What is Body image?
[[File:Bullying in propaganda 1942.jpg|thumb|180px|Bullying of a larger woman in a 1942 ad in Brazil for a weight-loss medicine.]] '''Body image''' is the thoughts and feelings of a person has about their own body. Having a positive body image effects [[self-esteem]]. In studies the majority of women and girls in western [[Society|societies]] have a negative body image. The American ideal is to be thinner than is normal or healthy. Men and boys are thinking more about their bodies, wanting to be more muscular. Unrealistic ideals are learned from parents, friends, and the media.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Tiggemann| first=Marika| chapter=Sociocultural Perspectives on Human Appearance and Body Image | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bodyimageseconde00phdt/page/n33 12]–19| edition = Second| publisher = The Guilford Press| isbn = 978-1-60918-182-6| editor-first1 = Thomas F. | editor-last1=Cash| editor-first2=Linda | editor-last2=Smolak| title = Body Image: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention| url=https://archive.org/details/bodyimageseconde00phdt| location = New York| date = 2011}}</ref> In non-western cultures, body image does not have the same meaning. In some societies, people think of themselves as part of a group, not as individuals. Where getting enough food is a problem, growing thinner is seen as unhealthy. Westernization of cultures has decreased positive body image worldwide.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Anderson-Fye| first=Ellen P.| chapter=Body Image in Non-Western Countries | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bodyimageseconde00phdt/page/n265 244]–252| edition = Second| publisher = The Guilford Press| isbn = 978-1-60918-182-6| editor-first1 = Thomas F. | editor-last1=Cash| editor-first2=Linda | editor-last2=Smolak| title = Body Image: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention| url=https://archive.org/details/bodyimageseconde00phdt| location = New York| date = 2011}}</ref> A 2007 report by the ''American Psychological Association'' found that a culture-wide sexualization of girls was contributi