Body Image

Body image is how a person perceives, feels about, and relates to their own physical appearance. In LGBTQ+ communities it is shaped by several forces at once: mainstream beauty standards, community-specific ideals like muscle culture in some gay male spaces, and gender dysphoria for many trans and non-binary people. Research consistently finds elevated rates of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and clinical eating disorders among LGBTQ+ people, with gay and bisexual men, bisexual women, and trans people especially affected. Minority stress, the chronic strain of stigma and rejection, is a leading driver. Body-positive and body-liberation activism within queer spaces works to counter these pressures.