We often talk about the “manosphere” as a place for extreme politics, or as a problem with social media influencers. Associate Professor Scott Griffiths studies a key aspect that gets missed. For many boys and young men, the way into toxic online content is their concerns about their own body and appearance.

In this episode, host Dr Beth Shelton speaks with Scott about how normal concerns about how you look can become something more problematic and harder to shift.

Scott leads the physical appearance research team at the University of Melbourne. He explains how social media algorithms work, and why they are so effective at finding a boy who feels insecure. The algorithm isn’t interested in whether content pleased him or upset him. It only knows he gave that content his time. Online time is advertising money. The algorithms send him more of that content.

Beth and Scott talk about a young man's emerging interest in his appearance, and why the early signs of muscle dysmorphia are often praised as discipline. They also discuss how body image concerns can inadvertently lead to online content which espouses contempt for women.

Importantly, there's space for nuance. Most boys do not believe everything they are shown. Dismissing all “manosphere” content as toxic will only alienate them.

There is hope here too. Scott talks about his work with boys in schools, and why he believes things can change for young men, for young women, and for the way they see each other.

This episode is for all of us: parents and carers, teachers, clinicians, partners and friends, and young men and women themselves.

 

Learn more about Scott Griffiths

Watch ABC series: The State of Man

Information and resources for supporting male body image

 

Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here

Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation

For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.

 

If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

 

 

We often talk about the &ldquo;manosphere&rdquo; as a place for extreme politics, or as a problem with social media influencers. Associate Professor Scott Griffiths studies a key aspect that gets missed. For many boys and young men, the way into toxic online content is their concerns about their own body and appearance.
In this episode, host Dr Beth Shelton speaks with Scott about how normal concerns about how you look can become something more problematic and harder to shift.
Scott leads the physical appearance research team at the University of Melbourne. He explains how social media algorithms work, and why they are so effective at finding a boy who feels insecure. The algorithm isn&rsquo;t interested in whether content pleased him or upset him. It only knows he gave that content his time. Online time is advertising money. The algorithms send him more of that content.
Beth and Scott talk about a young man's emerging interest in his appearance, and why the early signs of muscle dysmorphia are often praised as discipline. They also discuss how body image concerns can inadvertently lead to online content which espouses contempt for women.
Importantly, there's space for nuance. Most boys do not believe everything they are shown. Dismissing all &ldquo;manosphere&rdquo; content as toxic will only alienate them.
There is hope here too. Scott talks about his work with boys in schools, and why he believes things can change for young men, for young women, and for the way they see each other.
This episode is for all of us: parents and carers, teachers, clinicians, partners and friends, and young men and women themselves.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.drscottgriffiths.com/research-1">Learn more about Scott Griffiths</a>
<a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/state-of-man">Watch ABC series: The State of Man</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/eating-disorders-body-image/who-does-it-affect/males/">Information and resources for supporting male body image</a>
&nbsp;
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebutterflyfoundation/?hl=en">here</a>
Production Team:
<ul>
<li>Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler</li>
<li>Executive Producer: Camilla Becket</li>
<li>Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation</li>
</ul>
For more information about this episode, visit <a href="http://www.butterfly.org.au/podcast">www.butterfly.org.au/podcast</a> and click through to this episode.
&nbsp;
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the <a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">Butterfly National Helpline</a> or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

This is Let's Talk from the Butterfly Foundation. Join your host, Yvie Jones, as we explore living with body image issues and eating disorders.

This is Let's Talk from the Butterfly Foundation. Join your host, Yvie Jones, as we explore living with body image issues and eating disorders.

Butterfly: Let's Talk

This is Let's Talk Body Image and Eating Disorders from the Butterfly Foundation, your national voice for all people affected, now hosted by Dr Beth Shelton, a counselling psychologist with 30 years supporting people with lived experience and their loved ones, while also shaping services, training clinicians, and bringing her signature wisdom and warmth to many national leadership roles.

This is Let's Talk Body Image and Eating Disorders from the Butterfly Foundation, your national voice for all people affected, now hosted by Dr Beth Shelton, a counselling psychologist with 30 years supporting people with lived experience and their loved ones, while also shaping services, training clinicians, and bringing her signature wisdom and warmth to many national leadership roles.

Boys, their bodies, and the body image gateway to the manosphere

For decades, the standard response to exercise in eating disorder treatment was simple. Stop.

There were reasons for that. Exercise can be a genuine medical risk when someone's body is already compromised. It can also reinforce an eating disorder, becoming rigid, compulsive, or a way to compensate for eating. So the safest option seemed to be no movement at all.

But according to Associate Professor Bonnie Furzer, blanket bans were never evidence-based. They left people unsupported, and the behaviour often continued anyway.

In this episode, Dr Beth Shelton is joined by Bonnie Furzer, an accredited exercise physiologist and associate professor at the University of Western Australia, where she leads the Mental Health and Exercise research group. Bonnie also holds a clinical role at Fremantle Hospital Mental Health Service and is a founding director of Thriving in Motion.

Together, Beth and Bonnie unpack what unhelpful, rigid exercise can look like along with the very real benefits of joyful movement for both body and mind.

They also talk about what changes when movement is supported rather than shut down. If someone moves for social connection or to help manage their mood, removing it entirely takes away something that matters. A safer plan works with that, not against it.

Bonnie discusses the updated Safe Exercise at Every Stage (SEES) guidelines, the value of bringing exercise professionals into multidisciplinary teams, and a new position statement to be endorsed by Exercise and Sports Science Australia.

For clinicians, carers and people with lived experience, this is a warmer and more hopeful way to think about moving your body in recovery.

 

Learn more about Bonnie Furzer, AEP

Safe Exercise at Every stage (SEES) GUIDELINES

Butterfly Blog: finding joy in movement

butterfy blog: how to find a positive relationship with exercise

Butterfly blog: Find the right balance

contact the butterfly helpline

find a professional

 

Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here

Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation

For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.

 

If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

For decades, the standard response to exercise in eating disorder treatment was simple. Stop.
There were reasons for that. Exercise can be a genuine medical risk when someone's body is already compromised. It can also reinforce an eating disorder, becoming rigid, compulsive, or a way to compensate for eating. So the safest option seemed to be no movement at all.
But according to Associate Professor Bonnie Furzer, blanket bans were never evidence-based. They left people unsupported, and the behaviour often continued anyway.
In this episode, Dr Beth Shelton is joined by Bonnie Furzer, an accredited exercise physiologist and associate professor at the University of Western Australia, where she leads the Mental Health and Exercise research group. Bonnie also holds a clinical role at Fremantle Hospital Mental Health Service and is a founding director of Thriving in Motion.
Together, Beth and Bonnie unpack what unhelpful, rigid exercise can look like along with the very real benefits of joyful movement for both body and mind.
They also talk about what changes when movement is supported rather than shut down. If someone moves for social connection or to help manage their mood, removing it entirely takes away something that matters. A safer plan works with that, not against it.
Bonnie discusses the updated Safe Exercise at Every Stage (SEES) guidelines, the value of bringing exercise professionals into multidisciplinary teams, and a new position statement to be endorsed by Exercise and Sports Science Australia.
For clinicians, carers and people with lived experience, this is a warmer and more hopeful way to think about moving your body in recovery.
&nbsp;
<a href="http://thrivinginmotion.org/bonnie/">Learn more about Bonnie Furzer, AEP</a>
<a href="https://www.safeexerciseateverystage.com/sees-guidelines">Safe Exercise at Every stage (SEES) GUIDELINES</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/finding-joy-in-movement/">Butterfly Blog: finding joy in movement</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/how-to-develop-a-positive-relationship-with-exercise/">butterfy blog: how to find a positive relationship with exercise</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/find-the-right-balance-exercise/">Butterfly blog: Find the right balance</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">contact the butterfly helpline</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/butterflys-referral-database/">find a professional</a>
&nbsp;
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebutterflyfoundation/?hl=en">here</a>
Production Team:
<ul>
<li>Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler</li>
<li>Executive Producer: Camilla Becket</li>
<li>Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation</li>
</ul>
For more information about this episode, visit <a href="http://www.butterfly.org.au/podcast">www.butterfly.org.au/podcast</a> and click through to this episode.
&nbsp;
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the <a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">Butterfly National Helpline</a> or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

Is exercise helping or harming your recovery from an eating disorder?

Wellness culture promises optimum health. New research suggests it might be hiding a bigger risk: disordered eating.

 

Beth Shelton sits down with researcher Ruby Kagan to unpack why. We're used to thinking that visuals of thin bodies online drive the risk of eating disorders. Kagan's research points to something else. The bigger problem is wellness framing itself.

 

Kagan studied "what I eat in a day" and clean eating videos on TikTok. She found that the more "healthy" and admirable a video felt, the less likely viewers were to notice it was actually about food restriction. Often, that restriction was extreme, and not healthy at all.

 

She unpacks what she calls the "aestheticisation of restriction," and how we and our loved ones can protect ourselves from an endless scroll of content that isn't what it seems. You'll hear how wellness can disguise harm, and how to engage with your feed with a more critical eye.

 

Resources

FOLLOW BUTTERFLY'S NEW CAMPAIGN REDEFINING WELLNESS

LEARN MORE ABOUT RUBY KAGAN

NEED SUPPORT? CONTACT THE BUTTERFLY HELPLINE

 

Contact our Helpline

 

Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here

Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation

For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.

 

If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

 

Wellness culture promises optimum health. New research suggests it might be hiding a bigger risk: disordered eating.
&nbsp;
Beth Shelton sits down with researcher Ruby Kagan to unpack why. We're used to thinking that visuals of thin bodies online drive the risk of eating disorders. Kagan's research points to something else. The bigger problem is wellness framing itself.
&nbsp;
Kagan studied "what I eat in a day" and clean eating videos on TikTok. She found that the more "healthy" and admirable a video felt, the less likely viewers were to notice it was actually about food restriction. Often, that restriction was extreme, and not healthy at all.
&nbsp;
She unpacks what she calls the "aestheticisation of restriction," and how we and our loved ones can protect ourselves from an endless scroll of content that isn't what it seems. You'll hear how wellness can disguise harm, and how to engage with your feed with a more critical eye.
&nbsp;
Resources
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-involved/campaigns/biedaw-2026/">FOLLOW BUTTERFLY'S NEW CAMPAIGN REDEFINING WELLNESS</a>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruby-kagan-388281218/">LEARN MORE ABOUT RUBY KAGAN</a>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">NEED SUPPORT? CONTACT THE BUTTERFLY HELPLINE</a>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">Contact our Helpline</a>
&nbsp;
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebutterflyfoundation/?hl=en">here</a>
Production Team:
<ul>
<li>Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler</li>
<li>Executive Producer: Camilla Becket</li>
<li>Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation</li>
</ul>
For more information about this episode, visit <a href="http://www.butterfly.org.au/podcast">www.butterfly.org.au/podcast</a> and click through to this episode.
&nbsp;
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the <a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">Butterfly National Helpline</a> or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.
&nbsp;

The Wellness Trap: How 'healthy' content harms users at risk for eating disorders

Evidence-based treatment for eating disorders rightly focuses on restoring health and changing eating disorder behaviours. But what if those behaviours are also protecting something much deeper?

What if lasting recovery starts not with asking "What's wrong with me?" but "What happened to me?"

In this episode of Let's Talk, Beth talks with clinical psychologist and schema therapy expert Dr Susan Simpson about her new book Breaking Negative Eating Patterns and Remembering Your True Self, which offers a compassionate new way of understanding eating disorders. Drawing on more than 25 years of clinical experience, Susan explains how eating disorders can develop as intelligent coping strategies that protect us from shame, loneliness, unmet emotional needs and painful life experiences.

Susan explores the core ideas behind schema therapy, including our different "parts", the role of the inner critic, and how reconnecting with our authentic self can reduce the need for eating disorder behaviours. She also walks through the four-stage recovery journey outlined in her book, shares practical exercises listeners can try, and explains how clinicians and people with lived experience can use the book alongside evidence-based treatment.

It's a hopeful conversation about understanding the story behind your struggles, reconnecting with yourself, and discovering that recovery is about far more than changing eating behaviours.

Resources
Breaking Negative Eating Patterns and Remembering Your True Self
Susan Simpson LinkedIn
Book: Schema therapy for eating disorders
Schema therapy training online

Contact our Helpline

Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here

Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation

For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.

If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

 

Evidence-based treatment for eating disorders rightly focuses on restoring health and changing eating disorder behaviours. But what if those behaviours are also protecting something much deeper?
What if lasting recovery starts not with asking "What's wrong with me?" but "What happened to me?"
In this episode of Let's Talk, Beth talks with clinical psychologist and schema therapy expert Dr Susan Simpson about her new book Breaking Negative Eating Patterns and Remembering Your True Self, which offers a compassionate new way of understanding eating disorders. Drawing on more than 25 years of clinical experience, Susan explains how eating disorders can develop as intelligent coping strategies that protect us from shame, loneliness, unmet emotional needs and painful life experiences.
Susan explores the core ideas behind schema therapy, including our different "parts", the role of the inner critic, and how reconnecting with our authentic self can reduce the need for eating disorder behaviours. She also walks through the four-stage recovery journey outlined in her book, shares practical exercises listeners can try, and explains how clinicians and people with lived experience can use the book alongside evidence-based treatment.
It's a hopeful conversation about understanding the story behind your struggles, reconnecting with yourself, and discovering that recovery is about far more than changing eating behaviours.
Resources
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/breaking-negative-eating-patterns-and-remembering-your-true-self-susan-simpson/book/9781032410210.html?srsltid=AfmBOorI6F2XndUi-DtcoWZ3GLnFVBcaZINP9pawoDo3_KbMmlTu6ONG">Breaking Negative Eating Patterns and Remembering Your True Self</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-simpson-stts/">Susan Simpson LinkedIn</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Schema-Therapy-Eating-Disorders-Group-treatment/dp/0367272407">Book: Schema therapy for eating disorders</a></li>
<li><a href="https://courses.schematherapytrainingonline.com/l/products?sortKey=name&amp;sortDirection=asc&amp;page=1">Schema therapy training online</a></li>
</ul>
<a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">Contact our Helpline</a>
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebutterflyfoundation/?hl=en">here</a>
Production Team:
<ul>
<li>Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler</li>
<li>Executive Producer: Camilla Becket</li>
<li>Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation</li>
</ul>
For more information about this episode, visit <a href="http://www.butterfly.org.au/podcast">www.butterfly.org.au/podcast</a> and click through to this episode.
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the <a href="https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/helpline/">Butterfly National Helpline</a> or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.
&nbsp;

Boys, their bodies, and the body image gateway to the manosphere

Butterfly: Let's Talk

In 1 playlist(s)

Butterfly: Let's Talk

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips