Body shaming is a form of bullying that exposes victims to many emotional, physical, and social risks and consequences. This study aims to determine whether university students recognise the implications of body shaming on individuals and discover the students’ perspectives regarding their body image. Fifty students from five different faculties (Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Hotel and Tourism) in a public university participated as the respondents in this study. A questionnaire was created in a Google form and distributed to the students via the WhatsApp application. The questionnaire focused on respondents’ awareness of the implications of body shaming and their perspectives regarding their body image. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis and described in frequency and percentage. Based on the results, most respondents recognised the implications of body shaming. However, more than half of the respondents appeared to have an unfavourable opinion about their bodies. This study has demonstrated that body shaming can cause severe impacts on adolescents and society in terms of psychological concerns, body image dissatisfaction, academic implications and eating disorders. Hence, proper actions must be taken to cultivate positive attitudes and well-being in our community.
Brewis, A. A., & Bruening, M. (2018). Weight shame, social connection, and depressive symptoms in late adolescence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050891
Brown, A., Flint, S. W., & Batterham, R. L. (2022). Pervasiveness, impact and implications of weight stigma. EClinicalMedicine, 47, 101408.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101408
Damanik, T. M. (2018). Dinamika psikologis perempuan mengalami body shaming. [Master dissertation, Universitas Sanata Dharma]. Repository Universitas Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta. http://repository.usd.ac.id/id/eprint/30840
Evelianti, M., Sukamti, N., & Wardana, M. K. (2020). The Relationship between Body Shaming Treatment and Body Image in Adolescents in Depok. JIKO (Jurnal Ilmiah Keperawatan Orthopedi), 4(2), 70–76. https://doi.org/10.46749/jiko.v4i2.43
Fathi, F. (2011). Why weight matters: Addressing body shaming in the social justice community. Columbia Social Work, 2. https://doi.org/10.7916/D8CZ3J0V
Gam, R. T., Singh, S. K., Manar, M., Kar, S. K., & Gupta, A. (2020). Body shaming among school-going adolescents: prevalence and predictors. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 7(4), 1324. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20201075
Gani, A. J., & Jalal, N. M. (2020). The Influence of Psychoeducation about Body Shaming on Youth Attitudes. Proceeding of The International Conference on Science and Advanced Technology (ICSAT), 449–456.
Greenleaf, C., Petrie, T. A., & Martin, S. B. (2014). Relationship of weight?based teasing and adolescents’ psychological well?being and physical health. Journal of School Health, 84(1), 49-55.
Hughes, A. (2019). Nearly half of adults have been body shamed, poll claims. Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/body-shaming-weight-hair-feet-appearance-looks-ww-poll-a9177956.html
Iftitania, M. (2021). Body Shaming and Its Effect in Jane Green ’ S Jemima J Thesis.
Kenny, E., & Nichols, E. G. (2017). Beauty around the world: A cultural encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
Kumara, H. I. G. C., & Jayawardhana, R. A. W. D. (2018). International beauty pageants and the construction of hegemonic images of female beauty. Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 41(2), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.4038/sljss.v41i2.7699
Lavender, J. M., & Anderson, D. A. (2010). Contribution of emotion regulation difficulties to disordered eating and body dissatisfaction in college men. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 43(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20705
Major, B., Tomiyama, A. J., & Hunger, J. M. (2017). The negative and bidirectional effects of weight stigma on health. In The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health (Issue July). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190243470.001.0001
Mannan, M., Mamun, A., Doi, S., & Clavarino, A. (2016). Prospective associations between depression and obesity for adolescent males and females - A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. PLoS ONE, 11(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157240
Mental Health Foundation. (2021). Body image: How we think and feel about our bodies. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/body-image-report
Michael, S. L., Wentzel, K., Elliott, M. N., Dittus, P. J., Kanouse, D. E., Wallander, J. L., ... & Schuster, M. A. (2014). Parental and peer factors associated with body image discrepancy among fifth-grade boys and girls. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43(1), 15-29.
Moehlecke, M., Blume, C. A., Cureau, F. V., Kieling, C., & Schaan, B. D. (2020). Self-perceived body image, dissatisfaction with body weight and nutritional status of Brazilian adolescents: A nationwide study. Jornal de Pediatria, 96, 76-83.
Mustafa, M. S. A., Mahat, I. R., Md Shah, M. A. M., Ali, M. N. A., Mohideen, R. S., & Mahzan, S. (2022). The Awareness of the Impact of Body Shaming among Youth. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v12-i4/13197
Pont, S. J., Puhl, R., Cook, S. R., & Slusser, W. (2017). Stigma experienced by children and adolescents with obesity. Pediatrics, 140(6).
Santoso, A. (2018). Polisi tangani 966 kasus body shaming selama 2018. detikNews. Retrieved from https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4321990/polisi-tangani-966-kasus-body-shaming-selama-2018
Saxena, M. S., Mathur, M. A., & Jain, M. S. (2020). Body Shaming, Emotional Expressivity, and Life Orientation Among Young Adults. September.
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.JETIR2009366
Soleman, N., & Elindawati, R. (2019). Fourth wave feminism in Indonesia: Body shaming through social media phenomenon. Journal of Islamic World and Politics, 3(2). doi:10.18196/jiwp.3234
Sugiati, T. (2019). The influence of body shaming toward FISIP Airlangga University students behaviour pattern. Indonesian Journal of Social Sciences, 11(02), 16–24.
Tylka, T. L. (2018). Overview of the field of positive body image. Body positive: Understanding and improving body image in science and practice, 6-33. Cambridge University Press.
Webb, J. B., Fiery, M. F., & Jafari, N. (2016). “You better not leave me shaming!”: Conditional indirect effect analyses of anti-fat attitudes, body shame, and fat talk as a function of self-compassion in college women. Body Image, 18, 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.04.009
