Body Image
- Catherine Moscatt
- May 14
- 3 min read
I’ve actually been working on a full length book about body image, namely how I used to be skinny and how I am now very overweight and prediabetic. I will have to publish this book under a second pseudonym (and hopefully my last). If you ever read it you’ll see why (and before you ask my breasts are real). Most people also know that when I was skinny I also struggled with my body image. In eighth grade I practically starved myself down to 90 pounds and was constantly looking for ways to get smaller. Thankfully when I started at my new school I focused on things other than my weight and became less obsessed over the way I looked. I’m not sure if this has anything to do with the fact we all had to wear uniforms or that it was an all girls school but both of these definitely worked in my favor.
45.5% of teens considered cosmetic surgery, 43.7% of women over 60 report considering cosmetic surgery. So it doesn’t get any better. Good to know. I hope I’m not that sixty year old blowing ten years wages on a tummy tuck.
40-60% of girls in elementary school are worried about becoming too fat. I believe this. In my fourth grade journal I went off on a self abusive rant on how fat I was when really I just was growing hips.
46% of 9-11 year olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets. I have technically been on Weight Watchers for several years now but that’s kind of a joke. The first time on Weight Watchers I lost thirty pounds. Or maybe it was 40 pounds. Anyway, I gained it all back. That wasn’t Weight Watchers fault, that was me thinking I was justified in eating anything I wanted because I had lost all that weight. Sneaky.
Body image is among the top four concerns for women (I kind of want to know what the other three are)
“Nearly 80% of young teenage girls report fears of becoming fat”
Apparently Caucasian women and African American women are equally likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies (50% of each group are dissatisfied with their bodies)
“Nearly 70 of adult women report withdrawing from activities due to their body image” I swam in clothes for about three consecutive summers before I found a swimsuit I was comfortable enough to swim in (30% of women reported being “uncomfortable” in a swimsuit)
Using social media for 30 minutes a day can negatively influence the way a girl views her body. I didn’t have a Facebook until I was fifteen and an Instagram until I was eighteen and I still don’t have a Tiktok. I don’t think I ever will. I had a Snapchat but it kept getting me into trouble so I deleted it. Actually I had two Snapchats under two different names (obviously this is something I like to do) and they are both gone. The less I spend seeing other girls in bikinis better.
The top cosmetic procedures are liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tuck (which I thought was the same thing as liposuction but silly me), breast lift (which at age 28 I am more than a little desperate for), and eyelid surgery (I did not know this was a thing). I was thinking more people would get butt implants (is that what they are called?) but apparently not.
Well, this has all been enlightening. Sorry, fellows I mostly focused on the women today but men can have body image issues too and eating disorders as well. And if you ask me way too much pressure is put on a man to have a large…well, you know what I mean. It’s like the pressure we put on women to have excellent sex organs. I find it kind of ridiculous if you ask me. But that’s me talking. The way I got confident showing off my body? Taking a shower in a mental institution. There’s just no way to do it privately. My only point is to take care of your body even if it’s not the one you want. It’s the only one you have.
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