Body image issues is a growing problem in modern day society. Modern day media depicts difficult expectations for both boys and girls. Now, since most kids are exposed to social media at a younger age, the new generation are more into images because the media depicts women to have to be skinny, beautiful and generally, blond, white girls, whereas men have to have a six pack, be ripped and buff, also normally being blond, white men.
Body images are generally associated with women, however, both genders can be affected. Women in social media have begun to stand up, creating more diverse celebrities, however, men have stayed quiet, forcing them to keep their expectancy of being tall, rugged, emotionless, yet emotional, and overall, perfect. There have been pictures of men holding up signs that say: It’s just as hard to be Ken as it is to be Barbie. Also, being told to be a man, also can affect a man’s psychologically, due to thinking that to be a man, they have to repress their emotions. Women have models who are now plus size, and more stores selling larger sizes, however, men always have to appear fit. Currently, in my opinion, I’d say that men are more affected by body image issues due to media.
Often, the causes of body images is the media, however, in some cases it could be other sports you do. For example, in the book Letting Ana Go by Anonymous, the main character, whose name is never revealed, has a friend named Jill, who is a ballet dancer, and is trying to lose weight to become Clara in The Nutcracker. Jill gets the main character in, so she’d have a friend to help her lose weight, however, this resulted in them both developing anorexia, and the main character dies at the end. Sports add a lot of pressure on to the new generation. Ballet, gymnasts, and dancers, are generally the people who are the most affected. Body images issues, and eating disorders generally go hand in hand.
This can also be caused by childhood teasing, physical or sexual abuse, and low self-esteem. For example, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, is when someone only sees flaws in themselves. However, the new perspective of women may not be as good as you would expect. While, it’s good we no longer celebrate anorexia, we shouldn’t celebrate obesity either. Media is now showing us that it’s okay to be a little on the heavier side, however, our happiness shouldn’t come from our physical appearance, and I’m talking about both men and women. Of course, being happy with your physical appearance is fantastic. However, our happiness shouldn’t rely on that.

I've personally dealt with a lot of image issues, and I can say, it was mainly due to media. Afterall, not many shows have a leading Indian women, do they? Quite frankly, most television shows have white lead roles and the secondary, or supporting roles are played by people of other races.
Humans in general, should be comfortable in our own skin, our health, and accomplishments, along with our relationships with other people. So stop looking at social media, and hoping you looked different. Focus on what really matters. And as cliche as it is, it really is the inside that counts.