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this video talks about girls from a young girl to an adult.

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Girls Ages 6-18 Talk About Body Image | Allure

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This website has a good balance of men's and womens body issues, it is good to see from both sides of the story.

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Body image issues are more common now than they have been in years past. Studies have revealed that there is a strong correlation between newer media and an increase in body image issues. Traditional media such as magazines and commercials were the culprit of body image issues two decades ago, but technology has evolved. New media such as the internet, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat have significantly increased the number of reported body image issues in teenagers, female and male. Adults are not exempt, body image results for the over 18 group have also been climbing.

What Causes Poor Body Image

Internet usage plays a huge role in modern, everyday life. Users are constantly bombarded with photos of air-brushed, filtered, unrealistic images of people from around the world. These images create unrealistic ideals that many people actively strive to recreate. Real-life is not airbrushed, so this will inevitably lead to body image issues.

Other causes of poor body image can come from being teased as a child or having a parent who constantly encourages weight loss in their child. Teenage years can also wreak havoc on self-esteem, as females are expected to be rail-thin and males are supposed to be lean but muscular.

High numbers of men and women report poor body image and low self-esteem. Body image issues can easily snowball into bigger issues involving self-harm, substance abuse, and eating disorders.

Men's Body Image Issues

Many people believe that body image issues are only found in women, but that's not the case. Men spending time on the internet constantly see airbrushed six-packs, V-shaped stomachs, have body image issues that include a constant comparison to other men, long hours spent at the gym, and the constant feeling of not being attractive enough.

Women's Body Image Issues

Health and beauty companies thrive on the insecurities of women, and they market their products specifically for that reason. Females in commercials and online are unnaturally skinny, have flawless skin and do not age. Many women feel as though they have to embody these unnatural traits, much to the detriment of their health. Excessive dieting, spending hundreds of dollars on beauty products, use of laxatives or diet pills are all indications that a female has an unhealthy body image.

Effects Of Body Image Issues In Men And Women

Poor body image issues will develop into unhealthy lifestyles when not treated. People suffering from these issues are unhappy, depressed, and emotionally unstable. Sometimes these issues go unrecognized, but many times they will reveal themselves in detrimental behaviors.

Body image issues can have lifelong effects on men and women, including the development of eating disorders. Women are constantly being urged to be unnaturally thin, which leads some to diet excessively. Dieting methods such as fasting or laxatives are unhealthy ways in which women try to lose weight as quickly as possible. Eating disorders can easily develop as they try desperately to lose weight by unhealthy means.

Men also try unhealthy means to reach an ideal body weight by extreme dieting or spending hours at the gym trying to look like air-brushed models. The opposite of women, men feel that they are never big enough and try to gain abnormal amounts of muscle weight. This lean, muscular ideal that is trying to be achieved can also lead to eating disorders.

Deliberate self-harm typically indicates underlying conditions, one of them being poor body image. Low self-esteem can cause individuals to begin to self-harm. This can include cutting, burning, or scratching the surface of the skin. It has been theorized that poor body image is a form of self-loathing that creates a desire to do harm to oneself. Negative emotions arising from low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety can all cause self-harming behaviors.

Men and women with body image issues are unhappy with themselves and try to find ways to cope. One method used to numb their emotions is turning to drugs or alcohol. Instead of dealing with stress in a healthy manner, these individuals find solace in the numbing effects of an unhealthy substance. Experimenting with these substances can lead to chronic and uncontrolled use.

Finding Help

If you or a loved one is suffering from body image issues, it's important that you find help as soon as possible. Unhealthy body image issues can lead to unhealthy and detrimental behaviors that can have lifelong effects. Stopping these behaviors before they begin is the best way to treat them.

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How Do Body Image Issues Affect Men And Women? - Harmony Place

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Body image issues are more common now than they have been in years past. Studies have revealed that there is a strong correlation between newer media and an increase in body image issues. Traditional media such as magazines and commercials were the culprit of body image issues two decades ago, but technology has evolved.

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Collage students still deal with body image

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Collage students still deal with body image

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This web site is really helpful. It helped me realize that even the younger poeple that we look up to, whether its a good friend or older sibiling, they still have to go through this.

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School, work and a social life all are responsibilities people endure through college. For some students, worrying about physical appearance is an additional burden that can control one's lifestyle.

Body image is one's perception of their own appearance. This self-perception of a person's physical features can consist of positive thoughts or negative criticisms.

No matter the point in one's life, whether that be before, after or during college, a student can experience negative body image and the consequences that result from the negativity.

Sam Farley, staff psychologist at the Texas Tech Student Counseling Center, said the college environment is one factor that could potentially cause one to develop false beliefs about how they should look.

"With college students, you got older adolescents and young adults who are coming onto a college campus where you're expected to do a lot of things and to fit in a specific way," he said. "For both men and women, there are specific body images that are pushed onto people, and you're expected to meet that."

Ideals of the perfect body type, whether it be a strong body for men or a thin figure for women, are standards Farley said are unrealistic.

One's family, cultural background or the opinions of other students are factors he said could contribute to people wanting to satisfy false ideals of the perfect body. With this desire to fulfill the standards of others, people could experience a variety of feelings.

"Typically, with negative body image, you're going to experience negative emotions that come up," Farley said regarding feelings, such as shame and guilt. "Those feelings, potentially, will continue to increase if you don't see the changes that you want."

Trying to meet the body standards society has determined is a form of pressure Farley said people should never experience.

"It's that aspect of trying to reach some of these things before they get to that level where they would have to see a counselor," he said regarding the need to deal with body image issues early. "So, trying to help individuals not feel so much pressure to change their bodies."

Facing societal pressure is just one aspect of managing one's body image. Maintaining a positive body image may be difficult for some people due to different factors.

Eating disorders are health issues Farley said could cause one's struggle with body image to be more difficult.

"What we kind of see is that body dissatisfaction or negative body image typically is one of the core pathologies of an eating disorder," Farley said.

Eating disorders could have a variety of effects on one's mental and physical state. Depending on the effects, a person may have different thoughts toward their own physical features.

Regardless of the type, eating disorders could have a direct relationship with negative body image.

Emmy Lu Henley, program director for eating disorders at the Tech Center for Collegiate Recovery Communities, said body image and eating disorders are not mutually exclusive.

"Struggling with body image can be completely separate from an eating disorder," she said. "However, that body image component is pretty much always a piece of an eating disorder."

With the number of eating disorder cases, Henley said body image is a small facet of the issue. Specifically, negative body image is an obstacle she said consists of a person projecting their internal condition onto their body.

"An eating disorder is an internal condition that manifests through the use of these different behaviors to change the way that we feel," Henley said. "Distress about body weight and shape is actually part of the diagnostic criteria for eating disorders."

Despite the connection between body image and eating disorders, Henley said anyone can perceive negative body image.

"When we look at the eating disorders, there's often a pretty significant distortion that coincides with that internal distress surrounding body and shape," she said. "Body image concerns can happen at any weight, shape and size."

Whether it be counseling at the SCC or assistance at the CCRC, which provides resources for people who have had at least one year of recovery, there are a variety of services dedicated to helping people end negative body image.

The Body Project is a program aimed at helping one overcome critical thoughts about their own appearance.

Zohal Heidari, graduate student from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, studying clinical psychology, is the lead coordinator of Tech's chapter of the Body Project. Helping one face negative body image is just one goal of the Body Project sessions.

"In the first session, we work to improve our body image. We work to breakdown fat talk," Heidari said. "In the second session, we really focus on that awareness piece."

The Body Project, which requires people to register prior to attending, has information presented in TechAnnounce. People interested in registering can also visit the Body Project's Facebook page, which will list dates of future sessions and provide links to register.

Along with the need to attend a session, Heidari said it is important for students to distance themselves from any negativity. Especially, when that negativity concerns one's physical appearance.

"Make sure you're not surrounding yourself around negative stuff," she said. "I would encourage anyone to take advantage of the Body Project."

The Body Project sessions, which allow for peer leaders to teach students about body image, are opportunities Heidari said will have a huge effect on those who participate. Creating a safe place from unrealistic body images and reminding people not to speak badly about others are tasks she said she wants to accomplish with the Body Project.

"It's not just don't talk badly about others' bodies," she said. "But don't talk badly about your body."

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College students continue to struggle with body image

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School, work and a social life all are responsibilities people endure through college. For some students, worrying about physical appearance is an additional burden that can control one's lifestyle. Body image is one's perception of their own appearance.

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This video shows that how women see themselves vs how anyone else sees them. They see the little details on themselves, whereas strangers see the bigger picture.

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Dove Real Beauty Sketches 多芬: 描繪真正的美麗 (中文字幕)

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This book is about a new girl named Kelly who isn't body positive and her friend Escence helps giver her confidence and ignore the media. This book was created by Trinity Sapp.

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Web-based app for making ebooks in the classroom. Teachers can get started for free and invite students to join their library. Add text, images, audio and video and easily publish your books online.

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This was a great site to use because it gave a lot of good information on ways to make you less self conscious of your body

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What is body image?

Body image refers to a person's personal view of their body shape, size, weight, and appearance. It also consists of how greatly one values a desired body weight, size or shape, preoccupation, level of satisfaction, and fear of weight gain. Body image is also influenced by personal body size and shape history, as well as cultural and societal norms and expectations. This image of oneself may or may not reflect how others view them or be an objective view of their body. It is important to note that most people experience some degree of body dissatisfaction or distress either at some point in their lives during a period of body change; For example, during adolescence, pregnancy or illness. Many experience body image dissatisfaction to some extent throughout their lives.

Causes of Body Image Dissatisfaction

Poor body image can begin to develop at a very young age. With estimates ranging from 20-70% of children under the age of 6 expressing body dissatisfaction. It is more commonly thought that negative body image affects only girls and women, but this is not the case. Men and boys suffer negative body image and related poor self-esteem too, but they may be less likely to admit to being affected because it is less socially acceptable. Body dissatisfaction in boys and men can often be focused on a desire to be bigger or have more muscle mass, rather than thinness per se.

There are many factors that may contribute to negative body image. Within American culture, thinness and beauty are highly valued, and wealth and success are often considered to go hand in hand with being thin. The media has historically glamorized thinness. This is witnessed in television, movies, news, and professional sports. Media, and social media, specifically, serve to fuel body image concerns in children, teenagers, and adults. Influencers and social media presences demonstrate what it looks like to be beautiful, thin, successful, and popular. Their body weight, appearance and beauty are often associated with their social standing, wealth, and success. This is despite the fact that social media accounts are highly curated, often unrealistically altered snapshots of an individual's appearance and lived experience. Thin-ideal media highlights the idea that thinness is a good and desirable thing to be, even if it is to a level that is potentially damaging to a persons health.

Participation in certain aesthetic sports or activities can also fuel body image concerns and efforts to alter one's body shape and size. Sports such as gymnastics, dance, distance running, and swimming may place participants at risk for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. These risks can be elevated in elite-level athletics.

Body image and eating disorders

The development of an eating disorder is the result of a complex interaction of biological, psychological, social and environmental factors. Negative body image alone is not necessarily enough to trigger an eating disorder. However, poor body image may result in dieting or restrictive eating patterns in order to lose weight, which can develop into an eating disorder. This is especially true for those with a genetic predisposition toward developing eating disorders.

One component of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa specifically is an over-valuation of shape and weight, meaning that body size and shape are given a high value in the person's overall self-concept. Those with anorexia nervosa often struggle to accurately perceive or describe their body size and shape, even if they become dangerously underweight. Furthermore, body image concerns typically do not improve over the course of the illness or as an individual loses weight. Though this is not described as part of the diagnostic criteria, people with binge eating disorder (BED) can experience over-evaluation of shape and weight, and it can be a strong indicator of severity of eating disorder symptoms in these individuals.

The Effects of Poor Body Image

The effects of a poor body image of women can be profound. For someone genetically predisposed to an eating disorder, dieting caused by a negative body image could trigger one. However for the majority of the population, what happens is a preoccupation with food and diet, weight cycling, low self-esteem, low self-confidence and never feeling that one's body is adequate. In addition to leading to the development of eating disorders, a poor body image can contribute to depression, anxiety, problems in relationships, the development of substance abuse problems, and consequently various health problems.

Poor self-esteem often contributes to problems in relationships, the workplace, and any area in life that requires confidence.

Addressing and treating Negative Body Image

Changing the way the media portrays women is a long-term goal for many advocacy groups. There are currently national and international efforts to make marketers take responsibility for displaying pictures of men and women that are unrealistic. The #truthinads campaign is an example of this and some beauty brands and clothing producers have reacted to public pressure by promising never to use photoshopped models in their catalogs and to expand sizes.

On the individual level, there are some things you can practice to improve self-esteem. Focusing on your accomplishments and good qualities and important aspects of your self-concept, repeating gratitude and loving kindness affirmations, and engaging in activities that result in a feeling of pleasure and mastery can all help to shore up self-esteem. Regularly engaging in enjoyable and moderate movement or exercise can also help with body image. With regard to social media, unfollowing social media accounts that result in excessive comparison or feelings of distress. Excessively seeking out social media content that results in downward social comparison, or, taking the stance that you are not as good (fit, thin, healthy, etc.), as the person or account you are viewing, is especially detrimental to mental health. Following body positive influencers or accounts may help. However, if you find it difficult to identify with the message that you should simply love your body as it is, it may be wise to distance yourself from these types of posts as well. negative body image and disordered eating in response.

For those with serious anxiety, depression or eating disorders related to poor body image, psychotherapy or counseling is recommended. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective form of therapy that can be used to target poor body image as a stand-alone issue or in the context of effective eating disorder treatment. It can take a long time to get to a place of love for your body, especially after years of dissatisfaction and efforts to change your body. Therapy can help you to move first toward a place of body acceptance and appreciation.
Sponsored Content:
Selah House offers Christian eating disorder treatment for women and teen girls. They utilize evidence-based approaches and focus on dealing with the underlying issues to support long-term recovery. To find out more about Sela House and see how they can help, just follow the link to their website.
Additional Information:
For more information on the media and body image, follow these links to body image in the media, the perfect body image, and Barbie and body image. To find out how you can help and to learn about healthy body images and body dysmorphic disorder, just follow the links. Learn more about how weight stigma and eating disorders are related.

Here is a list of celebrities that promote a healthy body image. Be sure to choose your role models carefully.

See also these tips from the National Eating Disorder Association: 10 Steps to Positive Body Image
Return To Home Page Written by Tabitha Farrar - 2014 References:
Updated by Dr Elisha Mitchell Carcierei, Ph.D. - 2019
1. Park, S. (2005). The influence of presumed media influence on women's desire to be thin.Communication Research, 32(5), 594-614.

2. Hargreaves, D. A., &Tiggemann, M. (2004). Idealized media images and adolescent body image: "comparing" boys and girls. Body Image, 1(4), 351-361.

3. LM, Irwin CE & Scully S: Disordered eating characteristics in girls: A survey of middle class children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 1992

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Body image refers to a person's personal view of their body shape, size, weight, and appearance. It also consists of how greatly one values a desired body weight, size or shape, preoccupation, level of satisfaction, and fear of weight gain.

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This website helped me understand men's body image and when most men gain body issues.

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The body image men have is different than the body image women have. While we hear a lot about the importance of a healthy body image in women, a healthy male body image is also important.

Body image not only affects how we see ourselves, it affects how we interact with others and how we behave. It affects our physical and mental health.
How Male Body Image Develops
Men begin to develop their body image when they are still children, based on parental cues. When they begin attending school, their body image develops further. The media also influences the development of the body image men have. Under ideal circumstances, men develop realistic body images. They understand what a healthy body looks like and have realistic expectations about what they should weigh.

Unfortunately, if men grow up with criticisms about their appearance, their body image may suffer. Men that are regularly exposed to unrealistic images in the media may also experience a poor body image. Even little boys that play with GI Joe figures may find their body image suffers; a GI Joe toy, if extrapolated into human size, would be taller than the average man and have bigger biceps than any bodybuilder. This gives boys an unrealistic ideal to live up to.
Problems With The Body Image Men Have Today
A counselor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering reports that over the past decade, male college students have expressed increasing degrees of dissatisfaction with their bodies. Men that regularly read fitness magazines express greater dissatisfaction than those that don't read such magazines. Male body image suffers when men are exposed to images of unrealistic male bodies.

A survey conducted by Psychology Today found that men believe their appearance is much more important to women then women report it is; for instance, men believe if they lose their hair women will not want to date them, even though many women say they are willing to date bald men. In an effort to become more attractive, men spend billions of dollars on things like hair transplants, cosmetic surgery and pectoral implants. Some men go to great lengths to improve their male body image. There is nothing wrong with trying to improve your appearance but cosmetic surgery procedures involve some risk and these procedures can be very expensive.

The development of eating disorders is a serious concern for men with body image issues. Certainly not all men with poor body image develop eating disorders, but some do. The Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness reports that between 2.4 and 3.6 million men suffer from eating disorders today. Up to 20 percent of people with anorexia die from the condition, so this is a very serious issue.
Addressing The Body Image Men Have Today
We must address the poor body image men have to prevent conditions like depression, anorexia and bulimia. Of course a poor male body image is not the only thing that causes such conditions but it can be a contributing factor for some men. It's normal for people to feel a bit self-conscious about their appearance from time to time and it's normal to have a few small things you'd like to change about your appearance if you could. However, if men feel obsessed with their appearance or if their concerns about their appearance begin to interfere with their daily lives, they should seek help. For instance, a man that refuses to participate in social gathering because he worries about his appearance should consider counseling.

Certainly any man that has symptoms of anorexia or bulimia should seek treatment. Symptoms to watch for include excessive weight loss, health problems caused by excessive weight loss or malnutrition, eating very small or very large amounts of food, excessive use of diet pills or laxatives and vomiting after eating.
Get Help Today
If you have body image concerns that are affecting your life, perhaps speaking with an online licensed therapist would help. Your problem is never too small or too big, too silly or too complicated to ask for help from an expert. With Betterhelp, you can speak with a therapist as often as you like, and don't even need to use your real name. You can speak with them by messaging, phone, live chatting or video sessions. For a low weekly flat fee, you get unlimited sessions. To learn more about Betterhelp and see if they can help you, just follow the link to their website.

Return To Home Page

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The body image men have is different than the body image women have. While we hear a lot about the importance of a healthy body image in women, a healthy male body image is also important. Body image not only affects how we see ourselves, it affects how we interact with others and how we behave.

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This was a great website when figuring out how men and women's body issues differ and how they are similar.

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Researchers don't make a distinction about what body image is to men and women. However, separate research is being done on the different ways each of the sexes handle body image. Most research has been conducted surrounding female body image, so male body image research, while becoming more popular, still lacks the depth and breadth of its counterpart.

How They're Similar

So far, research has shown that male and female body images share many of the same features. Women and men, boys and girls, may share body image risk factors and consequences of negative body image, though studies do point toward males being affected a little less severely than females (Hargreaves & Tiggemann 2006). Brennan, Lalonde, and Bain (2010) conducted a comparative study of how male and female body image dissatisfaction is experienced in each of the sexes in which participants rated body image reactions to a series of statements. When responding to the statements, "When I am with attractive persons of the other sex," "when the topic of conversation pertains to physical appearance," and "during certain recreational activities," both men and women reported experiencing negative emotions between sometimes and moderately often, This shows that men and women are equally insecure in their bodies when the idea of 'the body' is directly or indirectly confronted in social situations.

How They're Different

However, male body image is distinguished from female body image in several ways:

Men seem to be more prone to 'atypical' eating disorders and substance abuse than women (Burlew & Shurts 2013).

Men tend to be quieter about their body negativity, seeking treatment less frequently or holding off on treatment longer than women due to shame (Brennan, Lalonde, & Bain 2010; Burlew & Shurts 2013). Women, however, internalize more, body shame more, and body surveillance more than men (Brennan, Lalonde, & Bain 2010).

Some researchers say men are typically more satisfied with their physical appearance and less likely than women to exhibit body-change behaviors (Muth & Cash 1997; see Doyle & Engeln 2014)

But other researchers insist that men still struggle with body image: They say men are caught "feeling either too thin or too heavy to meet the male ideal" (Doyle and Engeln 2014, 279).

Male body image also tends to be more misunderstood than female body image. Men are presumed to be mainly concerned with a "perceived lack of muscle," when in fact male body image can be much more complex (See the first page of Male Body Image). On the other hand, the presumed concern for females is not as off the mark: weight.

It may seem unhealthy female body image is more prevalent than unhealthy male body image, but that may only be a perception: some researchers claim that women are simply exposed to more social situations that make them feel dissatisfied with their bodies, so the numbers reflect that women are more dissatisfied than men (Brennan, Lalonde, & Bain 2010). This clarifies why female body image is so prevalent whereas male body image is rarely recognized.

These differences of how the sexes relate to negative body image are important when it comes to recognizing it in males. It is critical we turn attention to male body image as much as we validate and seek to make it positive for women. For more information about how men develop unhealthy body image, check out Boys and Body Image to learn about the damaging outcomes of negative body image on males.

Why should we care about male body image?

A massive "95% of college age men are dissatisfied with their bodies on some level" (Daniel & Bridges 2013). That's a huge portion of each campus's population! We need to pay more attention to male body image and the struggles men may face when coming to terms with their imperfect bodies. Just as today's society expects women to become thinner with statuesque features, American men, and men all across Western cultures, feel pressure to pump up their bodies and slim down, creating a combination of lean, bulky muscle. However, unhealthy male body image extends beyond the average college man.

According to a study, over 90% of men struggle in some way with body dissatisfaction and negative affect (negative opinions of self), or negative emotions and thoughts towards one's body (Castonguay et al. 2014). Research also shows that body image disorders may be more severe in both gay and heterosexual teenage-through-young-adult (post-college) males than men in other age categories (Burlew & Shurts 2013).

As a culture we know very little about the prevalence of this issue in men and boys since body image is traditionally considered a 'female problem'. The fact is, men can suffer just as much body dissatisfaction as women, but we may pay less attention to male body image because men are quieter about these problems: Men tend to seek treatment, counseling, or positive solutions less frequently, or they hold off on doing so out of shame and embarrassment (Burlew & Shurts 2013).

We need to encourage men to be more open with their views on body image and give more attention to promoting healthy, realistic male body image as much as we do for females.

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Researchers don't make a distinction about what body image is to men and women. However, separate research is being done on the different ways each of the sexes handle body image. Most research has been conducted surrounding female body image, so male body image research, while becoming more popular, still lacks the depth and breadth of its counterpart.

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A podcast, recorded by Zharria and Trinity and edited by Aiden, this podcast was created to show how people in the high school population are affected by body image pressure and how they feel about themselves or if they worry what others think of them.

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A podcast about the issue of body image by The String

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A podcast about the issue of body image by The String

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With people interviewed and some great hosts

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This is a crossword puzzle created by Aiden England, that was created to help show some of the words that can relate to body image and help to find a deeper understanding of this term and some of the words that relate to it.