Neutral Perspective: “Body Exposing” has a “positive” or “negative” affect in Social Media?

Body Shaming

9 Body-Shaming Behaviors We All Need To Stop Sophia Rinaldis
September 11, 2014 — 10:59 AM By Sophia Rinaldis mindbodygreen.com
“..Sometimes, it is simply because shaming has grown to be so automatic that it becomes difficult to identify the instances in which we are engaging in body-shaming. Here are nine ways in which we inadvertently body-shame. Once these become easily identifiable, we can work toward stopping, questioning, and correcting those thoughts…”

All About That Bass | Body Shaming

Positive Effects

Nudity Found to Offer New Social Benefits By Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., The Conversation on December 4, 2013 scientificamerican.com
“..These studies show that focusing on a person’s body instead of their mind has its positives. Though it certainly has positive aspects, it is important to note that this does not mean being body-focused is entirely positive. Seeing others as lacking agency may make them seem easier to control, less moral, or incapable of making decisions. But it certainly provides something to think about when choosing your next outfit..”

Neutral

The Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media – YouTube

Negative Effect

Your Body on Display: Social Media and Your Self-Image
Beware the dangers of getting too caught up with your online look.

Posted Dec 03, 2013
Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D.

Fulfillment at Any Age psychologytoday.com
“Sharing pictures of yourself in various stages of dress, or undress, can result in significant threats to your future relationship and career opportunities, as we know from studies of Facebook exhibitionism. Apart from the potential external damage caused by showing your rowdy, party-animal, side to the world, placing undue focus on your online appearance may also threaten the health of your own bodily self-image…”

Is Social Media Giving Your Teen a Negative Body Image?
By Caroline Knorr 4/28/2014 commonsensemedia.org

As if adolescence weren’t painful enough, the pressure to be “camera-ready” may be adding to teens’ body dissatisfaction – and leading to self-destructive behavior.
“..Not too long ago, girls might have stressed about being “bikini-ready” every spring when the bathing suit magazines would hit the stands. And boys might have done a few extra pushups after seeing Wolverine’s abs. But now, thanks to photo-centric social media like Instagram, Snapchat and other messaging apps, kids are exposed to a constant drumbeat of bikini bodies, six-pack abs, and just-right hair 24/7. And it’s not just celebrities pushing idealized images of human perfection. It’s your teens’ friends posting pictures of themselves and one another for all the world to see and comment on. What’s worse, many of these moments are captured seemingly unplanned, increasing kids’ anxiety about looking “perfect” — but effortlessly so — at all times…”

Advertising Study Proves Naked Women Don’t Actually Sell Cheeseburgers ByJR Thorpe July 21 2017 bustle.com
“..A research group led by Dr. John Wirtz, head of the advertising faculty at the Center for Media at the University of Illinois, recently published an analysis of studies examining how consumers react to sexy ads, and the results were particularly notable: while male consumers had a more positive reaction to sexualized ads than female consumers, when it came to “purchase intention” — whether a consumer was interested in buying a specific product — the researchers found that the sexy ads had “no effect” on either group. As Wirtz said in a press release, “We found literally zero effect on participants’ intention to buy products in ads with a sexual appeal. This assumption that sex sells — well, no, according to our study, it doesn’t. There’s no indication that there’s a positive effect.”..”

Women

Social Media Negative Effects On Body Image

Does social media impact on body image? 13 October 2014 By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News bbc.com
Magazines and television are often blamed for portraying an ideal body image that causes people to question their looks and lose confidence in themselves. But what about the role social media plays in moulding attitudes to the way we look?
“..”I’d always been tall, and I was a bit podgy too,” she says.

“No-one seemed to notice at primary school, but then in Year 7 everyone started pointing at me, noticing things, making me think I was ugly and not special.”

She became increasingly conscious of even tiny things such as the shape of her eyebrows and size of her forehead.

“I would have been subject to much more abuse if I’d had more friends on social media,” she says.

Kelsey describes the bullying she experienced between the ages of 11 and 16 as “absolutely awful”.

“It was all about my body and how I looked,” she says…

“You put forward your best self, and that can be a bit dangerous, because you naturally compare yourself to others,” she says….”

The Media’s Effect On Women’s Body Image Posted on July 30, 2017, at 11:19 p.m. claudiap4f1030a7e Community Contributor buzzfeed.com
“..According to an article by the University of the West of England, over 10 million photographs are uploaded to Facebook every hour, approximately a quarter billion every day. Many of these photos being shared online involve some form of editing to enhance body appearance. The use of photo editing software in mass media advertisements has been prevalent for more than two decades but with the increased use of social media to share photos, more and more people are using photo-editing apps to alter their online appearance. For example, men might edit their photos to enhance their muscular physique in an effort to meet a socially idealized appearance. Today, a major concern is not the idealized appearances of models in mass media but rather the idealized appearances that have developed on social media between peer groups. It is thought to be because mass media pictures are perceived to be unrealistically achievable, whereas the appearance of a friend seems more realistic..”

I Sent Pictures To A Boy I Liked And Shouldn’t Have

-Former Models

I gave up modeling for God By Post Staff Report April 24, 2013 | 4:00am nypost.com
“..“This is what Victoria’s Secret models do,” he said. “This is why they hired you. If you want to be like Gisele, this is what you have to do.”

That’s when it hit me. I was being paid to strip down and pose provocatively to titillate men. It wasn’t about modeling clothes anymore; I felt like a piece of meat.

The next day, I broke down and started sobbing. I was in my bedroom and dropped to my knees and started to pray.

“God, why did you have me win the Victoria’s Secret Angel competition if it was going to make me feel this way? I’m not honoring my husband. I just want answers!”

That was two years ago. Today, I’m living in Montana with my husband, enjoying the fresh air and volunteering with our church.

The old me would never have believed that I gave up my career for this quiet, country life. When I was a little girl growing up in Las Vegas, surrounded by billboards of half-dressed women, I dreamed of becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel…

Over the next two years, New York really opened my eyes to the dark side of the modeling industry. One of my roommates was so bulimic she would involuntarily throw up when she ate. She would go to sleep crying every night and just look at herself in the mirror thinking that she was so fat. And she was so thin.

“

Self-Worth

How Social Media Can Effect Your Self Worth

Thoughts,suggestions, etc..?

Good News Sociology
https://www.facebook.com/groups/139706352858524/

What “lies” have you believed….do you still?

Hello…my name is___________?

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Can you fill the blank? What does your name mean to you? Have you ever been called “some other name” that you believed?…from a “bully”? teased/make fun of?

I remember being teased back in middle school/junior high and was called many names that I started to believe. For example, my physical features (e.g. “big eyes”, “Yoda”, “big nose”, “shorty”, “terrorist”, “you look like the enemy” (Persian Gulf War at the time), racist remarks , sexuality, etc..) weren’t the same with the people around me-who does anyways? -God has made us all uniquely-beautiful-and different! Can you relate? Feel free to boldly share your story down below or email me too.

Anyways, I started to believe in many of these “lies”..

“…Hello, my name is regret
I’m pretty sure we have met
Every single day of your life
I’m the whisper inside
That won’t let you forget

Hello, my name is defeat
I know you recognize me
Just when you think you can win
I’ll drag you right back down again
‘Til you’ve lost all belief

Oh, these are the voices. Oh, these are the lies…”-Hello, My Name Is
Share
Matthew West (myktis.com)

My self-esteem just went lower and lower as I grew older. I would at times have “suicidal” thoughts and suffered depression. I went through a season where I even wished I was “white” like most of my peers. With all this, my hatred and anger grew, which I would keep to myself and was anti-social.

I slowly grew out of the lies starting my college years when I had a “spiritual awakening” (see personal testimony). My low self-esteem didn’t disappear overnight, but it slowly faded away as I grew in my faith and my found identity as a “child of Him (Heavenly Father)…

“…And I have believed them for the very last time…..

Matthew West – Hello, My Name Is (Lyrics)

…Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed,
And I have been set free
“Amazing Grace” is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King

I am no longer defined
By all the wreckage behind
The one who makes all things new
Has proven it’s true
Just take a look at my life

What love the Father has lavished upon us
That we should be called His children
I am a child of the one true King.”- Hello, My Name Is
Matthew West (klove.com)

One last thought is we need to be careful what you put above God (e.g idols). I used to struggle with this (e.g. sports, music, celebrities, etc..), which I can share the “negative effects” on another blog topic. This will affect one’s identity, which will give you a false belief.

*NOTE: I’m not trying to be the “angel” (righteous) here, but I’ve had my share of being the “devil”. I’ve teased others too or said things that might’ve “offended” them, which some has boldly reminded me. If I have and I don’t know it, please forgive me and let me know (in person if possible or via email, phone, etc..) too! I want to learn from my mistakes.

Satan-“father of lies”

Testimony from an Ex Satanist! What satan DOES NOT! want you to know!!!

Providence
“Published on Oct 10, 2016

There sits today in rulership of this fallen world order one who has grown ancient in evil, cunning in subtlety, and cruel in deceit. He waged the first war of the universe in the distant planet called heaven, and subsequently brought conflict to this little world we call earth as it spins on the outer edges of the milky-way galaxy. He filled all heaven with discord and the earth with death, and both with great sorrow. He deceptively challenged every transparent purpose of the Creator, and even coveted the throne of the Eternal, planning to either assume rule of the universe or if not, then to plunge it into chaos and ruin.
This menacing figure who has hijacked our planet well explains the presence of every conflict that disturbs our world today, every pestilence that afflicts humanity, every sorrow and pain and death that tortures the children of earth. Lucifer, the former covering cherub and one-time honorable prime minister of the angelic intelligences in Heaven, has become Satan, the great adversary of our smitten world. This powerful angel heads a vast army of unseen intelligences, the hosts of darkness who oppose in this world, every beneficent purpose of our Creator the Almighty God of the universe. He especially hates the Holy One who in great condescension assumed our human nature that He might by divine power destroy the works of Satan, conquer evil and lift the terrible sentence of eternal death from our fallen race.
To speak of a throne of evil controlling this world system is no mere figure of speech, it is a grim reality. And the occupant of that throne is no figment of anyone’s imagination. Jesus Christ ascribes to him the title of “prince of this world.” John 14: 30. The famed Christian apostle Paul describes him as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” Eph. 2: 2. Paul also warns us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood , but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness…” Eph 6:12 John the Revelator describes this foe as “the great dragon,” “that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan who deceives the whole world.” Rev. 12:9.
When the leader of revolt against the Eternal Creator was expelled from heaven, expelled along with him were many other angel intelligences who had yielded to his cunning sophistries and had joined in his unworthy rebellion. This world is today their singular abode. This is because that tremendous event, which rid heaven of the fallen hosts, was followed by the tragic fall of our first parents under Satan’s lies. This historic fall let loose legions of fallen angels to bend all of their efforts and genius over many thousands of years in the work of spoiling, corrupting and ruining the once noble human family, originally created to be the crown of God’s handiwork. A key element of the strategy to ruin humanity has been to lead man to blight and degrade the fair earth that was intended to be our perfect and eternal home.
The apostle Peter warns us “Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 Finally, the inspired revelator says ” Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.” Rev. 12:12.”

So…what “lies” have you believed? Feel free to share down below your thoughts of any of the content above. Remember, you not alone! Lastly, do you believe them still? Why or why not?

Good News Sociology
https://www.facebook.com/groups/139706352858524/

ACTION: What are some ways to “heal” (e.g. emotionally) from the scars of your past?

Thank you to my Heavenly Father for giving the inspiration to Matthew West to write this song to touch others, like me (see Who Am I?) !

Sexual-Gender Identity?

I decided to write to this blog on this particular topic after many talks with transvestites. I was always curious how one became one and found some similar backgrounds. I met an individual that told me he lived with a single mom. Her mother wished she had a daughter and never got one, so she would dressed him as a girl all the time. This repeated occurrence just gave him that identity desire to be a girl. There are other stories, but will tell them later as time comes, so stay tune…

Transformed

Transsexual Returns to Original Gender After Relationship With Christ
By Jeff Schapiro, Christian Post Reporter
January 11, 2012|4:43 pm
“….When he was only about five years old, Heyer’s grandmother began to dress him as if he were a girl and even made a dress just for him. The result was a very confused little boy. “I look at it today as being pretty abusive. While it seemed very benign at the time, and maybe even playful, I can see today…that it was really abusive to my psyche,” he told The Christian Post on Wednesday….

…Heyer’s uncle viewed the situation with his grandmother as a joke, and sexually molested him when he was still young.

..By his early teenage years, the fantasy had only grown. He adopted the female name Andrea West, and began cross dressing. At age 15, he also began learning about Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and, although he struggled against his desire to be female, he says those feelings were like a radio playing in his head that he just couldn’t turn off….

“While I didn’t want to be going down this pathway I seemed to be on this track that I couldn’t interrupt, stop or change,” he recalled. “But I wasn’t homosexual. I was having dates with girls, I never felt any desire to have relationships with men, so from the standpoint of my sexuality I was always heterosexual.”

“That I think, too, is one of the…misleading factors. Most people consider transgenders to be homosexual and, from my experience…98 to 99 percent of the people who contact me are not homosexual…It’s really a gender identity issue, not a sexual preference issue.”…

..He and his wife split after 17 years of marriage, and he lost his job when he began making the physical transformation into becoming a woman. He got breast implants, began taking hormones, had electrolysis to reduce the hair on his face, and he had his genitals removed.
….

“You’re not born transgender, something happens in your childhood that causes you to not want to be who you are…And today the only thing that is…socially acceptable is calling yourself a transgender,” he said.

Not all his church experiences were bad, however. He found a church that welcomed him in, even with the knowledge of what his struggle was. The pastor of that church told him, “Our job is to love you and it’s God’s job to transform you.”

“The church, what it did for me was it allowed me to really get to the point where I asked the Lord for forgiveness. I began to pray for forgiveness. And I realized that the critical point is understanding that you can accept Jesus Christ, but there’s a point where that doesn’t become real…until you’re walking with Christ,” he said….

Testimony of a transgender & bisexual, now a servant of God!
https://youtu.be/lDHyeoBiVak
“Published on Aug 15, 2013

God loves everyone and sees every sin equal. God does not hate people. He loves us! What you see the bad stuff in the media is not God. God loves us all and yes! He disapproves of having relationships between two mans and between two woman. But it does not mean he does not love you or understands your difficulties! He offers his salvation to all and will guide you!

This movie is for educational purposes and testimony, I have not made this video. All credit goes to God for helping us and letting us give testimonies of his Glory, love and power.”

A transformed transsexual from the-new-way.org
“…“My appearance became increasingly feminine as the months passed. Silicone injections added to my feminine good looks. But I was miserable inside.”

My story begins in a small Louisiana town on August 15, 1936, when I was born. My father was a river boat pilot and drank a lot. I was always afraid of him, as he would come home late at night, yelling and breaking things. I began to build a fantasy world all my own. I would dream about all the beautiful women in the movies Mother took me to see on weekends. I wanted to be a girl, but I was a boy.

Mother always worked. I used to go to her room when she was away and put on her dresses, earrings, lipstick and perfume. One day she came home early and caught me. “Don’t ever let me catch you doing this again!” she yelled. She whipped me, screaming, “You’re a boy, you’re a boy!” She ripped the earrings off and threw them on the dressing table. I ran from the house crying.

I was afraid to play with boys. They called me “sissy” and “Momma’s boy”. School was the worst time of all. The other boys didn’t want me around and called me ugly names. There were a few girls I could play with, but more and more, I played by myself, with my movie idols…

.. I decided that a sex-change operation was the answer to my feelings of dissatisfaction and phoned a plastic surgeon in New York. We set an appointment for the first stage of surgery —castration. I’ll never forget the antiseptic smell of the operating room. The surgery was done with local anesthetic, but even the drugs injected with 6-inch needles couldn’t kill the dreadful pain of the operation. It was the most dreadful experience of my life…

“Perry, I’m saved. I’ve got Jesus in my heart. I feel wonderful!” He witnessed to me every chance he got for the next year. Finally I agreed to go to church with him. Everything was strange to me, but I felt something I had never experienced in my life. These people really loved each other. I could feel it. .

Politically “Correct”

From ‘manhole’ to ‘maintenance hole’: Berkeley bans gender-specific words
Published: 9:59 AM CDT July 18, 2019
Updated: 10:02 AM CDT July 18, 2019 kare11.com
The words “manpower” and “manhole” will become “workforce” and “maintenance hole.”
Author: The Associated Press
“..BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Berkeley, California, has adopted an ordinance to replace some terms with gender-neutral words in the city code.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports Wednesday that “she” and “he” will be replaced by “they.” The words “manpower” and “manhole” will become “workforce” and “maintenance hole.”

..”

I’m curious why “you” came to this particular blog. Please feel free to personally contact me or share below. Do you struggle with any sexual-gender identity? What’s your story? Can you related to any of the stories above?

Good News Sociology
https://www.facebook.com/groups/139706352858524/