I can't think of a title, but it's "serious thread" time.

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:42 am

I was just thinking today that a lot of people I know have problems with their body image. As a matter of fact, pretty much most of them. Why are people so unhappy with how they appear? Is it possible to have general disdain for one's features without necassarily having an ideal? Would people have these problems even if there was no such thing as "the media?"

UgghTheCaveman · Post by **UgghTheCaveman** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:13 am

Since people bled themselves for a more pale and therefore "noble and fair" appearance before there was any such thing as a newspaper OR media hyped "ideal image" nonsense, I'd have to say that yes, people have an ingrained self-image/body conciousness issue. I'd bet that early females had issues about feeling they were too thin to match the earth goddess ideals shown in prehistoric carvings/images.

Xnapalmxmorningx · Post by **Xnapalmxmorningx** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:28 pm

I know that one of my friend's body image problems was due to control issues(there where some sort of discord/power struggle in her home). She felt that the only thing she could control was her weight, which then led to a whole slew of eating disorders and medical problems (it also didn't help that she decided to become a raw food vegan)

Mskala · Post by **Mskala** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:29 pm

"Hey, I wish she'd pay attention to me!"
"Oh no, she isn't doing so!"
"In fact, she's treating me the same way I treated that ugly chick yesterday!"
"Oh no, I must be ugly, too!"

I figure that enough people have that experience and draw that conclusion from it, to adequately explain the entire "poor body image" phenomenon without needing anything more sinister to be a factor.

Aeridus · Post by **Aeridus** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:48 pm

I never cared about my body image.

I just make sure I'm not hideous enough to scare passing swine before I leave the house, is all.

Lulujayne · Post by **Lulujayne** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 2:03 am

I've always found it intruiging that when I wander off to holiday on a tropical, white sanded, clear watered island, or go camping in the bush for longer than a week that my own particular body issues fade into insignificance.

I think that it's the combination of a lack of mirrors, and the re-affirmation that there's much bigger and better things in life to be interested/concerned about

(incidentally, only two weeks to go before next scheduled sorjourn - YAY!)

Kittyboymuffin · Post by **Kittyboymuffin** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:14 am

Hmm. Not many problems here ... I suppose there was one bit of angst in middle school when I got rejected by this girl I had a crush on, but nothing that can't be solved by getting contacts. Well ... nothing SERIOUS, anyway.

Oh, and maybe getting a superior pair of cat-ears.

Katjapurrs · Post by **Katjapurrs** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 12:07 pm

Ears!

wahoo... new avatar, *Now With Ears!*

Honor · Post by **Honor** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:42 pm

My issues are, so far as I can tell, purely asthetic.

I'm a creative / artistic person with a strong and developed sense of what I do and don't like, and when I look in the mirror, or (far worse) see photos of myself, what I see falls into the "don't like" category.

If it was on someone else, I wouldn't particularly like what she looked like, either... Althuogh, to be honest, I wouldn't care as much as I do when it's me we're talking about...

I think the primary reason for that is that what I see also doesn't match very well with my self-image... It's not what I feel like I look like, if that makes sense.

I know intellectually I'm not hideous or anything... Or at least I assume I'm not. I don't generally lack for dates, I get laid -plenty-... I just don't care for my looks.

Eosha · Post by **Eosha** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:36 am

Personally, I'm not annoyed with the genetic hand I was dealt. What I AM annoyed with is the aspects of my body which are entirely under my control, and which I have simply neglected. If I let myself get fat to the point where it hampers my goals, it's my own damned fault. It's the inefficiency and mismanagement that I hate; not the appearance.

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:39 am

I definitely understand the "what I look like in the mirror is not how I see myself" sentiment.

For a number of years when I was in college, I thought of myself as a "college student", but then if I went home and looked in the mirror, I'd see a shrimpy little kid with peach fuzz.

Squidflakes · Post by **Squidflakes** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:09 am

I'm a fatass and proud.

I still have minor twinges of body issues every so often, but for the most I've gotten over them. Fuck a big fat load of what others think of my body, my face, my hair, whatever. If they are shallow enough to judge me by my squishy belly, my fuzzy chin, or my squinty eyes, that's their problem.

JohnnyTwoEyes · Post by **JohnnyTwoEyes** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:23 pm

a long time ago, I was a scrawny boy, scrawny enough that you could count my ribs if I pushed my chest out.

Cue numerous medical treatments and a more lethargic lifestyle, and I am now 6'3" tall and 320 pounds (though I carry it well and look to weigh about 260 or so).

My self image is such that I turn and look in the mirror and am startled, I simply do not look in my mind's eye anything like I do in the mirror. It always feels like I'm looking at a stranger.

So no, I'm not content with my body, but I am doing/will do something about it, once my other health issues are more managable.

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:25 pm

Well, I'm very glad to hear that you intended to fix what you perceive as your problems, once you have the chance.

Then one day you can be like Linda and show off to everyone

JohnnyTwoEyes · Post by **JohnnyTwoEyes** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:17 pm

swordsman3003 wrote:Well, I'm very glad to hear that you intended to fix what you perceive as your problems, once you have the chance.

Then one day you can be like Linda and show off to everyone

doubtful, I can already feel you guys eye-molesting me and none of you have actually seen me yet.

Honor · Post by **Honor** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:31 pm

>.>

<.<

*eye-molests Johnny*

Aeridus · Post by **Aeridus** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:45 pm

*mind-flays Johnny*

Mmm, sexy brains...

Lowky · Post by **Lowky** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:35 am

I know I don't like things about my body image and looking in the mirror things don't look right....

I don't like to remove my shirt outside. I figure I don't like looking at sweaty moobs and a big gut, so why subject others to it (though I have lost 30 pounds since the end of June on the 1800 calorie diet doctor put me on after diagnosing me with an enlarged heart and somewhat high BP)

the looking in the mirror part is I am only 36 but already have salt and pepper hair. I found my first couple gray hairs the summer between high school and going off to college in the fall. also I had a goatee for over 10 years and had to shave it off about 6 years ago due to being laid off and looking for a job. Jobs since then have not allowed me to grow it back. I still look in the mirror and expect a hairy chin though that is fading some now.

WangyJohn · Post by **WangyJohn** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 7:21 am

I know I could be a lot better, but I simply don't care.