Body image resilience and health in an era of ‘The Perfect Body’: Developing a personal sense of social responsibility

Achieving a cultural standard of appearance that is thin, physically fit and muscular is advocated as a personal appearance goal for individuals to seek in American culture; benefits are thought to accrue for those who meet this arbitrary and socially constructed standard. Much time, effort and expense can be directed towards appearance management behaviours practiced to this end and both emotional anguish and physical harm can occur in its elusive search. This article describes a college freshman seminar course dedicated to building body image resilience and healthy decision-making regarding appearance behaviours; concurrently, the course helps to build a personal sense of social responsibility so that students are better prepared to advocate for social change and personal empowerment regarding cultural norms of appearance. Herein are described the learning objectives of the course, topics covered and related activities and the impact these experiences have on developing body image resilience and healthy behaviours among students. Through these strategies and teaching pedagogy, we see evidence that building a strong sense of body image resilience and personal goals of healthy living can mitigate the pressure felt to attain such a standard and the dangers of pursuing bodily perfection.