I hope it's ok for a guy to jump in here and say that body image problems are not exclusive to women (though they may be endemic to them)
But yeah, being a 5foot6 guy in a world of American men, i have had body issues bordering on (and sometimes crossing into) neuroses for decades.
And it's not like I
ignore positives like the fact I look (
if I do say so myself) about a decade younger than the "norm" for my age in years.
So the good stands alongside the bad. And just like in the world of news ... the bad gets most of the attention. It's the same with the male hair patten oddities I likely have from a lower testosterone level ... do I focus on the fortune that I'm nowhere near bald at my age? No, I stress over the fact that I don't have sideburns and couldn't grow a beard on a bet.
I try not to give it too much focus, and it helps to know that we all focus on our personal negatives that no one else in the world really notices or cares about. But being back in the dating game doesn't help my success rate with keeping these neuroses under control.
Ugh, perhaps if I lived in Tokyo ... but I often feel like a hobbit living in Los Angeles.
Ok, enough with the confessional.
The important thing is that WHO we ARE is what makes us attractive or not. And really, the things we obsess about regarding our physical appearance are rarely a concern to anyone else but us.