Social nudity can promote catharsis and better body image

[Danee]

Psychology Today defines body image as "the mental representation we create of what we think we look like; it may or may not bear a close relation to how others actually see us." Body image can be either negative or positive. Negative body image is feeling awkward, uncomfortable, ashamed, self-conscious or anxious about your body or appearance.

Do you hate the way you look? If so, you aren't alone. According to researchers, more of us than ever, women especially, dislike the way we look. According to a survey that Ann Kearney-Cooke, PhD, a Cincinnati psychologist who specializes in body image helped Glamour magazine put together, "on average, women have 13 negative body thoughts a day, almost one for every waking hour." 97-percent of the women surveyed admitted to having at least one "I hate my body" moment each day."
Another study found that four out of five women in the U.S. are unhappy with their appearance. In a survey of 5,000 women, commissioned by REAL magazine, 91-percent of respondents said they were unhappy with their hips and thighs and 77-percent were dissatisfied with their waist. For many females, negative body image starts early. Researchers say that 81-percent of ten-year-old girls worry about being fat and 42-percent of girls, first through third grade, say they wish they were thinner.
Having a poor body image is unhealthy and can lead to severe anxiety, increased stress and even clinical depression. Researchers have also found that those preoccupied with appearance and body dissatisfaction are at greater risk for engaging in dangerous practices to control their weight and size. Extreme dieting, laxative abuse and eating disorders have all been associated with negative body image.
Poor body image stems from a variety of factors; from internal causes like our moods and emotions, external ones like experiences during childhood or adolescence, parental influence and exposure to images of photo-shopped, idealized versus normal bodies so often depicted in advertising and media.
Sometimes body dissatisfaction is simply feeling unsatisfied with some aspect of our physical appearance. We want to weigh less, be leaner, or fit into a smaller clothing size. That isn't unusual and we have probably all had feelings like that. If a person wants to lose a few pounds and it's only a matter of eating a healthier diet or starting a sensible exercise regimen, that isn't necessarily evidence of having a poor body image. But obsessing about size and appearance and feeling depressed and unattractive because our bodies don't look like those of the celebrities in the tabloids or the fashion models in women's magazines is.
Every day, women and men to a lesser extent, are bombarded with advertising and media images depicting unattainable body types as normal, desirable and achievable. We end up comparing ourselves to these ideals and are left feeling that we fail to measure up to the images we see in films, on television and in print advertisements. The truth is, very few women possess the necessary genetics to attain naturally the ultra-long, thin female body type with large breasts so widely promoted. Many fashion models look emaciated for a reason and these statistics found at the website of Rader Eating Disorder Programs bear this out;
    The majority of runway model meet the Body Mass Index (BMI) criteria to be considered anorexic.
    At 5’7 and 95 lbs. fashion model Kate Moss is 30% below her ideal weight.
    The average fashion model weighs 23% less than the average woman.
    25% of Playboy centerfold models meet the criteria to be considered anorexic.
    The average U.S. model weighs 117 lbs and is 5’11 while the average U.S. woman weighs 140 lbs. and is 5’4.
If you feel caught in the negative body image trap there are lots of things you can do to overcome it. For one, recognize that we live in a society that places a premium on thinness and actively promotes the idea that a woman must be thin to be considered attractive. Societal standards for attractiveness change drastically over the years. In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe was considered an ideal of beauty and attractiveness but as a size 14, full-bodied Marilyn couldn't measure up to the phony standards of today and in fact she would likely be considered fat. Reject the idealized standards of attractiveness presented in media. Images published in tabloids, glamor magazines and advertisements more often than not are computer enhanced and airbrushed. Hips and waists are slimmed, legs are lengthened and breasts are enlarged through the magic of photo editing software. Realize that many of the women celebrities and fashion models today maintain low body weights and extreme thinness because they suffer from eating disorders. Don't feel pressured by society to live up to the unrealistic and largely fake standards of beauty and thinness foisted on women by modern media.

Without claiming it is a panacea for poor body image, I suggest that a visit to one of the Dallas-area nudist resorts and experiencing social nudity for the first time would do a lot of good for Dallas women who suffer from negative body images. Statistically, fewer women than men participate in social nudity. For many it isn't a question of extreme modesty or because they are uncomfortable with the idea of nudity itself, it is more a lack of confidence and dissatisfaction with their bodies. In the sidebar video, Julie Dailey, a member of Heartland Naturists, a Kansas City-area nudist organization, explains in a local television news interview how trying nudism for the first time helped her become not only more self-confident and comfortable with her body, but with who she was as a person, for the first time in her life.

Human beings tend to compare their bodies to a standard, that's normal and to some extent we all do it. In a social nudity setting the difference is you find a more realistic standard when you see what real people look like. You can learn to feel comfortable in your own skin.

http://www.examiner.com/article/social-nudity-can-promote-catharsis-and-better-body-image

http://www.examiner.com/article/dallas-women-and-nudism

[nudetrail]

thanks for sharing Danee