Ashlee Bennett's The Art of Body Acceptance (N4)

Ashlee Bennett is an art therapist who works at the intersection of body image and mental health, and The Art of Body Acceptance uses creative exercises to loosen the shame so many people carry about their bodies. Her focus is specific. On her page she describes her work: "I mostly talk about body image, weight stigma, embodiment and related mental health topics." How much you feel judged and not-enough about how you look is, in the Big Five, one facet.

Feeling judged about how you look is the Self-Consciousness facet

That facet is Self-Consciousness (N4), under Neuroticism, how sensitive you are to shame and to how you imagine others see you. A high scorer feels easily exposed and judged; a low scorer is more at ease in their own skin. Body image is N4 aimed at the body, the running worry that you are being appraised and found wanting for how you look, a worry a culture of weight stigma trains hard. Bennett's aim is to lower that alarm, helping a person feel less watched and more at home in their body. This post is about the trait rather than a diagnosis, and it does not replace treatment.

What makes her method distinct is that it works through art rather than argument. Because body shame is bound up with feeling looked at, talking yourself out of it often falls flat, so Bennett uses creative expression (O2) to reach the feeling sideways, letting a person explore their relationship to their body on paper instead of defending it in words. The making externalizes the shame, which makes it easier to see and to soften. For a high-N4 reader, that indirect route can reach what direct reassurance cannot.

For a reader placing themselves, your N4 is a fair read on how much you feel watched and judged, and how much of that lands on your body. High on it and The Art of Body Acceptance offers a gentle, creative way to quiet the appraisal and reclaim some ease. Low on it and the book is a window into why the mirror can be a source of dread for someone else. Where you sit on Self-Consciousness tells you how sensitive you are to being seen and judged, and we take the facet apart in Self-Consciousness (N4).

Read the book: The Art of Body Acceptance: Strengthen Your Relationship with Yourself Through Therapeutic Creative Exercises by Ashlee Bennett.

See Where You Fall

Where do you actually fall? The 30-facet OCEAN personality test takes about 15 minutes and scores all five domains and the facets underneath them. Take the test

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