A Third Of Us Would Rather See A Dentist Than Be Seen In A Bikini

Now that it's officially summer, the body/beach/bikini talk is in full swing. Although it seems like we are learning to be more comfortable with our bodies, according to a new poll from Planet Fitness, we still have a long way to go. The poll, which surveyed 1,000 people earlier this month, found that almost half (46%) of U.S. adults don't feel confident in a swimsuit. So it's probably no surprise that a third (33%) of respondents said they would rather go to the dentist than wear a bikini. Although it's encouraging that this wasn't the majority opinion, one in three is still a lot of people. Interestingly, it's estimated that about 25 to 60% of adults have dentist-related anxiety, and up to 12% have a dental phobia so severe that they avoid the dentist at all costs. So you can imagine how low a dentist appointment is on many respondents' to-do lists. Our own Take Back The Beach survey of 1,100 women showed similarly troubling results. Here, 60% of women reported feeling too self-conscious in their swimwear to post a photo to social media. And just over half (51%) said they avoided doing certain things because of how body-conscious they would feel while doing them. Of course, as our survey reminded us, no one feels 100% great 100% of the time. But if our struggles with body image are preventing us from having fun, that's clearly a problem. And it's one we're committed to fixing.

It's your body. It's your summer. Enjoy them both. Check out more #TakeBackTheBeach here.