Body Shaming: It’s effect on mental health
Author: Sanobar Jatu, Rehmat Gahlot, Daanya Katerwala
Introduction
Body shaming is a pervasive social issue that involves criticizing, ridiculing, or stigmatizing individuals based on their physical appearance. This harmful behavior can manifest in various forms, such as weight-based discrimination, beauty standards, or unrealistic expectations. Body shaming has far-reaching consequences, affecting not only a person’s self-esteem but also their mental and emotional well-being. Understanding and addressing body shaming is essential for fostering a more inclusive and accepting society.
The effects of body shaming on mental health can be profound and damaging. When individuals are subjected to criticism or negative judgements about their physical appearance, it can lead to a range of mental health issues, including:
- Low self-esteem: Constant criticism can erode a person’s self-worth and confidence, leading to feelings of inadequacy.
- Body dissatisfaction: Body shaming often results in dissatisfaction with one’s own body, which can contribute to body image issues and self-criticism.
- Depression: The emotional distress caused by body shaming can lead to depression, characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and disinterest in activities.
- Eating disorders: Some people turn to unhealthy eating habits or extreme diets as a response to body shaming, potentially leading to conditions like anorexia or bulimia.
Objective:
To understand the underlying phenomena of “Body Shaming: its effect on mental health”
Literature Review:
- The Dark Threads That Weave the Web of Shame: A Network Science-Inspired Analysis of Body Shaming:
Corradini, E. (2023). In recent years, social media platforms have become increasingly popular and have radically changed the way we interact with one another. While social media platforms provide many benefits, including the ability to connect with others and share information, they can also be a breeding ground for harmful behaviours and attitudes. One such behaviour is body shaming, a form of social stigma that targets individuals based on their physical appearance. Body shaming can take many forms, including comments about weight, height, facial features, and skin colour, among others. Body shaming can lead to negative health outcomes, self-esteem issues, and a range of mental health problems. Social media platforms, in particular, have been identified as a space where body shaming can thrive. These platforms offer a level of anonymity and a lack of accountability that can fuel negative attitudes and behaviours. Among social media platforms, Reddit stands out as one of the largest and most diverse, with millions of users participating in thousands of subreddits, or online communities. Toxic behaviours and their propagation have been investigated on general social media platforms. Social network analysis, in particular, has emerged as a valuable methodology for analyzing online communities and identifying the patterns of behaviour that contribute to toxicity. This paper presents an analysis framework to uncover the dynamics of body shaming on Reddit through a social network analysis approach.
- Effects of body shame on poor health decisions: The mediating role of body responsiveness:
Lamont, J. M. (2021). Body shame predicts decisions to engage in appearance-improving behaviours that compromise health, suggesting that body shame may promote the devaluing of health in service of appearance. Furthermore, body shame may drive such decisions by diminishing body responsiveness, or the valuing of health-related bodily functions. Body shame was originally proposed as a mechanism by which self-objectification may lead to poor psychological health outcomes (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997), and body shame has indeed been linked consistently to depression, eating disorders, and sexual dysfunction. However, research is beginning to show that body shame also predicts poor physical health outcomes. Moreover, body shame has been reliably linked to behaviours that are expected to improve appearance but that compromise physical health. Why would body shame predict poor physical health, and particularly health behaviours? After all, health and beauty are often conflated such that behaviours that improve health are also expected to improve appearance. However, risking health in order to improve appearance seems to imply that within the context of body shame, the importance an individual places on their physical health is diminished. Thus, another explanation for body shame’s association with poor health behaviours is that body shame may promote not just valuing appearance but also devaluing one’s own physical health.
Data collection:
For the problem we created five questions and derived data from 100 students of JDBIMS-SNDT UNIVERSITY on the likert scale of 1 to 5 [strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree] out of which mean, standard deviation, standard error and z test were calculated. Z values were calculated with the hypothesized mean as 3.
Data Analysis:
Q1- I have been body shamed
Q2- Body shaming has affected my mental health
Q3- Body shaming gives me anxiety
Q4- Body shaming has led me to eating disorder
Q5- Body shaming has affected my self esteem
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 | |
| MEAN | 3.71 | 3.25 | 3.35 | 2.7 | 3.11 |
| STD DEVIATION | 1.1397 | 1.313 | 1.282 | 1.439 | 1.333 |
| STD ERROR | 0.114 | 0.131 | 0.128 | 0.144 | 0.133 |
| Z | 6.228 | 1.908 | 2.734 | -2.083 | 0.827 |
| RESULT | POSITIVE | NEUTRAL | POSITIVE | NEGATIVE | NEUTRAL |
Conclusion:
Through the Z test’s POSITIVE result of Q1 & Q3, we have concluded that most of the research population have been body shamed which has further led them to anxiety.
As Q2 & Q5 show a NEUTRAL result, therefore we conclude that body shaming has affected mental health of some of our research population while might have not affected the mental health of the remaining research population or even if body shaming has affected their mental health but the trauma might not have been extreme. Neutral result towards affect on mental health and self esteem indicate that both the problems are interconnected and mental health has a direct effect on one’s self esteem and confidence as it disturbs the peace of mind and makes us think negatively about ourselves. Also even though most of the research population have been body shamed we can assume that they might not have let it affect their self worth which also balances their mental health.
Q4 of the research problem shows a NEGATIVE result which indicates even though most of the research population have been body shamed but it has not positively resulted in eating disorders which can be further concluded that only a small portion of research population has faced the problem of eating disorders owing to body shaming.
Body shaming, a pervasive issue in today’s society, takes a significant toll on mental health. When individuals are subjected to criticism and negativity about their bodies, it erodes their self-esteem and self-worth. Constant exposure to body shaming messages, whether from media, peers, or social media, can lead to heightened levels of anxiety, depression, and even eating disorders.
The impact of body shaming goes beyond surface-level insecurities; it penetrates deep into one’s psyche, creating a distorted self-image and fostering feelings of inadequacy. Such emotional distress can hinder personal growth, relationships, and overall well-being. Moreover, body shaming often perpetuates a cycle of self-hate, where individuals may engage in harmful behaviours such as extreme dieting or excessive exercising in an attempt to meet unrealistic standards set by society.
Addressing body shaming requires a collective effort to challenge societal norms and promote body positivity. Encouraging self-acceptance, embracing diverse body types, and fostering a culture of kindness and empathy are essential steps toward mitigating the adverse effects of body shaming. By raising awareness about the psychological impact of body shaming and promoting a more inclusive and accepting environment, we can support individuals in their journey toward better mental health and overall well-being.
References:
Corradini, E. (2023). The dark threads that weave the web of shame: A network science-inspired analysis of body shaming on reddit. Information, 14(8), 436. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/info14080436
Lamont, J. M. (2021). Effects of body shame on poor health decisions: The mediating role of body responsiveness: Research and reviews. Current Psychology, 40(11), 5489-5498. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00528-y