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Very few cross-national studies on body image focus on Black African women. In this study, a comparative analytical approach and sociocultural theory framework was utilized in examining measures of body image among 209 Kenyan and Nigerian women aged 18–69 (M = 34.4, SD = 7.81). We examined both weight-related and non-weight-related aspects of appearance, including hair texture, skin tone, and other racialized features. The regional samples were compared on scores of internalized Eurocentric beauty ideals, skin color satisfaction, objectified body consciousness, racialized body image satisfaction, and other demographic metrics. Kenyan and Nigerian women showed differences across multiple body image measures. Nigerian women showed thinner body ideals compared to Kenyan women and also endorsed higher skin color satisfaction, racialized body dissatisfaction, and internalized Eurocentric beauty idealization. Kenyan women showed higher levels of objectified body consciousness. An indirect effect of nationality was observed with internalized Eurocentric beauty ideals mediating differences in racialized body dissatisfaction and objectified body shame. Attention to regional variation in appearance satisfaction may deepen understandings of the particular sociocultural influences impacting body image among populations of Black African women. • Overview of body image findings focused on Black African women living in Africa. • -Support for regional differences in measures of body image among Black African women. • -Internalized Eurocentric beauty ideals may explain differences in body dissatisfaction. • -Comparative approaches may highlight differential impact of body image factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of exposure to beauty, self-compassion, and travel (control) TikTok videos on young women's face-related appearance shame and anxiety, self-compassion, mood, upward appearance comparisons and thoughts. Undergraduate women (N = 115) were randomly assigned to view one of three compilation TikTok videos on either beauty tips, self-compassion strategies, or travel destinations. Upward appearance comparisons and thoughts were assessed at post-test only given the items related to video exposure; all other measures were assessed at pre- and post-test. Controlling for pre-test measures, results showed that face-related appearance shame and anxiety, and negative mood were higher, whereas self-compassion was lower in the beauty group relative to the travel control and self-compassion groups. Self-compassion was higher in the self-compassion group relative to the travel control. Women in the beauty group reported more upward appearance comparisons and appearance thoughts relative to women in the travel control and self-compassion groups. The self-compassion group reported more appearance thoughts relative to the travel control. Findings contribute to prior research by showing that brief exposure to beauty TikToks may have a negative effect on how young women feel about their appearance, but also how self-compassion videos may help young women feel more compassionate toward themselves. • Beauty TikToks were compared to self-compassion & travel control TikToks. • Beauty TikToks negatively impacted appearance shame & anxiety, self-compassion, & mood. • Self-compassion TikToks had a positive effect on self-compassion. • The beauty group reported more upward appearance comparisons & thoughts than the other two groups. • The self-compassion group reported more appearance thoughts than the travel group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's conformity to beauty standards are influenced not only by external pressures but also by internalized beliefs, creating some complex issues with regard to women's agency question. Considering the Escape the Corset Movement (ECM) in South Korea as a critical case, this study examines how female college students who loosely participated in the ECM articulate its impact on their daily lives, especially the extent to which they assess its role in their attainment of freedom, liberation, and independence from societal beauty standards. The findings suggest that young female students experienced heightened self-enlightenment and recognition of beauty ideals, as well as a sense of comfort and safety from societal expectations and the male gaze. However, the accounts of women's ambiguous and critical reflections on the perceived transformations also serve to indicate whether the movement has led to fundamental changes in the prevailing power dynamics of gender systems and social structures. We contend that a nuanced perspective on women's adherence to beauty standards should be integrated into scholarly discourse, as women's perceptions present a complex issue regarding their agency in conforming to or resisting societal beauty standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, societal norms define beauty with the parameter of having a slim hourglass-shaped silhouette. An Indian adolescent girl carried the same notion about the societal ideals of beauty until the day she realizes that she is underweight. Consequently, she cannot donate blood at an annual blood drive organized by her school. She feels dejected. The author pens down this experience in the configuration of a poem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]