive in looks. I do feel attractive in deeds and words.

You are attractive in both I assure you.

 

[Fenikkusu]

My culture has helped to define my image as well as my family and friends. Thankfully we do not bind feet anymore, I love shoes.

 

[elsol]

Porn movies...

I was doing good in the 80's (Ron Jeremy is not that attractive after all, so comparatibly speaking I was a FINE piece of maleness!) .

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[impressive]

When younger, I was undoubtedly influenced by the media's image of beauty -- and, as with 95% of women, didn't fit it. I was constantly trying to make my hips slimmer, my tummy flatter, my boobs *gasp* smaller. It wasn't so much a weight issue, as I was quite thin, but a reshaping issue. Not matter how good I looked, I really never felt attractive.

Once I matured, however, it became about health -- about vitality. I don't look anything at all like I once did, but I feel more attractive then ever before.