Most parents and educators have come across children who have a low self-image. Not only that, but there are quite a few kids who have a low image of themselves. It’s running rampant in our society, and the media and our cultural expectations of the ‘perfect’ body are to blame.
Low self-image is mostly presented as a ‘girl’ problem. But this is simply not true anymore, strictly speaking. Teenage boys struggle with the same criticisms and difficulties about body image as girls. The only difference is that not many people talk about it, which makes the problem that much worse for children.
It is believed that children are not supposed to have a low image of themselves. But just because they aren’t “supposed” to have a low self-image doesn’t mean they don’t. Here are some ways we can tell that teenage boys also have a low self-image.
1. Boys are shocked by advertisements on TV and in magazines that portray them as muscular and flawless. Just as teenage girls are portrayed as slim and flawless on magazine covers and on television, the same is true of teenage boys. The ‘perfect’ boy’s body on TV and in commercials is six pack and muscular. But that’s not what the average teenager looks like.
2. The mids distort what the normal Joe should look like. The media portrays all perfect boys as having muscular upper arms, backs, and chests. But what if some kids don’t have such a natural propensity toward muscle development? Boys who aren’t muscular tend to be hypercritical of their appearance because their body simply doesn’t live up to the media’s portrayal of what they should look like.
3. Therefore, the media often makes teenagers feel unhappy with their appearance. This can really affect how children feel about themselves and their bodies. Many teens feel uncomfortable and unhappy with their bodies. As in girls, this can lead to low self-image and low self-esteem. Over time, this can really hurt a teen’s overall way of coping with different aspects of her life, both during adolescence and beyond.
4. Adolescent boys, like girls, who are negatively affected by the media may develop a low self-image and may struggle with a feeling of physical inadequacy for the rest of their lives. This is a common state of affairs for adolescent boys, and it is essential that parents can realize that low self-image is not a girl’s problem.
Therefore, it is important that there is more education and information about low body image in children. Most of us expect low self-image to be just a girl problem. However, as I showed in this article, this is not the case. In fact, most teenage boys struggle with some form of low self-esteem and low body image.