Essay On Ideal Beauty

This paper will evaluate the effect of 'ideal beauty' portrayed on various media platforms on female teens from 11 to 18 years old. Scientists all over the globe have found that perfectionism, social anxiety, shame proneness and competitiveness may increase the risk of eating disorders in young teens. Many of the eating disorders begin at the outbreak of puberty. (Puberty usually occurs in girls between the ages of 10 and 14). Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are present in roughly all types of popular media, attacking women with images that ´represent´ what is regarded to be the ultimate body type or the “ideal body.” Such beauty standards are far from what reality is and for most completely impossible-to-get; The majority of models exhibited on television, magazines and advertisements are beneath what is considered a healthy body type. A focus in appearance is an all-time job in many cultured nowadays, and with it comes the possible increase in negative body image. According to the authors of The Adonis Complex, “There’s often a vicious circle here: the more a person focuses on his body, the worse he tends to feel about how he looks – obsession breeds discontent.” In a college student study, 74.4%

Studies that have looked into the role of media in eating disorders focused on the decreasing weight over time of the models, actresses and beauty contestants who are held up as “ideals of beauty.” Numerous studies have shown the trend of increasing thins in playboy centrefold, Beauty contestants and models of the fashion industry between the 1950’s and the 1990’s (Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, & Thompson, 1980; Spitzer, Henderson, & Zivian, 1999; Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992.) During the same period of time American and Canadian women have been known for a significant increase in weight, creating a discrepancy between the media ideal and the actual body size of North American women (Garner et al., 1980; Spitzer et al., 1999; Wiseman et al.,