Body Image in Adolescents | A YAC Student Blog
Stuti Deshpande is a 9th grader at Dublin Jerome High School and an active member of the Youth Advisory Council
Stuti Deshpande
Although we cannot tell at first glance, 53% of American girls under 18 are unhappy with their bodies. When they look at themselves in the mirror, their thoughts are about how their body doesn’t look like the people they see in their community or on social media. They think that everywhere they go, people are judging their bodies. Why isn’t my body like hers? I’m so fat, I wish I could be skinnier. I wish I was curvy like her. But body image isn’t restricted to just someone’s body shape. There are many forms, for example, people can be insecure about their skin tone or hair texture.
As society modernizes, youth develop body insecurities at younger ages. According to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital where they interviewed families with children 8-18 years old, the survey concluded that “Self-consciousness about appearance was more common among teens (73 percent of teen girls and 69 percent of teen boys)...57 percent of the younger girls and 49 percent of the younger boys also reported self-consciousness about their appearance.”
I wanted to write about body image due to the personal connection I have with it. It’s a topic that I feel strongly about. I recall being aware of my body at the age of 10 when I was in 5th grade. As I grew older, that consciousness kept growing until I hated my body and I would hide it by wearing larger clothes. With everything I wore, I would constantly compare myself to others with my image of a “perfect” body. Walking around in public made me uncomfortable because I always thought people were judging me. Today, I am in a better place with my body image. I know that it is natural to have bodies like mine and I don’t wear baggy clothes all the time. If my lifestyle is unhealthy, then I can slowly change it, but the body I was born in is still mine and it will be with me for the rest of my life. Although there are bad days, there are also good days. Bodies aren’t just something for us to look at, they allow us to do day-to-day activities and live our life to its fullest.