Navigating Body Shame Triggers
Body shame triggers are absolutely everywhere.
Diet culture is real. Anti-fat bias is real.
Wherever we turn, it’s likely that we are going to bump into something, someone, or some place that triggers our body shame.
On a broader scale, it's so important that we continue to work towards dismantling these systems that perpetuate body shame, AND at the same time, diet culture and anti-fat bias don't seem to be leaving us any time soon.
So, while we continue to challenge the systems that fill us with shame, there's a lot that we can do to take good care of ourselves in this world we live in.
A part of healing our relationships with our bodies and working towards body neutrality is identifying body shame triggers.
We do this so we can
notice the triggers
take care of ourselves
work with them so they don’t get absorbed into our system, take over, and dictate our emotions, beliefs, and behaviors.
Below we’ll get into a journaling exploration.
You’re more than welcome to use the graphics within this blog to journal by yourself and/or work with a processor, such as a therapist
There is a theory in psychology (Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory) that explores environmental systems that intersect and impact us throughout our lives. Below is a graph that highlights these various systems.
[check out page 1 of this document]
We can use this theory to begin to explore, not only the experiences we’ve had in our lives that impact our sense of body shame but also present-day triggers. Take a look at the graph and begin to consider different earlier experiences and/or present-day triggers that impact your body shame in each of these categories.
Individual: Starting at the center (individual), you may consider the ways in which aspects of your individual identity (e.g., gender, disability status, chronic illness) impact how you feel about your body.
Family/Friends: Moving outward, how do your family and friends talk about bodies (their own, others, etc.)? What are some ways your family and friends may, even unintentionally, trigger body shame within you?
Community/Work/School: What are some messages at school, at work, or in the community that you’ve received over time and/or in the present that impact your body shame?
Cultural/Societal: Here you can get curious about how media, social media, policies, and larger institutions have influenced and continue to influence your body shame.
Other: anything else that's not listed here!
Okay, so now that we have more awareness of our body shame triggers, what do we do?
Vinny Welsby, podcast host of Fierce Fatty, does an incredible job of outlining the ways that we can work with triggers for body shame by organizing them into three categories for ‘what to do’:
remove,
reduce,
protect.
Go into each of these categories once more and see if you can identify what would be most supportive for you.
You can ask yourself:
Within this category is there anything that I need to (and tangibly can) remove from my life?
Is there anything that I may not want (or perhaps can’t) remove from my life, but maybe I can reduce the amount I’m exposed to it?
And lastly, if I don’t want to (or can’t) remove or reduce these things from my life, how might I work towards protecting myself from them?
For example, if you’ve identified (in the familial category) that larger family gatherings are particularly activating because of the constant diet/body talk, you may start to consider the following- do I want/need to remove large family gatherings from my life?
Do I want/need to reduce large family gatherings from my life (ie., leave early or reduce frequency)?
Or is it the case that there are so many other aspects I enjoy about large family gatherings and/or I can’t reduce/remove them (for whatever reason), so I need to explore ways in which I can protect myself at larger family gatherings.
Protection could look like so many things depending on what your needs are and what’s accessible to you.
As an example, you may decide you need to have a safe support person at these gatherings. If that’s not possible, protection could look like listening to your favorite affirming podcast to/from the gathering or calling a safe person afterwards to recenter.
I highly encourage anyone who’s interested in hearing more examples of "reduce, remove, protect" to head over to the Fierce Fatty podcast episode.
Below is a template that you can use if it’s helpful to begin to explore this further for yourself.
[check out page 2 of this document]
To sign off this blog post, I’ll leave you with a few affirmations we have written on mirror clings that can be stuck onto mirrors anywhere! Email Sarah if you’d like us to send you one for your space.
With lots of 🧡 and care,
Reclaim Therapy provides body image therapy in Horsham, PA and virtually for all Pennsylvania residents.
Our team of body image therapists are trauma informed, fat positive and are committed to supporting folks reclaim their relationship with their body.
Looking for a different type of support?
Our team also provides eating disorder therapy in Pennsylvania, EMDR Therapy, Therapy for Childhood Trauma and PTSD Treatment in Pennsylvania. We would be honored to support you in your healing journey.