Body Image
Statistics
Around half of girls report wanting to be thinner by age 6-8 years old, and are dieting by around age 10. By their 20's, around 90% of women have tried dieting. Studies have found that 95% of the time, diets don't work long-term.
The diet and weight loss industry in the United States is worth $72+ billion dollars, and on average, women contribute $250,000 to the beauty industry in their lifetime.
Interview
With Tori Kadera, MA, LPCC, NCC
Kadera Mental Health Services PLLC, www.kmhs.net
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about helping people connect with their golden authenticity and live fully as who they are, not who they think they should be.
What message do you have for women in our community?
Put your energy into your passions, your pleasure, your creativity, and to your sensual movement in the world.
What message do you have on the issue of Women’s Body Image?
Patriarchal society has done an amazing job at oppressing women, as many of us realize. Generally, we women in America are separated from our own nature to fit into the patriarchal constructs around us. The expectation that women must have ‘desirable bodies’ has become a national obsession with an incredibly high price tag. The impact to mental health is enormous. Depression, suicidality, anxiety, social anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, etc. are all manifested through the sense that one is unacceptable to society.
In my practice, I see women who spend most of their days thinking about how wrong, bad, disgusting, and undesirable their bodies are. For many, the first thought in the morning, the last thought at bedtime, and the random conscious thoughts that pop up in the night are related to their disgust with their own bodies. Following those thoughts are usually filled with resolve to be good members of society and finally, once and for all, do what is asked of them and become (or remain) thin and beautiful. I ask these women what they might spend time thinking about if they no longer spent 75-95% of their lives hating their bodies or desperately attempting to preserve youth and beauty. The answers I get are beautiful and so very natural to the core of feminine nature.
Women can reconnect with themselves once they learn that they do not need to believe the lies that they are undesirable or unacceptable to society. This is usually followed by a feeling of freedom from self-imposed oppression under society’s watchful eyes. The truth is that all the criticism on women’s bodies is a form of oppression. We are oppressed so that we may not step into ourselves fully and become the amazingly powerful creators that we are. When a woman fully owns herself, she is stunningly and magnificently beautiful, no matter what her body looks like. So shine ladies! Shine!
Women in History
Beauty standards have drastically fluctuated over history, as recently as the 1600's to present day. For centuries, these trends determined a woman's value to her husband as property.
"I don't think that loving yourself is a choice. I think that it's a decision that has to be made for survival; it was in my case. Loving myself was the result of answering two things: Do you want to live? 'Cause this is who you're gonna be for the rest of your life. Or are you gonna just have a life of emptiness, self-hatred and self-loathing? And I chose to live, so I had to accept myself." -Lizzo
Letters
“To Those Who Have Lost- As women we are countlessly devalued, whether it be in a positive way or a negative way, our strives are not that recognized. With our struggles, we are not just allowed- but deserve- to go through every emotion that comes from the winning and then losing in the constant shifting of the ground we live in. The stigma of being over emotional is completely misinterpreted. The strength it takes to face losses and to be able to enjoy wins is undeniably underrated."
for eating disorder help: (800) 931-2237