Body Image

Body image is a person’s perception of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings, positive, negative or both. Because of negative media representation and prevalent gender stereotypes, many people of all genders struggle with body confidence.

There Is Power in the Word ‘Patriarchy.’ We Need to Start Using It.

PUBLISHED 3/1/2026 by

News commentators still overlook the obvious when they speculate about why the majority of white female voters in the last three presidential elections cast their ballots for a dishonest, fraudulent, racist, misogynistic sexual predator or why people who call themselves Christians support someone who embodies in virtually every way the opposite of “what would Jesus do?”

I’m tired of snapping at the talking heads on the TV or computer screen, “Come on, say the P word! It’s the patriarchy, stupid!”

We can trace harmful sex binaries, reproductive control and white Christian nationalism back to the same root system: patriarchy. Naming it is the first step toward dismantling its power. 

The Intensity and Perfectionism That Drive Olympic Athletes Also Put Them at High Risk for Eating Disorders

PUBLISHED 2/18/2026 by

Olympians—athletes at the top of their sport and in prime health—are idolized and often viewed as superhuman. These athletes spend their lives focusing on building physical strength through rigorous training and diets that are honed to provide the nutrients necessary to excel at their sport.

However, athletes are at considerable risk for eating disorders and having an unhealthy relationship with food and their bodies.

Letters to My Future Self: Choosing Yourself Is the Turning Point

PUBLISHED 2/10/2026 by

One of three “Letters to My Future Self” featured in Flipping the Menopause Script Is Essential to Democracy. Blending poetry, spiritual reflection and lived experience, these letters explore menopause and midlife as sites of transformation, rest and reclamation.

“Let the cleavage of your wound smile out at the world from your unbuttoned dress. You know how to do it. This is an exercise in nerve. You need nerve to be free. (And you need freedom to fulfill your earthly mission.) …

“The liminality you are in is a temporary chrysalis. Your whole being is restructuring, and you’re shedding the parts of you that are no longer useful. When you emerge, you’ll soar.”

(This essay is part of the latest Women & Democracy installment, published in the middle of Black History Month, in partnership with Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause. Menopause is not only a physical transition—it is also cultural, social and political. Recognizing its full scope is essential to advancing true health and civic equity.)

What the ‘Wicked’ Weight-Loss Discourse Gets Wrong

PUBLISHED 12/17/2025 by

We can’t afford to look away from changing beauty norms in our society, and how they are fueling eating disorders. 

Jennifer Rollin, an eating disorder therapist based in Maryland, says, “What I hear from a lot of clients is that when they are trying to recover from their eating disorder in this society, it almost feels wrong, because ‘everyone around me is talking about Ozempic,’ and ‘all the celebrities are talking about their big amount of weight loss.’”

But while it can feel cathartic to criticize or distance ourselves from prominent women who seem to be conforming to dangerous beauty standards, that criticism is harmful and does not bring us any closer to addressing the problem.

How the Trump Administration’s Conservative Policies and Messaging Are Reshaping Body Image Standards for American Women

PUBLISHED 9/10/2025 by

Body image and beauty standards for women have long shifted like fashion trends—one year in, the next out, often cycling every decade. Recently, Americans have seen a move away from body positivity and acceptance toward the ultra-thin ideals of “heroin chic.” Celebrity, influencer, and everyday social media posts alike are discussing dissolving their BBLs and turning to Ozempic or similar drugs to lose weight.

Women are sacrificing their health to fit into a very narrow standard of beauty. Ozempic, originally meant for diabetes management, has become a weight-loss tool for those who can afford it. “You can spend $1,000 a month and be thin,” says Dr. Caroline Heldman, Ph.D., author, journalist, and executive director of the Representation Project. Its long-term efficacy for weight loss has not been tested enough, yet the pressure to conform continues to grow.

This pressure is intersectional, both classist and racist. “About 300 years ago, we started to see the rise of white, thin purity as a way to differentiate white women from Black women with voluptuous bodies,” Heldman explains. Today, diet culture and society’s obsession with thinness still reflect these historic, racialized ideals, pushing women into unsafe beauty trends and fostering psychological distress.

The ‘Subway Shirt’: How Young Women Are Dressing to Deflect Unwanted Attention

PUBLISHED 5/19/2025 by

An excerpt from Sexy Selfie Nation: Standing Up for Yourself in Today’s Toxic, Sexist Culture, in which Leora Tanenbaum offers an incisive exploration of why many young women wear body-revealing outfits and share sexy selfies and what these choices say about our toxic, sexist culture:

“As temperatures in New York City climbed, young women faced a dilemma: They wanted to wear summery tank tops and miniskirts but were concerned that as they traveled around the city, especially on the subway, they would be met with predatory stares, harassing, ‘Hey baby, won’t you give me a smile?’ comments, and even unwanted touches and gropes.

“And so, being resourceful New York women, they hatched a solution: the ‘subway shirt’—an oversized, shapeless shirt one slips over her ‘real’ outfit.”

This Holiday Season, Forget Dieting: Commit to Your Communities Instead

PUBLISHED 12/22/2024 by

For millions of women, the new year rings in a commitment to dieting. With the recent headlines that three quarters of Americans are now overweight or obese, we can expect surging spending on diet products targeting women this holiday season—adding to the estimated $33 billion that Americans already spend on commercial weight loss products each year.  

As an anthropologist who studies how people make sense of nutrition guidelines, I’d like to propose a feminist alternative. Forget dieting: Make a commitment to become involved in collective action—anything that involves joining others in your communities to work for change. It is by working with others that lasting health benefits will come about.

Debunking Five Common Myths About Birth Control

PUBLISHED 11/13/2024 by

Barely a week after Trump was reelected to the White House, for many in the U.S., access to birth control is seeming shakier than it did at the start of this month. But is it possible that young women are more dubious about birth control than past generations?

The last few years has seen a rise of social media influencers—many of them Gen Z—putting forth false and misleading claims on TikTok and YouTube about the safety and efficacy of hormonal birth control. In honor of Thanks, Birth Control Day on Nov. 14, Ms. spoke with Dr. Raegan about some of the most common social media misconceptions when it comes to birth control. Here’s what she said about separating the facts from the fiction.

Why We Need to Prioritize Pleasure-Centric Approaches in Sex Education

PUBLISHED 10/15/2024 by and

With a new school year in full swing and elections around the corner, it’s only normal that we’re feeling anxious about what could happen this fall. This is especially true for young people, whose sexual and reproductive freedom hangs in the balance as we face abortion bans, attacks on trans care, birth control and more. But what’s a better antidote for anxiety, than empowering youth with pleasure-centric tools and resources that allow them to reclaim control of their bodily autonomy?

By centering peer-to-peer conversations on what makes us feel good—physically, mentally and emotionally—we establish a culture where joy, freedom and autonomy are prioritized and healthier schools, communities and relationships are created.