Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Body Image in an Unforgiving World
Julie Walton, Professor of Exercise Science
Minds in the Making
Summer 2007

Introductory thoughts

As an exercise scientist, I deal with the raw physicality of the human body every day. Students and I are immersed in issues of physiology, health, wellness, and physical fitness through training for strength and endurance, preparing for competition, making healthy food choices, and coping with pervasive cultural attitudes that shape our notions of body image. As Christians, we decry the social mandate to be lean and strong. Yet, we are so desensitized to the lie that people of worth must be thin, muscular or beautiful that we live out skewed notions of body image on a daily basis. We are pushed and pulled by this tension of living inside a physical body that is judged by superficial standards, while we know that God calls us to live by and through his Holy Spirit in a way that is not worldly.

Historically, some have preferred a Greek dualism that compartmentalizes the things that truly make us human. This preference results in a dichotomy in which the more evil part is that which we see and sense, and through which we move. They view their physical body, consisting of flesh and bones, fat and sinew, as a deterrent to the life of the mind and spirit — a life that exists on a higher plane, an order less sullied by physical laws and desires. Why are we not just souls without a body? The Platonic notion that the body is the soul's prison is a far cry from God's design, one which mysteriously integrates a mind, spirit and body into one temporal, mortal, yet in God's plan immortal, being that he created with joyful purpose.

A mysterious unity

God is clear about the importance and necessity of a physical body in which we are to move, and breathe, and have our being. Out of the dust of a very new earth, God himself molded man's physical body before giving it breath or being. This physicality came by God's design. It is a commonality humans share with all other creatures. And yet, man is unique among all creatures, for he alone bears God's image. Philip Yancey, in I Was Just Wondering (1998), writes that “[I]n all of earth there are no exact parallels of spirit and immortality housed in matter. The discomfiture we feel may be our most accurate human sensation, reminding us we are not quite 'at home' here.” We have a body, mind and spirit that are three in one, distinct but inseparable, mortal yet striving to be immortal. Is it any wonder that we struggle with our identity and image?

Young people, especially, are confused by the complexity of our image. In day-to-day interactions with college students, I see an alarming array of actions that run the gamut of attitudes about the human body. Some students train obsessively in the weight room molding muscles in an attempt to create a certain look, not unlike the way a sculptor works and fashions clay to create particular contours. Others go for nights on end without adequate sleep. Still others starve themselves because they think they are fat. There are whole subsets of students suffering from a skewed body image, and it colors nearly everything they do in terms of exercise, nutrition, self-care, academics, and relationships. These attitudes, mostly learned in early adolescence, and often unintentionally intensified and validated by parents and teachers, manifest themselves in behaviors and issues of self-esteem that, far from revealing a humble, Christ-like approach to life, are instead maladapted and defeated. This condition is a direct result of failing to come to terms, even in a fallen world (or, perhaps more accurately, because of a fallen world), with having bodies intended to image God and serve him. It leads to a bankrupt comprehension of the command to put on a new self, to accept that we have a life to live that is worthy of God's calling and work to be accomplished through a physical body.

Unbiblical self-image

Some people regard their bodies with shame, guilt, self-hatred, humiliation, despair, and feelings of unworthiness. Others treat their bodies with a pride-driven, narcissistic compulsive self-idolization masked as stewardship. Yet others could not care less about their bodies, an attitude that is self-indulgent and lazy. None of this is biblical or part of an abundant, victorious life. Scripture instructs that we are not our own, but were bought at a price, and that we are to take care of ourselves even while heeding the call to deny ourselves and serve Christ alone.

The culture dictates physical perfection, yet antithetically rejects the one perfect human that ever lived. A plethora of new reality television shows dealing with whole body makeovers turn classically plain people into surgically-rendered svelte, symmetrical swans of perfection. It is alarming when a woman who is unhappy with the shape of her nose greedily picks from a surgeon's dessert menu of brow lifts, chin implants, teeth veneers, breast enhancements and belly liposuction to go with the new nose. In 2004, an American medical clinic sought FDA approval for the world's first face transplant. Genetic manipulation has soared beyond a mere ability to pre-select the gender of a baby, forging ahead with plans for choosing everything else about a pre-conceived child from hair and eye color, to intelligence, to athletic predisposition, nose shape, and height.

We have returned full circle to the garden scene in which the serpent seduced Eve with words that promised she could be like God. With our new science and surgery, we can now actually circumvent physical laws in the pursuit of physical perfection. It's not that we want to be like God anymore. We just want to be God, and are plopped squarely in the middle of a culture that is bent on self-redemption. This perverse and all too common attitude reduces Jesus' renunciation of his heavenly citizenship to take on a physical human form to meaninglessness.  

The culture prescribes perfection. Christ's perfect love illumines us as the sinners we are, falling short of God's glory. The culture promotes outward appearance as a means to fulfillment and power. Christ urges us to develop strength in our inner character and the loveliness of a humble spirit. The culture lures us to love only ourselves and to idolize a standard that is not normal or healthy. Christ admonishes us to love the LORD our God and each other dearly. The culture markets the value of self-ownership in everything from personal rights to self-help books. Christ reminds us that we cannot own ourselves because of the great price he paid to redeem us, and that our true identity rests solely in him.

Misleading questions

We get two questions about identity backwards, and, as a result, our children suffer from horribly perverted ideas about their bodies and their worth as humans. In early and middle adolescence, it is normal for kids to seek an answer to the question, “Who am I?” But for our children to truly develop a healthy personhood, identity, and self-image, the question must instead be, “Who is Jesus?”   One of the reasons we struggle so deeply with our body image is the lack of our understanding of who it is we image. Consequently, we get caught up in trying hard to look the part, instead of playing our part as witnesses to and reflectors of the light. We all want a life that has meaning. We need to belong and to be valued. We crave love and attention. We loathe admitting a weakness, because we live in a world that equates worth with self-sufficiency. In the formative years of late adolescence, as Christian teens begin to realize a wider world that centers on Christ instead of them, they migrate toward the second most asked (yet also backwards) question, “What kind of mission is God calling me to?” When it comes to a strong and healthy self-identity, we must encourage students to ask instead, “What kind of ‘me' will I bring to a mission?”

It is through the Christian communities of church, school, and family that we can and should convey these principles to our children in ways that proactively help them develop confidence in who they are in Christ, and how they will use their physical bodies to carry out his commission. These are the ways that our children can have hope for a life that is both accountable and meaningful. But, we must act early and consistently to keep our children from becoming marginalized by feelings of physical inadequacy. A child's body image and identity develop early. By upper elementary school, children already report issues with body size, fatness, teasing, and self-loathing. These issues have nothing to do with health but instead preoccupy a child's thinking as a “right-wrong” issue. It is “wrong” to be ugly (or fat, or short, or dumb). It is “right” to be tall, and pretty (handsome), smart, or thin. Research is clear in stating that parental attitudes at this stage are critically influential (and often prejudicial) in helping shape or cripple a child's self-esteem and body image.

Lingering disorders

Early middle school years bring the added burden of physical changes related to puberty and gender that amplify body image issues. Identity formation becomes increasingly influenced by peers and media and is easily misguided by rampant misinformation and wildly artificial norms for appearance. Children begin to take on adult physicality without the benefit of adult coping skills. Negative feelings about oneself at this age often surface, in girls especially, as negative self-talk that is universal and socially acceptable. Peer-encouraged body dissatisfaction at this age is rarely benign, able to grow like a malignancy that can eventually ruin both one's physical and mental health. Body dissatisfaction often causes characteristics of discontent with other aspects of life like relationships and academics, and all are closely connected to self-esteem. One thing is sure: once established, body image disorders are very difficult to undo.

There are several key ways a teacher or parent or youth leader can proactively help shape a child's body image in the shark-infested waters of a body conscious society. Knowledge is critically important in helping children and teens understand issues like healthy weight, genetic influences on body shape and size, and media manipulation of our expectations. However, the more important issue, particularly in the early teens, is to help students develop a sense of mission and of having the skill set necessary to carry out that mission. At this age, children often focus on the things they can't do well, and, because they tend to be extremists, they exhibit a proclivity to exaggerate their inabilities. The best possible prevention of body image disorders occurs when adults carefully mentor and steer students in ways that help them develop personal competence.

Banish inactivity

Personal competence can be particularly developed through physical activity, which is why students must be taught the skills that will enable them to feel comfortable moving in their own bodies for a lifetime. They need to be able, and fit enough, to run, and skate, and bike, and physically play all their lives. It is good for kids to experience the joy of movement. Unfortunately, as much as we'd like to blame television and computers, academics are the single biggest cause of childhood physical inactivity. The human body was created to move. Pinning kids to a desk throughout a school day creates a twofold disaster: it prevents opportunities for learning physical skills that positively shape body image, and it creates a sedentary mindset that can be very difficult to reorient in later years.

In addition to regular and vigorous physical activity and play, students need adults to intentionally model healthy body image. Teachers and parents should not expect kids to have healthy eating attitudes if they themselves habitually eat poorly or are chronically dieting. Adults must take care to refrain from self-denigrating talk about their own bodies, and must not tolerate negative body talk from a child, either about himself or others. Children need to hear and see adults who put off the old self and put on a new self created to be like God (Eph. 4).

As the culture becomes increasingly phobic about physical appearance, we must work more fervently to teach our children the basics of stewardship and caretaking. More importantly, we must daily work to introduce them to the Owner of their bodies, that they may praise him because they are so “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

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