The impact of Reality TV and The Influence on Individuals' Body Image and Perception
Introduction:
The impact of media on girls and young women’s esteem of self and body imagery has been researched for years and has produced varied results. However research has mainly focused on magazines, television shows and advertisment, very little has been researched in terms of the increased viewing of reality television.
Some might argue that reality television does not depict real life events (Chaney,2011), but the new phenomenon of reality television is the most widely viewed and has given channels increased TRP ratings.
Festinger(1954) posits that humans possess a drive to evaluate their abilities and their opinions with
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It has been noted that the body size of women portrayed in mass media has been steadily getting smaller (Park 2005).
There are particular messages associated in the manner body weight is showcased in media; media celebrities are viewed as the epitome of success and social desirability. Their body and beauty have often been associated with their success chart. This phenomena is apparent in thin-ideal media. The word “thin-ideal media” refers to media that contains noticeably thin female characters, which is likely seen in fashion magazines and television programs. This phenomena promotes the idea that thinness is an advantageous attribute and associate it to the most “beautiful, desirable and successful protagonists” (Harrison, 2000, p.121)
Research has found that girls between the age group of 3 to 6 did not endorse the thin ideal even when exposed to the media. It was concluded that the girls in this range, simply adopted the persona of characters that they found attractive and identified with, they did not compare themselves and their body image to the character (Hayes and Tantleff- Dunn,
Becker’s article focuses on the damaging practices and behaviors women can learn by watching reality television. Becker points out that the reality program, Are You Hot?, a show entirely focused on a female competitor’s appearance being evaluated by a panel of judges, is one such program that can lead to female viewers developing body image issues. This is said as competitors are frequently unhappy with the way they look, and they can resort to unhealthy eating habits. Throughout the article, the author effectively criticizes the show and highlights the negative side of reality television. Although the author states that parents should advise their daughters to avoid watching the show and similar programs, she fails to make note of the enlightening effects reality shows have on eating disorder research.
It is a serious numbers that are increasing daily, and its constantly been fuel by the press. As research shows, it is an issue that the standard of beauty for women is so unreasonable. Promoting a thin standard that is not achievable or realistic could be detrimental to adolescents s health. It is important to realize that parents should limit their children’s exposure to the media, by encouraging participation in activities that promote self- esteem building. This could help children form a better
Everyday females are exposed to how media views the female body, whether in a work place, television ads, and magazines. Women tend to judge themselves on how they look just to make sure there keeping up with what society see as an idyllic women, when women are exposed to this idea that they have to keep a perfect image just to keep up with media, it teaches women that they do not have the right look because they feel as if they don’t add up to societies expectations of what women should look like, it makes them thing there not acceptable to society. This can cause huge impacts on a women self-appearance and self-respect dramatically. Women who become obsessed about their body image can be at high risk of developing anorexia or already have
Basing actions off of perception extends far beyond the literary worlds created by McLiam Wilson and Phillips. In an experiment by Behm-Morawitz, Lewallen, and Miller, the researchers found that the actions perceived in reality TV shows had an effect on the attitudes and behaviors of young female viewers. Viewers who watched romance reality TV shows were more likely to hold egalitarian gender role beliefs, while watching makeover and docusoap reality TV programming increased the likelihood that viewers believed females to be socially aggressive, what researchers called “the mean girl stereotype.” This preliminary research suggests that the perception of gender and action on television can have an effect on individual’s behavior in their daily life. This shows that viewers may find acceptable forms of gender and behavior that significantly changes their own behavior.
In today’s modern culture, almost all forms of popular media play a significant role in bombarding young people, particularly young females, with what happens to be society’s idea of the “ideal body”. This ideal is displayed all throughout different media platforms such as magazine adds, television and social media – the idea of feminine beauty being strictly a flawless thin model. The images the media displays send a distinct message that in order to be beautiful you must look a certain way. This ideal creates and puts pressure on the young female population viewing these images to attempt and be obsessed with obtaining this “ideal body”. In the process of doing so this unrealistic image causes body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence
Being slim along with nice hair and a car is now almost a perceived requirement to get a job in today’s society. Years ago people could get a job from hard work and dedication, now it seems as if people do not reach a high visual standard their work will go unnoticed or almost lucky to get a job. Eating disorders are at an all-time high right now while females’ health is on a down fall. Places such as Hollywood have ignored the connection between image and illness. (Goodman)
This constant fixation on physical perfection has created unreasonable beauty standards for women, ones we cannot possibly achieve on our own. Such standards permeate all forms of popular media, particularly fashion magazines and advertisements. Women are bombarded with the notion that we must be thin in order to be desirable. These images project an
James Lull defines the term hegemony by stating that it “implies a willing agreement by people to be governed by principles, rules, and laws they believe operate in their best interest, even though in actual practice they may not.” The portrayal of hegemony is achieved through the use of mass communication tools, such as magazines, television, and internet. For example, in the movie Mean Girls, teenage girls are portrayed as dramatic and unintelligent individuals who strongly care about their physical appearance and enjoy to gossip and backstab other girls. The film points out the importance of physical appearance by showing the concern of Regina George, one of the members of “The Plastics,” about her body weight as she strictly monitors
Men and women nowadays are starting to lose self-confidence in themselves and their body shape, which is negatively impacting the definition of how beauty and body shape are portrayed. “...97% of all women who had participated in a recent poll by Glamour magazine were self-deprecating about their body image at least once during their lives”(Lin 102). Studies have shown that women who occupy most of their time worrying about body image tend to have an eating disorder and distress which impairs the quality of life. Body image issues have recently started to become a problem in today’s society because of social media, magazines, and television.
Countless advertisements feature thin, beautiful women as either over-sexualized objects, or as subordinates to their male counterparts. The mold created by society and advertisers for women to fit into is not entirely attainable. More often than not, models are Photoshopped and altered to the point that they don’t even resemble themselves. W. Charisse Goodman suggests, “The mass media do not
From an early age, we are exposed to the western culture of the “thin-ideal” and that looks matter (Shapiro 9). Images on modern television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful. Often, television portrays the thin women as successful and powerful whereas the overweight characters are portrayed as “lazy” and the one with no friends (“The Media”). Furthermore, most images we see on the media are heavily edited and airbrushed
Credibility Statement: I use to tell myself this when I was in high school, after looking at a music video or reading a magazine. Seeing women who were 100 pounds with zero body fat made me look at myself differently. Reveal Topic/Thesis: In today's society, the media plays a part in how we perceive our body. The way the media's advertisements portray body images rarely resemble our own, but what they consider beauty.
Reality television influences the culture by giving the young girls ' false expectations, stereotypes, and racism. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. God has created us all equally. Then
All of this just to try to look even remotely similar to one ideal body type. All of this proves just how unhealthy the media 's impact on the female self-image
According to the Straight/Curve website, about 70% of teenagers think that the ideal body type can be found in fashion magazines, while only 5% of women naturally look that way and about 91% of women diet to achieve what they feel is the perfect body size. Influence of mainstream media on the beauty standards Johnson (2016) stated that from television shows to commercials to magazine advertisements to celebrity culture, mainstream media has a big influence on how we understand beauty. That 's why media including films, spend money in order to cast for good-looking actors and actresses to trick people into setting up their belief on what beauty standard should be expected. Female characters in Hollywood films Films have the power that moves far beyond pure entertainment. In particular, they can sway our collective imagination and influence our perceptions on crucial issues related to race, class, gender, etc., but the extent to which they reflect real-world situations is bleak, particularly in regards to women.