Women Are Actually Starting to Hate Their Bodies Less
The era of women feeling insecure about every little thing might be slowly inching to a close.
According to research presented at the American Psychological Association’s 124th Annual Convention, women are now 28% more confident in their bodies and have increasingly become more accepting in their bodies since the 80s.
Go us! Amidst a lot of other unfortunate news, this is something to get excited about.
While you may assume that all of the images of ridiculously fit girls on social media would have a negative impact on women’s views of their bodies, you also have to remember all of the important body-posi milestones that have happened as of late.
For example, Ashley Graham being the first plus-sized woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the creation of more realistically proportioned Barbie dolls. Not to mention ad campaigns for brands like Aerie and Lane Bryant.
Although it’s not certain what exactly has contributed to women feeling better about their bodies, Bryan Karazsia, Ph. D., of The College of Wooster, who presented the research, has a hunch that it does have to do with the body posi movements that have taken over social media.
“The last two decades have witnessed increasing attention and awareness on a body acceptance movement aimed primarily at girls and women,” said Karazsia in his presentation.
The American American Psychological Association also says that body-posi role models may have had an influence in the increase in body confidence.
The researchers analyzed data from over 250 studies that took place from 1981 to 2012. While women were consistently less satisfied with their bodies than men (no surprise there), women’s dissatisfaction has been declining over time, whereas men’s stayed constant.
We still have a long way to go in terms of body acceptance across all platforms (cough, Victoria’s Secret, cough), but this is definitely some good news.
