Studies Find Religion Promotes Healthy Body Image for Young Women

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/studies-find-religion-pro_b_5036740.html

David Briggs
Writer, Association of Religion Data Archives

Studies Find Religion Promotes Healthy Body Image for Young Women
Posted: 03/26/2014 2:34 pm EDT Updated: 03/26/2014 2:59 pm EDT

Forget looking like Kate Moss.

Young women trapped in a downward spiral of low self-esteem trying to measure up to unrealistic images of thinness and beauty may want to try something more effective than perpetual dieting: a spiritual makeover.

Worship, prayer and a strong sense of the importance of religion can help teens and 20-somethings with eating disorders overcome feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, new research indicates.

A study of nearly 2,500 young women just published online in the Journal of Religion and Health adds weight to other U.S. and international research suggesting religion can be a countercultural force in promoting healthy body images.

more at link

Unfortunately, the main study being discussed here is behind a pay wall. Here is the abstract:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-014-9838-y?no-access=true
The other studies have very small sample sizes.

[trotsky]

1. It is good there may be some elements to try and offset all the horrible, nasty messages...

that women have been getting from religion for millennia. That they brought sin into the world, that they are 2nd class citizens, that their only value is the sexual purity they can bring to a marriage, etc., etc.

[Goblinmonger]

2. Ironic tension at the top of the Religion forum

[trotsky]

3. LMAO

Nice catch.

[HockeyMom]

4. Catholic School Girls Uniforms?

Well, maybe because no matter your size or shape, you all look like a sack of potatoes.

[cbayer]

5. Which is preferable to the contests in some schools to look like highly

sexualized grown women, imo.

[HockeyMom]

9. Don't know where you are from

but I worked in Florida HS. Hot weather/ BEACH culture. Look like you are at the beach while in school. I lived here also at 22 years old. Screw the short shorts, tank tops even back then as an young ADULT. Did not wear the Florida "uniform" then. Jeans and a tshirt then at 22. Now, as an old woman, I won't wear Bermuda shorts or Capris, as the majority of Senior women do. Besides, long baggy sundresses are a lot COOLER. That is what the Mexican and Haitian women, young and old, wear. I agree with them

Middle ground.

[cbayer]

10. I've lived a lot of places, including Florida.

I'm living in Mexico right now and have totally switched to the sundresses. They are great and a simple shawl takes you easily from day to night.

I never had uniforms growing up, but there was a lot of pressure to have the coolest clothes and to look as attractive as possible (particularly for girls).

I raised my kids in a culture dominated by uniforms, both in public and parochial schools. It was great. What a relief both for me and the kids.

[TygrBright]

6. "Religion?" or "Spirituality?"

Granted, there's no way to reliably infer or extrapolate from the limited data available.

But studies of 12-Step programs for non-believers (again, limited) seem to indicate that a non-theist spiritual orientation can address a number of issues related to chronic brain disorders such as addiction, compulsive behavior, etc.

Spirituality is not the exclusive property of religious believers, although we don't really have a very good shared vocabulary to discuss it. The vocabulary we do have seems to promote conflict and misunderstanding more readily than information exchange.

sadly,
Bright

[cbayer]

7. Hard to tell, but I would guess this includes "spirituality" based on this

description of the sample:

Religious involvement—organizational, non-organizational, and subjective religiousness

I agree about the shared vocabulary and often wish we had a different nomenclature.

[trotsky]

8. Other voices on this topic:

http://imagofeminae.tripod.com/women/id11.html

For women raised within a Christian context, Biblical and church teachings frequently play a role in the development of body image. Many traditional Christian teachings are based on the assumption, if not an outright statement of fact, that the female body is sinful and in need of control. A woman who is taught this way might internalize such teachings and come to view her own body as sinful. Thus the foundation is laid for poor body image, which in turn fuels disordered eating. These religious teachings are based on misinterpretations of Scripture passages. The same passages that have been used to subordinate women have been used to denigrate the female body. Subordination and denigration typically work together in the process of dehumanization. Outside of the Pauline and deuteroPauline writings, the main Scriptures used to support the subordination of women come from Genesis. The Genesis passages deal more directly with the female body than do Paul's and other writings, which are more concerned with the status of women in church and society. Therefore, the views of Paul and his contemporaries will be left to other authors, except as they relate to the Genesis passages.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-religion-thinness/200912/images-god-and-body-image

Now let's consider how the typical view of "God" as male shapes our psychology and our society. One of the mothers of feminist theology, Mary Daly, summed this up well when she noted (I'm paraphrasing here) that if "God" in "his" heaven is a father-king ruling "his" people, then it is natural for society to envision authority and power as residing primarily in men, and it is natural for women to internalize a sense of their own spiritual inferiority (see Daly's Beyond God the Father). Sacred images reinforce social patterns, norms, and expectations, which are simultaneously internalized in the minds and hearts of individuals. Therefore a male image of "God" implicitly affirms male authority in society and in individual psyches. A woman may not be conscious of her assumption that "men are more powerful" or that men are "more natural-born leaders" in order for it to impact her self-understanding, including her experience of her body. If more women trusted their own spiritual authority and innate power to make a difference in the world, perhaps they wouldn't be as vulnerable to the belief that their primary value resides in their physical appearance.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/amanda-bloom/2011/03/body-image-the-model-religion/

It was during her graduate studies at Harvard Divinity School that Lelwica began to uncover the deep root of bodily shame as she researched the works of early theologians, specifically within historical Christianity. ”The theme kept on coming up again and again of women’s bodies being shameful,” she said to Cutts. “They’re the sign of women’s inferiority, their weakness, their intellectual capabilities.” Lelwica spoke about how early church fathers often blamed Eve for bringing sin into the world, for leading men into temptation, and causing the downfall of humankind. Lelwica found a powerful symbolism in the story of Eve: “She eats,” Lelwica said, “and it is her eating that brings evil into the world…There’s a suggestion that women fail to control their bodies – Eve failed to control her appetite – that is not the author’s intention, but the symbolism is still very relevant for women today.” Lelwica described this discovery as an “A-ha!” moment in understanding her own eating disorder. She was able to see her self-loathing as part of a cultural and historical phenomenon and as a tradition passed down from generation to generation.