No one is immune.

Men, women. Size zero, size 13. Teenagers, middle-aged adults.

Regardless of who you are, body image is an issue. You glance at your reflection in the mirror and your distorted interpretations skew what is really there, making you self-conscious or uncomfortable about your body.

Is it ever “good enough?”

Last week, the Center for Women, St. Ben’s Senate and CSB Health Advocates hosted events at CSB/SJU, trying to reiterate a simple message to both men and women: love and accept your body for what it is.

Almost 700 students sported T-shirts made by the Center for Women as part of the Natural Beauty Campaign — a first-ever, week-long celebration of positive body image. More than 500 “beauty-grams” were sent out by students — personal messages to let someone know why they’re beautiful. The Health Advocates offered free massages and pins that said, “Love your body.”

“We wanted people to hear ‘you’re great the way you are,’” said Georgia Welle, the student director for the Center for Women. “There’s such a body image issue on our campus. I don’t think people realize that.”

But it’s not easy to convince people to truly accept their bodies. Experts say negative body image problems are prevalent among our age group because we’re the same age as the models and celebrities idolized and exploited in the mass media.

“If that’s what you’re bombarded with in the media, it influences women looking at (their) bodies (to do so) more critically,” CSB/SJU psychologist Jenny Miller said. “We’re constantly shown how to look. (And) it has an effect on us.”

Liddy Hope, a part-time therapist who counsels people specifically on body image, teaches a sociology class at CSB/SJU on these issues.

“You are trying to figure out who you are and comparing yourself to others,” she said, explaining why college students see these issues more. “Every single person has an issue.”

While it may be no surprise to some that the media subconsciously dictates so much about body image, experts say what’s surprising is that men are increasingly becoming the target of these issues.

“It’s becoming less OK to objectify the female body, and more and more acceptable to objectify the male body,” Miller said, citing the increase in advertisements and images in the media featuring men showing off hairless six-pack abs and ripped biceps.

That means men are starting to face the same issues that have, up to now, been associated only with women.

In the last decade, eating disorders among men have doubled – going from 5 percent to 10 percent of the overall eating disorder population, Miller said.

Senior Mitch VanBruggen knows negative body image issues resonate with his male peers. As an athlete and member of SJU Health Initiatives, he said he sees men taking excessive protein powders or weight lifting for two to three hours a day. Others, he said, face the opposite problem, being extremely underweight to fit their sports.

“Guys place a lot more emphasis on their self-worth of athletic ability,” VanBruggen said. “A lot of guys think their body image … is what (women are) looking for in a guy,” he said — even though, he added, research shows those traits aren’t what women focus on.

According to a 2005 survey conducted by CSB/SJU Counseling and Health Promotions, 10 percent of men surveyed took nutritional supplements to gain weight or build muscle. Another 14.8 percent said they followed a diet intended to build muscle or gain weight. And almost half reported they exercised to gain weight or build muscle.

The Health Initiatives have participated in campaigns targeting men’s body image problems in the past, but not this year. Instead, VanBruggen said, they’re doing more “passive programming” that discusses staying healthy in general.

“Body image is somewhat of an uncomfortable topic for guys to talk about because they think it’s a girl’s issue,” VanBruggen said. “I definitely think it’s kind of taboo to talk about.”

Students in Hope’s sociology class know that stereotype isn’t true.

Hope has structured her class — which is made up almost evenly of men and women — to focus on studying the masculine body image.

“There’s a double standard for men,” Hope said. “You’re supposed to be strong and still sensitive.”

But, Miller said, while men are being dictated on how to look by culture, they aren’t inundated by the issue in the same way as women.

“Most of them are not completely happy with the way they look, but have less pressure to change the way they look,” she said.

That’s because body image, in essence, often absorbs women’s lives more explicitly, whether in their conversations or thoughts.

Just like men, one way that experts are cued into the obsession of body image among women is through the fitness center.

But unlike men, women are afraid of bulking up — even female athletes that rely on muscle to excel at their sports. When Don Fischer, a professor and CSB strength and conditioning coach, works with athletes, he has to continually remind them that having muscle is good.

Losing muscle and over-exercising can affect more than your athletic performance, he said. The results of restricting proteins and fats affect your immune system, mood and hormone functions, he said.

Marcia Hilbert, the director of CSB Campus Recreation, said over-exercising can be a problem among women. It’s up to her to confront women who are over-exercising at the fitness center, reminding them exercise is for both strength and conditioning.

“I think we’re our worst enemies,” Hilbert said. “It’s a huge challenge to overcome.”

In the 2005 health survey, 63.2 percent of women said they exercise to lose weight. Almost half also said they diet to lose weight. In addition, 46.9 percent of women perceived their weight as “normal” while 43 percent said they thought they were “somewhat overweight.”

Women can put a lot of pressure on fellow women when it comes to body image.

Miller said she’s talked to some women who say they would rather eat meals with men because “food is the last part of the conversation.”

Miller said peers can have a huge influence on people’s body image.

“It kind of depends who you surround yourself with,” she said.

Women also feed off one another, which means over-exercising or eating disorders can “spread” among groups of friends or roommates.

Some even theorize that women dress for each other, not men. “You’re looking at yourself and imagining how others perceive you,” Hope said, adding that everyone envies others for the way they look. “That person is looking at you and saying the same thing.”

None of this surprises Welle, who helped organize last week’s events.

“I don’t think people are willing to admit there’s a body image problem,” she said. “I feel like everyone has a body image problem. Who’s confident 100 percent of the time?”

So, if body image is an issue everyone is preoccupied with at some point, how do you know if you or someone you know is letting body image become more than just a casual comment?

“When it impairs your day-to-day life — that’s when it’s a problem,” Hope said.

Miller said to look for patterns that might be leading to self-destructive measures such as eating disorders that need to be addressed.

If your self-perception of how you look is interfering with your choices about what you eat, how you exercise and how you dress, Hope said, then the first step is to become aware of your negative body image.

Step two: overcoming negative thoughts about your body. And that isn’t easy, experts say.

Miller said negative body image issues stem from not only culture, family and background, but also from self-esteem. Those who “feel crappy about all parts of themselves” tend to use food to control their self-esteem issues, she said.

But she and others believe that both men and women can find comfort in their own skin — even if for some, it takes more time than others.

“Mirrors aren’t the enemy … it’s our feelings about ourselves,” Klapperich said. “When you look into the mirror, practice what you should say to yourself. You just need to remind yourself every day until (positive thoughts) become real for you.”

Klapperich said she encourages a lot of the same ideas as a yoga instructor, teaching people to let go of feelings of judgment and competition often associated with negative body image.

“We don’t all look good in everything,” she said.

Hope also emphasized that people’s change in body image has to come internally.

“We each create our own reality,” Hope said. “If you have negative beliefs about your body, you have to change it.

“Reframe the way you think of yourself,” she said. “Over time you can learn to celebrate your body.”