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Women and body image: A match made in frustration

Paintings of a woman's body hang on a wall
Kevin White/Missouri State University
"Hesitation," an oil on board painting by Missouri State University student Kristina Cain, hangs in Brick City during a 2020 show.

Our weekly program, Missouri State Journal, is a collaboration between KSMU Radio and Missouri State University. It's hosted and produced by MSU's Office of Strategic Communication, and it airs each Tuesday morning at 9:45 on KSMU. 

Thin. Corseted. Short. Heroin chic. Rubenesque. Healthy.

What society considers beautiful in women is ever-changing. But no matter the style, one thing remains the same: Women are never content with their bodies.

Body image has been at the forefront for women for as long as women have been alive, but in a world of Photoshop and the increasing use of AI images, the landscape is unlike any that women have faced before.

Missouri State University professor of psychology Dr. Brooke Whisenhunt — who studies body image and the influences of social media — says media literacy is key to proceeding with caution.

Read the full audio transcript.

Emily Letterman has worked at Missouri State University since 2023 and is currently the public relations strategist in the Office of Strategic Communication. A longtime journalist with over a decade of reporting on southwest Missouri, she has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from MSU.