Why Do I Hate My Own Body? A Nudist's Response To The Beauty Myth

First Published May 2015

When I talk to people around Australia about my interest in nudism, I am astounded at the number who tell me they do not like their own body and that they could never try nudism as a leisure activity. Everybody, even nudists, tell me there is at least one thing they would like to correct on their body. If you are one of these people rest assured, you are not alone. Researchers have identified that epidemic numbers of people in our communities dislike their body to an extent they would attempt to modify it to something more favourable. This epidemic is not the result of conscious and informed choices made by consumers but the result of thousands of negative subliminal messages about the human body that is disseminated in all forms of media and publications every day.

” Infused with the notion of beauty is a dark vein of self-hatred.“

Author Naomi Woolf identified this epidemic in her book The Beauty Myth in which she said;” Infused with the notion of beauty is a dark vein of self-hatred. “Woolf cited the exponential rise in incidents of eating disorders and cosmetic surgery as the fastest growing medical specialty, as proof that people were dissatisfied with their bodies. Woolf paid particular attention to how images of beauty were used, mostly in advertising media, and what their consequences were. Of these consequences, Woolf highlighted that, “Thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal” (1)

Why would women have weight loss at the top of their list of goals? Or any person male or female for that matter? As humans, we are all different shapes and sizes. Our body type is as unique as our thumbprint. There is no two human bodies identical to one another. We all have our little imperfections that our friends and family affectionately recognise. So why would we all be prone to self-loathing? To understand the reason why this is so, one must step back and look at the bigger picture here.

Advertising is a huge market force. Around the world, it is expected that advertisers will spend close to $600 billion over this year alone, an increase of 6.0% over 2014. Of this, advertisers will spend $64.25 billion on mobile advertising, an increase of nearly 60% over 2014. It is envisaged that this figure will reach $158.55 billion by 2018, with mobile ads accounting for nearly a quarter of all advertising spending worldwide. (2)

From a business perspective, advertising is a lucrative business because it delivers quantifiable results in sales. From a psychological point of view, when advertisers use idealist images of the human body there are very real side effects, including the self-hatred Woolf talked of. In order for an advertisement to be effective, it must persuade the consumer to purchase the product or service being advertised. However, consumers real needs often do not require these products or services. So the advertiser has to artificially create a perceived need for their wares. To do so, advertisers create a sense of dissatisfaction within the consumer’s mind by presenting an image or a series of images in order to present their product or service as the remedy to their dissatisfaction.

In an article titled “COLLEGE FEMINISMS: “It’s Just a Harmless Advertisement”: On Liposuction, Media, and Perpetuation of Sexism,” Alyssa Gockley provides a textbook example of how advertising creates dissatisfaction within the minds of a targeted audience in order to sell a product or service. In this case, the advertisement promoted a liposuction technique in a university’s weekly campus newspaper. The advertisement was sponsored by the campus health partner. It read:

“Get ready for bathing suit season with VASER Liposuction!”

The advertisement offers a remedy which will, “help shed those troublesome spots that diet and exercise don’t seem to touch” with “the newest, minimally invasive option in body contouring.” Gockley exposes the implication used by the advertiser, that potential consumers should not be confident with their own bodies in their present state and that they should not be confident in a swimsuit if they do not subscribe to this procedure:

“Media does not exist in a vacuum. Everything we see and hear informs our beliefs and ideals about the world in which we live. If there were no outside influences on our thinking, it might be logical to assume that a person–generally a woman–who is seeking liposuction is doing so because she would like to change something about her body. Since this is not true, a more critical lens must be employed. Body image is influenced by media telling women that they are ugly or unattractive without the use of thousands of beauty products. These messages can cause a woman who was not insecure about her body to grow to hate it, and consider liposuction.”(3)

This is only but one advertisement from hundreds of advertisements that send messages to us on a daily basis suggesting we are either ‘ugly’ or ‘unattractive’ and that we somehow require remedies to improve the various imperfections of our bodies. As Woolf has amply pointed out, these remedies haven’t made us feel any better about our bodies. Alongside the explosion in cosmetic surgeries is a corresponding explosion in the number of illnesses caused by poor body image. Depression, anxiety, anorexia nervosa and bulimia are among the disorders which result from the continual reminders of the mass media that our bodies are imperfect. These are all disorders which can result in long periods of poor health and in some circumstances, may even cause death.

Men are not immune to these messages. Men are now consumers of a large range of products and services, ones which not so long ago were the sole domain of women. These include full body waxing procedures, skin moisturiser products, hair colouring products or services and invasive cosmetic surgeries. Men’s insecurities about their bodies are no different to those of women as they are intertwined with ideals of success. In an article titled, A Revealing Look At Beauty Advertising by Darice Britt we read:

“People have been conditioned over the years to believe that achieving a certain level of success is only possible if you also attain a certain level of beauty and physical attractiveness…Since that surrounds so many of us, both men and women easily fall into the trap of believing that if they are not beautiful they will not be successful.” (4)

The Beauty Myth needs to be recognised and discussed within nudist organisations as we can provide a supportive environment in which people can learn to be at peace with their bodies. We need to tell others about the destructive powers of the Beauty Myth. We need to educate people using our own experiences and first-hand knowledge of how the Beauty Myth has affected us personally in our lifetime. We must work out how to make each other feel unique and acceptable instead of making each other feel ugly or unattractive as the Beauty Myth has done. We must challenge advertisements that reinforce the Beauty Myth and work to promote positive images of the human body. One such example of this kind of action can be seen on the Jade Beall Photography website and Facebook page. Her mission is exemplified in this statement on her website:

“Jade Beall is a Tuscon, AZ based world-renown Photographer specializing in truthful images of women to inspire feeling irreplaceably beautiful as a counter-balance to the airbrushed photoshopped imagery that dominates main stream media. Her recent work “A Beautiful Body project” has touched 100, 000’s of women’s lives and garnered global attention from media outlets including the BBC, The Huffington Post & beyond. Jade’s book series and media platform feature untouched photos of women alongside their stories of their journeys to build self-esteem in a world that thrives off women feeling insecure. Jade’s dream is to inspire future generations of women to be free from the unnecessary self-suffering and embrace their beauty just as they are.”(5)

This website and Facebook page provides a template by which nudist organisations can assist in countering the epidemic in our communities which is a direct consequence of the Beauty Myth. The false images being sold to us by advertisers are anathema to the reality of people’s bodies and how they really look. Nudism, as exemplified the Jade Beall example, offers people an alternative path to the beauty myth, a path by which a person can feel good about their own body and adopt a more healthy view of the human body in its totality. It can provide an appropriate forum where people can talk about the impact of negative media images on their lives and challenge the mainstream media to foster healthier images of the human body in the minds of consumers.

(1) The Beauty Myth by Naomi Woolf

(2) Advertisers Will Spend Nearly $600 Billion Worldwide in 2015

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Advertisers-Will-Spend-Nearly-600-Billion-Worldwide-2015/1011691#sthash.TobEO1ek.dpuf

(3) COLLEGE FEMINISMS: “It’s Just a Harmless Advertisement”: On Liposuction, Media, and Perpetuation of Sexism by Alyssa Gockley

http://thefeministwire.com/2013/05/its-just-a-harmless-advertisement-on-liposuction-media-and-perpetuation-of-sexism/

(4) A Revealing Look at Beauty Advertising by Darice Britt

http://new.artinstitutes.edu/blog/a-revealing-look-at-beauty-advertising

(5) Jade Beall-Therapeutic Photography for Empowerment and Love

http://www.jadebeall.com/#!/about