Body Image: Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women and Children

by Sarah Grogan

Body Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women and Children presents a review of what is presently known and the results of some new research on body image. It compares the effects of gender, sexuality, social class, age and ethnicity on satisfaction with the way we look and suggests how these differences arise. Why, for instance, are heterosexual men much happier with their body images than women or gay men?
Sarah Grogan discusses the effect of media presentation of the ideal body and other cultural influences. Surprisingly, despite the almost exclusive media preference for very young female bodies, she finds that older women are not less satisfied with their bodies than younger women.
Written for readers from a variety of disciplines, this clear and eclectic book will make the ideal text for students from psychology, sociology, gender and media studies.

Genres: Feminism, Psychology, Nonfiction, Womens

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 1998

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a sociology student currently preparing a research question on social media and body image. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic, especially students looking to get some piece of mind on the subject and read more about the research already done on the subject. Wonderful book! It looks like Sarah Grogan was working a lot on it, as the amount of research she put in it is stunning! Please note I have read a second edition.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

coolest thing ab this book is the cover omg!!! very interesting, if slightly outdated discourse on media’s impact on body image. in conclusion reading books ab ur problems will not solve them 😒 cool illustrations and diagrams asf tho ⛷

[Maharani WA · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

侧重于身体满意度的研究，观点如实反映现实。
MediaEffects一章提出社会比较理论和自我图式理论能够更好地解释Body Image上的媒体效果。前者让人进行向上比较进而导致身体不满意，后者造成理想身体和实际身体之间差距带来对自我的贬低。
最后把社会地位、种族和性向等引入拓展了研究。

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am 90% sure I finished this book on a bus from maine to new york. I mean I can't prove it but I am also not going to finish reading it if I was wrong because I remember getting all the information that I needed out of it.

Basically I read it because I needed statistics on male body image that weren't about body builder. Yes, I get these from articles, but it is important to have a basis in accepted fact to compare any article to. That was the point of reading this. The book is heavily weighted toward qualitative data, or it feels that way to me but I do like my statistics so the judgment is bias. It gives a good idea of the problems on both sides. Women's "socialized discontent" and men's obsession with being bigger than other men. The studies do tend to be english and australian (but as the articles also tend to be you almost can't blame them) but a lot of the transference to america works reasonably well.