Most talks about body image tie it to gender, usually saying it's an issue for females. Yet seeing it through that perspective makes solutions harder than they need to be. How people feel about their bodies might shift based on identity, still leaving others out when we fixate too much on one angle.
While gender does shape how body-related expectations are expressed and internalised, reducing body image concerns to a gendered problem is narrow and outdated.
What shows up in therapy rooms and studies isn’t just about looks - it’s rooted in how minds carry themselves. Across men, women, teens, and elders, across cultures without loud announcements. Just steady pressure beneath the surface.
Therapy spaces hold these moments regularly, though most never hear about them. One teen stares at the floor instead of the reflections, calling himself too small. A fifty-year-old shifts awkwardly at dinners since the pills changed his shape. After having a baby, a woman studies her skin as it belongs to someone else. Another person smirked mid-sentence, “Stupid, right?” It wasn’t stupid. Weight sat behind those words. Each life unfolds uniquely, yet something underneath echoes alike.
Looking at biology, the way we see our bodies links deeply to brain activity involving feelings, thoughts, and what feels rewarding. Signals like serotonin and dopamine play roles in managing emotions, how we judge ourselves, and reactions to others' opinions.
Stress, injury, sickness, or shifts in hormones can throw these signals off balance, leading to a sharper focus on physical form. This shift often opens space for emotional unease. Bodies draw more attention during big shifts like growing up, getting hurt, becoming a parent, facing sickness, healing, or growing older.
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That added awareness often brings sharper judgment about appearance. Biology drives these reactions in everyone, regardless of gender. The way it feels might differ from person to person.
Worth tied too tightly to how you look can invite turmoil fast. Harsh judgments of yourself, an obsession with flawlessness, inflexible thoughts - these shape discontent. Comparing constantly to others adds fuel. Self-view and confidence often rise or fall together. Trouble arrives loud, not quiet, when looks dominate value. It barges in anxiety increases, mood drops, eating patterns may shift and social situations get avoided. Stress becomes background noise that never really switches off. These mental patterns are not exclusive to any one gender, even if they’re talked about as if they are.
Then there’s society, families, peer groups, cultural norms, and media environments, all of which send powerful messages about how bodies are expected to look and perform. Social media makes it louder, faster, endless comparison; filtered images, and appearance-based validation shape self-perception in ways we barely notice at first.
A teasing comment in a school corridor, Praise for weight loss at a family dinner, and a joke that lingered longer than it should have. Over time, these moments teach a quiet lesson—that worth is conditional. And once learned, it’s hard to unlearn.
When body image gets labeled a woman's problem, it leaves others behind, those who struggle just as much but stay unseen. Fixing this isn’t about tighter beauty norms or fitting into gender boxes. What matters is stepping back, seeing the whole person, and making space for peace that doesn’t depend on how someone looks.
That shift begins by focusing on what bodies can do. Energy, strength, mobility, resilience, and health are better framed around sleep, nourishment, movement, and emotional stability—not weight or size. Language matters more than we think. Labels like 'good', 'bad', or 'unhealthy' carry weight. Linking body traits to masculinity or femininity only adds pressure that no one asked for.
What we see online needs context. Questioning polished photos, effects, and narrow ideals loosens their hold on how people measure themselves. Seeing bodies of all shapes, strengths, stages, and backgrounds makes differences feel ordinary. Differences are just part of life. They always have been.
Supportive environments make a real difference, like discouraging body shaming, addressing bullying early, and normalising conversations about body changes across the lifespan. Adults play a bigger role than they realize, especially in how they speak about their own bodies, as children notice. They always do.
Truth is, how people feel about their bodies matters just as much as any other part of mental well-being. Spaces that welcome everyone, where tools for handling shame, pressure, and envy are shared, should be within reach.
Once attention moves from blaming individuals to asking deeper questions about causes, arguments about appearance lose their gendered label. What remains fits reality better than labels ever could.
(The author is a mental health and rehabilitation therapist)
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.