My research focuses on all the myriad ways in which physical appearance impacts our lives. I study body image and psychological disorders for which body image is a central element — including eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorder and muscle dysmorphia, and anabolic steroid dependence. I’m interested in how gender influences different experiences of body image and I’ve recently spent more attention on social media and its impact on how we see ourselves.

I am an expert in quantitative and qualitative research designs including smartphone-based experience sampling, multi-national cohort studies, behavioural experiments, randomised controlled trials of offline and online interventions, Delphi studies, and Big Data studies involving scraping social media APIs. 

My research has focused on a wide variety of populations, including adolescent boys and girls, adult men and women, sexual minority men, transgender and gender non-binary individuals, individuals diagnosed with eating disorders, muscle dysmorphia, and body dysmorphic disorder, anabolic steroid users, cosmetic surgery recipients, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

  • Social media can intensify eating disorders and harm body image. Recently, I’ve harnessed Big Data to understand how social media contributes to body image. My TikTok research analyses millions of TikTok videos to show how individuals with eating disorders end up in algorithm-fuelled echo chambers that entrench suffering. Together with co-author Dr Khandis Blake, my Twitter study uses billions of tweets to show seasonal fluctuation in eating disorders around the world.

  • Muscle dysmorphia is a psychological disorder in which individuals are occupied with their muscularity. I’ve developed and delivered several clinical workshops on treating muscle dysmorphia. I supervised the first qualitative study of individuals with clinically diagnosed muscle dysmorphia and the first treatment trial, both led by PhD student Jordan Martenstyn at the University of Sydney. My work on muscle dysmorphia overlaps heavily with my work on male body image and appearance enhancement.

  • Male body image covers the full spectrum of male appearance concerns, including body size and shape, height, skin colour, and penis size, right through to eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder. Study populations have included heterosexual and sexual minority men and boys around the world. Recently, I have focused on sexual minority men, who are a vulnerable sub-population. Studies I have launched include Gay Bodies Worldwide, then the largest longitudinal study of sexual minority men in the world.

  • Appearance discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial discrimination of people based on their physical appearance. I have investigated weight stigma, height stigma or heightism, racism and colourism, and the stigmas associated with using anabolic steroids or undergo cosmetic surgery. My research has also discussed the morality of sexual desire and dating choices.

  • Appearance enhancement encompasses strategies and behaviours designed to improve our physical appearance. My research has investigated personal grooming and clothing choices through to more drastic decisions like extreme dieting, the use of anabolic steroids, undergoing cosmetic surgery, and the use of skin lightening products. I am also starting to research the use of advanced appearance enhancing social media filters, like TikTok’s Bold Glamour Filter.

  • Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of eating and body image disorders. Young people face the unenviable task of reconciling their thoughts and feelings about their developing bodies with broader social and cultural forces that compel them to worry about the way they look. I’ve designed and delivered several offline and online interventions for students that address body image, eating disorders, and steroid use. I have also given talks and workshops for educators and parents on these topics.