WHAT INFLUENCES OUR BODY IMAGE?
Why are some people more unhappy with their body? What influence does their environment play? And how can we develop more body positivity?
If you have followed my latest blog posts, you might know that my first article, I wrote about body image in climbing, female trends in lead climbing, etc. was published in August. I definitely thought it was an important topic and that it was important to pick up on it. However, I had never planned to still be writing about it more than two months later. I still get messages quite regularly from people telling me their stories how they were told to be too skinny or too big for climbing, how they were too muscly or not “female”. More professional climbers have spoken out loud about their own struggles with their body image, such as Sasha diGiulian or Beth Rodden.
So why is it that some people are more unhappy with their body, while others aren’t?
A friend of mine and sport psychologist specialised on crossfit and weight lifting (Brain & Barbells), Daria Marschall, drew my attention to a research article which was in fact quite mindblowing. By now, we would have all guessed that the topic around body image is quite big… But that big?
In an Australian study from 2008, 45.000 Australians between 11 and 24 years were interviewed what their biggest current worries were. The three biggest worries of this age group were conflicts in their family, stress and problems with their own body image. Just imagine – problems with their own body image was ranked third among all the worries they had. That included men and women. If you only look at the female participants, body image and being unsatisfied with their own body was even the most important problem for more than 25%. I was seriously surprised when I read that data. Were you?
In fact, studies have said that unfortunately most people experience mild to moderate body image dissatisfaction (Thompson et al., 1999).
What’s the definition of body image?
I reckon we have talked so much about body image, but I’m not quite sure whether I have properly defined it yet: our body image encompasses our self-perceptions and attitudes about our own physical appearance. It involves how we see ourselves, compared to the standards that have been set by society. It is considered as a subjective and multi-dimensional construct that includes body‐image evaluation, cognitive‐behavioral investment, and affect (Cash et al., 2004).
Affective or emotional factors include how we feel about ourselves. Evaluation refers to the evaluative and “judging” thoughts and beliefs that we have about our body (Morrison et al., 2004). The cognitive factor includes our thoughts and mental attitude concerning our body image (everything that happens in our brain). Behavioural factors encompass how we behave to improve our body image, such as doing excessive exercise, putting on make up to look better, undergoing cosmetic surgery, or using diet pills, steroids, or protein supplements. All these factors are mutually dependent.
There is a differentiation between two types of body image that also influence whether we are happy and satisfied or whether we are unsatisfied with our body: the functional and aesthetic body image. The functional body image depends on our individual judgement of our body and its functions, like, what it is capable of. The aesthetic body image depends on how “beautiful” and aesthetic we think our body is.
Which approach do you think is more healthy and makes you feel better about yourself?
You might have guessed it: having a functional body image is more healthy than only focusing on the looks. Instead of focussing what our body looks like, it is more helpful if we put our attention to what our body is capable of.
Is a difference between men and women?
Generally speaking, women are often judged by their looks while men are often rather judged by their abilities. It is interesting that this doesn’t only apply to how other people judge women or men; it is known that women pay more attention to their own looks and also judge themselves based on their appearance, rather than focussing on their abilities, skills or their character traits. This, in turn, can have a negative impact on their body image.
According to studies, men tend to rather focus on what their body is capable of and what else they can achieve with their body. They also tend to have a rather positive approach towards their body, thinking about what they are already good at instead of focussing what they are still lacking. Contrary, women rather tend to focus on an aesthetic body image. They also have a rather negative approach, focussing on what they still lack and don’t have yet.
What I found really interesting is that both men and women over- or underestimated what the other sex would find attractive. E.g. what men believed women would find most attractive was a significantly more muscular type, than what women would actually consider as their “male ideal”. Women on the other hand tended to overestimate their weight/figure size, and underestimate what they thought the male’s ideal female figure was. Research suggests that men’s body image concerns derive from a perceived lack of muscle, whereas women’s stem primarily from perceived excess weight. This goes align with what the media tells us: an emphasis on a thin ideal for women (Morrison et al., 2003), while promoting a V-shaped figure for men, with emphasis on having a larger, more muscular upper body (Furnham & et al., 2002). (Does this ring a bell for you when thinking of climbing?)
Another result of this study was that women would rather like to change something about their body, and men are rather satisfied with theirs. This could be because women tend to internalise sociocultural appearance standards more than men, which may also explain why women have lower body esteem scores than men (Brennan et al., 2010).
How do we develop a negative body image? When are we unsatisfied with our body?
Our body image is influenced by several factors. Among them, social and cultural factors have the biggest impact on our body image. It is also called “sociocultural influence”. This mean our environment has an impact on what we find desirable. The benchmark of what others around us think is good and desirable influences our own approach of what we find good. So whether we develop a negative body image or not is mostly depended on our environment and its social pressure. If we live in an environment that supports skinny, lean bodies (like a lot of times in the climbing culture), it influences us differently than if our environment e.g. supports muscular bodies. Maybe our sociocultural environment also says that no matter what shape our body is, it’s ok how it is.
So, our ideal body image can change depending on our social and cultural environment. In climbing, a “typical” body type would be smaller hips, broader shoulders, bulky toes and fingers; and for women smaller breasts. If you are a climbing girl, you might have experienced this yourself: going to an outdoor swimming pool for the first time in summer, wearing your new bikini, you might feel as if you don’t fit in. The "beauty norms” of “bikini girls” is definitely different to the ones of a “typical” climbing girl. If you walk with a sports bra into a climbing gym, no one would probably look at you because you totally fulfills the climbing norms and “ideals”. This means the same person can – depending on her environment – either fit in perfectly or not. This dissonance between these different social expectations is also what Sasha diGiulian had written about in her article. A dilemma that is not always so easy to deal with. Being unsatisfied with our body because our self-perception about our own physical appearance is not align with the social expectations is what we then define as having a negative body image.
Social media is arguably one of the key factors in the development of body image dissatisfaction. According to sociocultural theory, the more often we are exposed to social media which non-stop feeds us idealistic representations of the body, the less favorable our body image evaluations will become. Social media influences our perceptions of what the ideal body is, and bodies that do not match this ideal are therefore thought to be unattractive (Morrison et al., 2003) – or not helpful (e.g. being “too big” as a lead climber). Awareness and internalisation of society’s body standards might therefore contribute to us feeling dissatisfied with our body (Matz et al., 2002). It is not only (social) media that influences us. Obviously, also what people around us say and how their approach is, what feedback we are given about how we look, what we wear and what we do. These factors impact of what we find “normal” or “ideal”.
What are the consequences of having a negative body image?
Having a negative body image can lead to negative health issues and psychological problems. On a behavioural level, a common way how to cope with a negative body image is e.g. dieting. Apparently, at any given time, 70% percent of women and 35% of men are dieting (Mood Disorder Society of Canada, 2009). Extreme forms of behavious are, as mentionned in other blog posts before, caloric intake restriction or the development of eating disorders (Stice, 2002). Body image dissatisfaction doesn’t only affect our behaviours, it also affects how we feel about ourselves (affective component). There is a correlation with depression (Noles et al., 1985), low self-esteem (Mendelson et al., 2001), feelings of shame (McKinley & Hyde, 1996), body surveillance (McKinley & Hyde), diminished quality of life (Cash & Fleming, 2002), as well as an anxious self-focus and avoiding to expose our body during sexual activity (which can lead to impaired sexual functioning) (Cash et al., 2004).
How can we develop a healthier body image?
As we have learnt before, our body image depends on 1) our judgement and 2) our environment. This means, we can either change our body to fit in with the social norms, or, we change our environment. Who is our environment? Well, that’s you and me. That’s your friends and your family. That’s your climbing partners. So yes, it might sound really hard to change your “sociocultural environment”, but we can all start on a small scale – talk with the people around us about this topic, address it openly. Since we are part of a system, if we change our approach and perspective, we are very likely to influence the people around us, too.
My friend and sport psychologist Daria from Brain & Barbells also suggests to be a role model yourself when it comes to fostering a positive body image by, e.g.
Focus on what others have done, on their effort and determination instead of how they looked. Compliment your friends about it, e.g. “I really admire your dynamic climbing style” than “wow you’re really thin. You must be really good at crimps.”
Don’t only focus on whether someone achieves their goal, but the time, energy and effort they have put in.
Be aware that not everyone – including yourself – is always in a great shape. Be more forgiving – with yourself and others.
Don’t judge others on how they should look. The way how Matilda Söderlund was told to not keep training the way she was because she’d make her look less feminine is super inappropriate. Well meant compliments like “wow you must have lost weight” or “you must have invested a lot of time in your body. Congrats for being so disciplines” are also not really helpful.
In general, sports – or other recreational activities – are proven to have a great positive influence on our body image (Brennan et al., 2010). (However, it can also have a negative impact on our body image if we do e.g. sports too extensively and if we strive for extremes. If you e.g. look at World Cup competitive climbers, another extreme is socially supported and climbers tend to strive for a lean extreme).
As we have learnt before, having a functional body image is more healthy than only focussing on the aesthetics. Knowing that, ask yourself: what is your body capable of? What are you proud of? How has your body helped you to achieve certain things? Write down a list with these things. You can also differentiate between different settings: e.g. how has your body helped you achieve things in climbing, or in school? At work? In your private life?
We are more than our body. We have certain character traits, we have strengths, we have weaknesses. If we only ever measure our personal value on our body and our looks, we leave out so many things that make us the way we are. We are more than just our body. It’s not just our body that makes us special and successful. So ask yourself:
What are your strengths?
What are your personality traits?
What other skills do you have?
What have you contributed to your own success?
How have your strengths helped you in the past to support others?
How have others profited from your strengths?
How would your best friend describe you?
Your social environment is important. “You are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with.” If the people around you are rather negative and foster a negative body image that makes you feel bad about yourself, ask yourself, are these really the people you want to spend all your time with?