1. What “body shape” do you consider yourself? (pear, banana, circle, hour glass, etc)

2. How confident with your own body are you?

3. For this question, please only choose one of the following questions:

    If you feel pretty confident about your body, how did you come to love your body?

    If you feel somewhat confident about your body, what/who would alter your confidence?

    If you don’t feel very confident about your body, what/who has influenced your confidence?

4. How do you think society plays a role in the expectation of mens’ and womens’ bodies?

5. As far as body types are concerned, do you think more people are accepting of the various types?

6. If you’d like to write any advice or any other comments you have regarding body image, feel free to leave them here. 

1. I don't really believe or trust the body shape thing but if I had to choose, pear

2. I feel comfortable with myself.

3. I came to love my body because I have some unique stuff. At least two small scars cover one part of my body but I think it shows a fierce side of me. Some of my muscles are lightly defined but I wanted them to be that way so I don't look like the female Hulk. I didn't want to fit into "beauty standards" because I find that stuff bs.

4. I think society plays a big part about people's body images. Celebrities are 'pretty' to people and I guess girls want to be like them so much that they'll lose weight or whatever it takes to be liked too. It's like saying you have to be pretty or whatever to get attention or something.

5. No. I actually think it's going downhill, because the standards are ‘high'.

2. I got little to no confidence in my body. I’ve always been insecure about myself, my body is a big insecurity for me. I’ve always been that “skinny” girl. As far back as I can remember, I would always get made fun of me because of how small I was. People automatically assume those who are over weight or a little on the heavy side gets bullied or are not confident in themselves but smaller/slimmer people get bullied and aren’t confident in themselves either. If you haven’t been in either situation then you won’t understand how one feels. 

3. Over the past couple of years I have finally gained some confidence in my body. Since I was around 13 years old, I would seek for male attention whether it was from guys I knew or guys I found online. I did almost anything to get attention from a guy. The attention I sought out was comments for my body. I would “show off” my body to these guys so they could tell me ‘how sexy I am’ or “you have a beautiful body’ all to give me a little boost in my self-esteem. I kept doing this till I was 17. I am 18 almost 19 now. It took me several years to find the confidence that I need to love my body just the way it is. Its an every day struggle for me to love my body.

4. Society plays a HUGE role in the expectations of men’s and womens’ bodies. Every other commercial you see on t.v. its about weight loss. These commercials are hitting those with low self-esteems to fit an image they aren’t. Society is pretty much directing everyone to be and to look a specific way. Everyone is unique in their own way, which is the BEST thing possible. 

5. I believe most people are accepting to various body types. I don’t judge a person by their body type or how they look. There are many who take people at face value and not give them a chance because they are a little bigger or smaller than themselves. It doesn’t matter on your body type, everyone should have a chance. 

2. about a 4/10

3. Growing up i was the one in the family who wasn't the thinnest. I grew up next to the thick thins siblings (literally stick thin, a little underweight for all 3 of my siblings) then there was me. I always was self conscious, and sadly, i still am. Nobodies opinions could ever change my opinion on my body either. I've still yet to come to be comfortable in my own skin. 

4. Society always has that one type of bodies they prefer. Anyone with a little bit of fat on them is normally shamed upon. In magazines, on tv, etc. They all have the same type of bodies, and they always show us what hollywood's "finest bodies" are meant to look like, which isn't what many look like.

5. In my own experiences, most people i've been around are only wanting of a couple of body times. The stick thin body times. I come from a very harsh environment to where if you don't look like someone out of a magazine or television, you're admittedly laughed upon.which is very upsetting honestly ;x 

2. I would say that I am pretty confident in my body. There is one main thing that I'm not happy with and that would be my tummy but I know that I'm not too far off from losing the little bit of weight I want too, I just need to do more exercise and tone up. Apart from that I am really happy with myself because If i'm not then I have hell of a long time being miserable with how I look. 

3. I came to love my own body with the help of my mum. She has always told me to that I should love myself and be happy with the skin I'm in because I have a long time to not be happy and it's not worth it. There are times when I look in the mirror and I wish I was a little bit skinnier but I know that if I put in the effort then it can be achieved. I dress in things that make look good so I can feel nice in my clothes and not feel conscious. I have also seen first hand what it's like not to be happy in your own skin and I don't want to be like that, I want to be happy with myself and not have to worry about how I look all the time. I suppose this is a reason why I don't tend to wear makeup, because I feel happy with the way that I look. 

4. I think society sees the things that are broadcast in the media and think that they must look like that. A woman can see a man fancying the pants off a woman like I don't know Beyonce for example, and then she thinks if he likes her then he must like women like that so to try to be what men like. Then they change to fit society's views and expectations to be noticed or well not noticed because if you are different to what society views as normal then that can be an opening for comments and nastiness from people. It is the same for a man, a woman could see a man such as Chris Hemsworth in Thor and think wow he is hot and the man thinks he has to look that way to keep his partner happy or to appeal to men or women and it can cause a lack of confidence for both men and women. I think society's expectations are too high, especially as many women in media are portrayed as being curvy when in reality they are just giving a false image because they don't really have a big bum, they are sticking it out. They don't really have this tiny body and big boobs, they get some help from chicken fillets or a shit load of padding and special cups that make them look like they have incredible boobs and in reality this look really is not achievable because they don't look like that, they are in reality tiny and probably don't have much shape to them at all. People who are trying to look like this can think they aren't good enough because they don't look a certain way and this can cause them to lose confidence in themselves and that's where eating disorders can come in to play and cause a lot of damage. 

5. I think in some cases that this really is true. As I said in my answer to the question before people who are shown in the media can shape the expectations and wants of a man or woman and then they want a woman or man to look like those who are in the magazines, and then it becomes the norm to expect a woman who is thin and curvy or a man to have a six pack and v lines with big muscly arms. When people think of body shapes they are more accepting of these types of bodies because it portrayed as what people should look like. 

6. I would say to every single person who doesn't feel comfortable in their own bodies that you should listen to what my mum told me. Don't spend your time wishing you looked like someone else because it's not going to happen, be happy in yourself because you have a lot of years left and it's not going to be very enjoyable if you can't accept the way that you look. Also don't listen to anyone who tells you you aren't beautiful or calls you names because they are wrong. Each and every one of us is beautiful in our own ways.

Credit to:

The interviewees

Pushkin for inspiring this article via her thread

Written by: ariellenicolle

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