Body Image in 2023
Amidst all of the "new year, new you!" chatter, how can you resist a new diet - or even more drastic options to change your appearance?
Happy New Year!
2023 has begun, and like many of you, I can’t quite resist the urge to set some goals for the new year. Because so much of the “new year, new you!” messaging focuses on food and fitness, it’s difficult to think outside of that box. However, I’m hoping to watch more television and more movies and read more for pleasure in 2023. I’m finishing off two books I’ve been really enjoying (Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Anker) and, for not the first time, I’m wondering why I don’t prioritize reading fiction. It seems that reading for fun often gets lost in the daily grind, which for me involves reading and writing a lot of nonfiction.
Speaking of nonfiction, Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life, is nearly drafted in its entirety (90k words and counting). We have not yet set our 2024 publication date, but I’ll keep you posted! In the meantime, some of the most common questions I get about body image are featured in this recent post from PsychWire’s ASK, along with my answers.
But back to new year’s resolutions, if you need some help resisting the urge to get on the dieting bandwagon, here’s a summary of some of the anti-diet science. Oona Hanson and I wrote this article a couple of years ago now (and it was picked up by a number of news outlets, including USA Today), but it all holds true. There’s nothing wrong with eating more salads in the new year, but the science is very clear that restrictive diets can do more harm than good. If you want to help your tween or teen to understand the problems with dieting, I feature a chapter focused on just this issue in both The Body Image Book for Girls and The Body Image Book for Boys.
Book Recs
I’ve also started a list of body image/ anti-diet books and hope you will help me add to the list.
I am so thrilled that more and more books are available for kids, teens, and adults of all genders, and I am happy to buy these books and support other authors in whatever ways I can. I’m interested in sharing books about body image but also eating and mental health in general. Please self-promote and add links to order (and pre-order!).
Cosmetic surgery in the new year?
Although the data for 2022 are not yet in, The Aesthetic Society for cosmetic surgery reported a 54% increase in cosmetic surgery procedures in 2021 and women accounted for 94% of all of these procedures. Although boys and men have body image concerns that rival girls’ and women’s concerns in terms of prevalence, this dramatic gender difference when it comes to surgery is very telling. Just how far will women go to alter their appearance? How do we embrace our sense of body autonomy without placing ourselves at risk? What is an adaptive appearance investment versus a maladaptive investment? I consider all of this in a 5-minute video summary for MedPage Today.
What if my body just can’t DO what I want it to?
All the new year messaging tends to focus on self-improvement for the sake of appearances, but I appreciate that many of us struggle not just with how our body looks, but also with what it can’t do. Chronic illness and chronic pain are a part of life for more than half of all adults in the U.S. As someone who has struggled with chronic illness and chronic pain for over 15 years, I understand that nurturing a positive body image is not just about feeling comfortable with our appearance but also with our (limited) functionality. I delve into a discussion of this – from both my personal experience and experience as a body image scientist – in the Anybody Everybody podcast.
Book Reviews
The Body Image Book for Girls received some strange reviews last month that focused on the problems with psychologists and books doing mothers’ jobs. Yikes! Please click your way over to Amazon so that these are not the most recent reviews that potential buyers see? Of course, feel free to let Amazon shoppers know that The Body Image Book for Boys is the best book about body image for boys that you’ve seen (it’s pretty much the only book about body image for tween/teen boys, so that’s easy!). Please go to Amazon and write a review!
I hope that 2023 starts off strong!
Until Feb…
XO
That's so sad about cosmetic surgery rates rising but I guess also not surprising. I'm all for body autonomy but also hate the pressure women feel to look a certain way. Thanks for the post!