What Is Your Body Image Perception?

Body Liberator – someone who teaches people how to release the feelings of negativity, bondage and/or captivity they feel about their body. Simply stated, I help people with a poor body image learn to appreciate who they are right now by getting reacquainted and back in-touch with their true essence. After all, beyond your physical self, your essence is what you truly emanate to the world.

Body image- an individual’s perception of the how he or she looks and how sexually attractive they believe themselves to be. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his book The Image and Appearance of the Human Body (1935). "Human society has at all times placed great value on beauty of the human body, but a person's perception of their own body may not correspond to society's standards."*

Perception of your body is vital because it impacts every area of their life from how you relate to people to how you show up in the world. Poor body image often means missing out on friendships, relationships, experiences, happiness, money, job opportunities, intimacy, and so much more. Does this sound like you? If so, the good news is you’re not alone and there is help available.

Some Facts about Body Image: **

• Americans spend over 40 billion dollars/year on dieting and diet related products – that is equivalent to about 25% of what the US Government spends on education each year.
• 80% of females are unhappy with their body.
• At any given time, 45% of women and 25% of men are on a diet.
• In 2007, there were approximately 11.7 million cosmetic procedures performed in the US and ninety percent of these were performed on females.
• The average American female is 5’4” tall weighing 140 lbs. The average American model is 5’11” tall weighing 117 lbs.
• Twenty years ago models weighed 8% less than the average female. Today they weigh 23% less than the average female.
• According to Girl Scouts research, one-third of all girls have a distorted idea about their weight.
• 53% of thirteen-year old American girls are unhappy with their bodies and that number grows to 78% by the time the girls reach the age of seventeen.

Looking at these statistics, it's easy to conclude that this is not only an ongoing issue – it’s also progressive. Society’s image of what is considered beauty is getting slimmer and slimmer and the reality is, it’s NOT REAL. Today’s portrayal of what the female body should look like is even more distorted because of the ability to alter or change images via computerized retouching. Most of the altered pictures you see create an unrealistic sense of what society considers being beautiful.

That is a sad state of affairs because we are killing ourselves trying to reach this state of perfection. Eating disorders now account for the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.***

Now more than ever before, society needs a wake-up call and to start realizing the importance of positive body image no matter what your size, shape, or form so this issue stops “eating away” so many people.

References:

www.toyourbody.com – Body Liberation Blog

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_image

**http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-body-image,

http://www.parentfurther.com/technology-media/facts/facts_mediaeffect.s…,

http://www.now.org/issues/media/index.html

***http://www.examiner.com/headlines-in-philadelphia/eating-disorders-caus…