BANTER BASICS: What is Body Image?
Compiled by Sierra Winters
Recommended Resources for Deeper Diving
Find resources and articles concerning body image on the NEDA website
If you are looking for a book, check out this list of novels, memoirs, and all-around discussions about body image.
If you are more in the mood for a film, queue up one of these films that address body image in an entertaining and theatrical way.
The Illusionists is a documentary about body image with a global spin. See how the pressure to conform is universal while the expectations differ.
Here is a review of other documentaries, including “Embrace,” “The Sixty-Six Percent,” “Straight/Curve,” and “Plus Size Wars.”
References
(1) McShirley, C. What is body image? PsychAlive. https://www.psychalive.org/what-is-body-image/
(2) NEDA. Body Image & Eating Disorders. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/body-image-eating-disorders
(3) Stice, E., & Shaw, H. E. (2002). Role of body dissatisfaction in the onset and maintenance of eating pathology: a synthesis of research findings. Journal of psychosomatic research, 53(5), 985–993. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3999(02)00488-9
(4) Cash, T. F., & Smolak, L. (Eds.). (2011). Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
(5) Eisenberg, M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Perry, C. (2005). The role of social norms and friends’ influences on unhealthy weight-control behaviors among adolescent girls. Social Science and Medicine, 60(6), 1165-1173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.06.055
(6) Cohen, R., Fardouly, J., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2019). #BoPo on Instagram: An experimental investigation of the effects of viewing body positive content on young women’s mood and body image. New Media & Society, 21(7), 1546-1564. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819826530
(7) Alleva, J., Tylka, T., van Oorsouw, K., Montanaro, E., Perey, I., Bolle, C., Boselie, J., Peters, M., & Webb, J. (2020). The effects of yoga on functional appreciation and additional facets of positive body image. Body Image, 34, 184-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.06.003