Early influences shape body image

By Lauren Muskett

12/12/2010

Low self-esteem plays a large part in body image, but when a woman maintains a solid loving relationship when they are young it can lead to confidence in body image, said Emerson College Dietician Robyn Kievit.

"Body image can be caused by low self-esteem. it is easy to say it but it can be engrained in someone's head, "Kievit said.. "Someone could have said to a woman when she was 9 years old that she should always stay under a certain weight," she said, adding,  "And if it is from a strong figure that girl's life it will stay with them. Then it is up to them to do the work if they recognize it's an issue."

College women are especially susceptible to criticism and judging  from their peers because they are constantly viewing themselves as competition, said Kievit.  That can also lead to low self-esteem.

 "If you look at Boston itself as a college campus you are always going to get that competing with each other or just the bits that go on between women that age," said Kievit. "No pun intended, but they feed off each other so body image can be a problem."

Mimi Monet, a 23-year-old Boston area graduate student, agreed that college women often compare themselves to each other and it can become an unhealthy obsession.

"Most universities have people living together in dorms and apartments and you are constantly being compared and judged," said Monet. "There are a higher number of women you feel like you have to compete with and for straight women there are a higher number of men to compete for. It becomes unhealthy because it becomes obsessive to compare yourself to others."

Kievit noted that individuals see themselves in very different ways than how the world sees them and sometimes  they have no idea how they're viewed/. Kievet said this is especially true for college-age individuals. 

Jenna Cannava, a 21-year old Boston area college student, admitted that she does not see herself the way the others see her. "I think about body image all day, every day," Cannava said. "I am unhappy and take my anger out on other things. She added, " I would talk to someone about it, but they will say the same thing as everyone in my family says, 'You're a beautiful girl,' it won't change me in how I think about myself because I don't believe them when they say it.".

Kievit said Cannava's reaction to people telling her she is beautiful is normal in people with poor body image. "A woman with poor body image can have someone tell them they are beautiful 50 times a day but if they don't believe it will not make a difference," said Kievit.

"College women are in the developmental stage still," Kievit said, "a stage of moving from childhood to adulthood. While at 18 they are legal adults, there is still a lot of unknown."

Keivit said when a woman has a strong male figure in her life, especially as a child, it will lead to confidence in body image. 

Monet explained she was teased, like most kids, when she was in grade school, but she remained confident in her plus-size body because of her father's words of encouragement when she was younger. "It was tough because my father passed away when I was 11, right before puberty," said Monet. "And he was the one who would tell me, 'Oh you're so beautiful,' and my mother would say the same thing, but it's different from your father. But, my mom scooped in and tried to reassure me that I was beautiful."

Kievit said 80 percent of the women she sees have a distorted body image. Nowadays, she wonders if more body image issues will arise because of the quickness of social media to disperse judgments on looks. 

"Things are so fast. People tweet pictures of themselves," she said. "Look at Demi Moore. She is probably like 50 now.. She probably has had surgery. She can work out every day. She has someone prepare her food. She doesn't have to watch children, Kievit said. "It's a different life and young women measure themselves against that."