Body Image and the Asian Experience

Individuals of Asian descent are a demographic often overlooked in mainstream body image scholarship. Historically, body image concerns were thought to only affect white, upper-to-middle-class women in North America and Western Europe. However, empirical data accumulated in recent decades have subverted this myth. Contrary to popular belief and stereotypes that Asian Americans are a Model Minority in the United States, they experience significant body image concerns, as well as related disordered eating and mental health challenges. Asian diasporas in Western countries also face challenges similar to those faced by Asian Americans (e.g., racialized and objectified views of Asians). Asian nationals in Asia, on the other hand, are juggling between their collective and national standards of beauty/fitness and the body-image ideals propagated through commercialism and capitalization amidst the historical context of colonization and the contemporary atmosphere of globalization. Body Image and the Asian Experience: Asians, Asian Americans, and Asian Diasporas Across the Globe discusses the dearth of knowledge—and sometimes misinformation—about body image among people of Asian descent, including Asian nationals dwelling in Asia and those in the diaspora (Asian Americans, Asian immigrants in the United Kingdom, Australia, etc.).

The first section of the book reviews the applicability of existing theories in understanding the body image experiences of individuals of Asian descent and proposes a new theoretical framework that emphasizes both decolonizing and intersectional perspectives in conceptualizing Asian body image. The next section examines the current state of research on body image among Asians, Asian Americans, and Asian diasporas around the globe, including attending to some seriously neglected specific demographic and social identity groups. The last section explores mental health and psychosocial implications of body image in the aspects of mental disorders, interpersonal and social relationships, and identity development.