Media Influence on Body Image Outline Preface: The old adage says that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, however, in recent times the obsession of a signified perfect body has been escalated by media greatly. While most communities teach young individuals that physical beauty does not matter as compared to the inner beauty, this seems to contradict the same as depicted by media through reality shows, billboards, magazines, and a myriad of other platforms. In recent studies, body image perceptions have thus resulted to eating disorders amongst both females and males alike more likely affecting the teenagers and the young adults. This study thus seeks to determine the relationship between the media, body image, and eating disorders. Thesis Statement: Individual acceptance is a norm widely accepted across different societies, however, in recent development the portrayal of the perfect body image through media platforms has caused great body dissatisfactions and consequently leading to eating disorders amongst teenagers and young adults. I. Introduction A. Current Problem: Idealized beauty …show more content…
Claim 1: Media Portrayal of the perfect body image has an overall effect on the levels of teenagers and young adults’ body dissatisfaction. A. As per Conway, idealized media portrayal of the perfect body image has an overall effect of how young individuals view their own body images. To show the repercussions of negatively perceiving your own body image as a result of media portray, Conway attempts to bring forth the relationship between such negative perceptions and the development of eating disorders. B. Although media plays a major role in the issue surrounding body satisfaction, some studies indicate that pressure from family and friends is highly responsible for the same. However, as Conway argues, recent studies have indicated that the increment of teenagers and young adults having body dissatisfaction has been on the rise as a result of media
All three of these articles share one common topic: body dissatisfaction leading to an eating disorder promoted by some type of media. Some degree of body dissatisfaction among women and young girls is consider a norm today. According to one girl asked to describe the “ideal girl” she described it as “5 ft. 7 in., 100 lb. , size 5, with long blond hair and blue eyes” ( Groesz, Levine, and Murnen 1). This ideal is not attainable for all young girls and women and I can only imagine how horrible this would make them feel, always seeing images of ideal beauty and not being able to meet it can cause them to go to extremes to get the body they want.
As guest editor of Star Telegram newspaper, I did what was asked of me and reviewed the article written by Susan Bordo “Never Just Pictures”. Bordo focuses on body image and our perception of beauty and how we are “supposed” to look according to the media. “Never Just Pictures” should be published because Susan Bordo has factual evidence to back up her reasoning to her claim about body disorders, the role that different types of media have on society, and how it is creating a false image of what true beauty really is. In this article, Bordos central claim is for the readers to get an understanding of today’s obsession with body image, and how we are no longer accepted for just our personality and our good traits but for the physique of the human body.
Dissatisfaction amongst today’s youth regarding their personal body image is increasingly common, warranting a necessary change in the norms and behaviours that are portrayed to Canadian youth. The necessary change that must be implemented moving forward is the portrayal of healthy and attainable body images through media. A 2012 ABC News article stated the average model weighs 23% less than the average woman (Lovett, 2012). Such an appalling statistic is something that must be tackled as we progress toward the future seeing as it showcases to the youth of today that anorexia and unhealthy body weight is seen as desirable or attractive. The relation between such a statistic and anorexia is clear.
Anorexia survivor Erin Treloar said “my eating disorder was perpetuated by retouched magazine photos”. Beauty standards has such a giant effect on women emotionally, psychologically and physically. The pressure on women to be thin leads to unhealthy weight loss practices (Battle & Brownell, 1996), eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1998) and low self-esteem (Tiggeman & Stevens,
The media negatively influences female perception of the body image in America. Advertisements, magazines, billboards and commercials portray women to be thin and flawless. The media’s perception of the perfect body image causes women to have a low self-esteem that can influence eating disorders, such as, bulimia and anorexia. Media influences cause women to look at image rather than personality, and creates a negative opinion about heavy people. Advertisements such as magazines and billboards spend thousands of dollars to persuade women to be uncomfortable in their own skin.
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
However, when abused, the power of the media can harm everybody and anybody. Images portrayed by the media tend to make people attempt to accomplish trying to be someone else's idea of perfect while also ignoring what they want and what makes them happy. The majority of the media today often portray the perfect body to the public, hoping that people will strive to achieve fitness using a certain product or idea. Many people suffer from self infliction as a result of failure to achieve the perfect body. It makes it harder to accept someone for who they truly are: The effect of media on women’s body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and disordered eating appears to be stronger among young adults than children and adolescence lays the foundation for the negative effects of media during early adulthood”.
These expectations can cause insecurities in adults, teens, and even children who normally have little to no insecurities. Young children should not have to worry about the way they look or what they are wearing. Therefore, society needs to address the problem of creating negative body images. It can start by recognizing that unreal and unnatural body image can cause eating disorders and mental disorders. “50% of teenage girls and 30% of
But, research is increasingly clear that media does indeed contribute and that exposure to and pressure exerted by media increase body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. It is hard to evaluate the relationship between the media and eating disorder without considering the multi faceted impact of media messages on body size, on food consumption, on the desirability of certain foods and their consequent consumption, and other matters relating to personal identity and status. It confers hidden meanings on food – nostalgia, sexiness, being a good housewife and mother, rewarding oneself, having uninhibited fun etc, and creates unnatural drives for food. The media can persuade us that wrong eating habits are right and natural.
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.
Every day commercials advertise unrealistic body image. Commercials are not the only culprits. Mass media such as television shows also portray women and men with fit bodies and nicer appearances than the average citizen. Commercials and mass media promote a limited body standard which causes a negative outlook in teen body image as well as lowers self-esteem.
When interviewing Shannon Herman, a licensed professional counselor and certified eating disorder specialist, she revealed that adolescents in 2015 are exposed to media about body types and sizes more than any person in history. It goes without saying that mixed messages are bounding and truth is always relative. There are no absolutes. Media does not have mercy on anything but perfection. The perfection that surrounds today’s media causes eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
When having a negative body image or high body dissatisfaction, one believes their body is inadequate. Because the media has recently been promoting an extremely specific body type only a few are able to obtain, an increasing number of people are viewing their own bodies as unsatisfactory. The two aspects of media causing the most damage to people’s body image are advertisements and social media. Adolescents from ages 13 to 18 are those affected the most due to the media’s messages. Although teenage girls are known to be the group damaged predominately by the media’s messages, recent research shows that teenage boys are also at risk of gaining a negative body image due to these messages.
Social media is a powerful source in today’s society, 81% of the population in the United States alone has set up a social media profile. Many use the media for useful things, like educational opportunities and business inquiries. Although there are people who may look at it more in a concerning aspect. Many people today view the social media as a stage where they are judged and told what the real way to look and act is, more specifically, body image. Social Media has a negative impact on body image, through creating a perfect view physically which affects someone mentally, targeting both male and female, and turning away from the real goal of social media.
For example, girls will style their hair to “become more attractive” (Berger 2014), or they will purchase ‘minimizer,’ ‘maximizer,’ ‘training,’ or ‘shaping’ bras, hoping that their breasts will conform to their idealized body image” (Berger 2014). This all appears to be harmless activities, yet when body image is only addressed outwardly and not psychologically, there can be an increase in poor and destructive behaviors. For instance, body image dissatisfaction can lead to poor self-esteem, which can create a cycle of increased body dissatisfaction, followed by decreasing self-esteem (Stapleton et al., 2017). Ultimately, a teenage girl can find herself in a cycle of “depression, eating disorders and obesity” (Stapleton et al., 2017). On study in 2012 revealed, “Two-thirds of U.S. high school girls are trying to lose weight, even though only one-fourth are actually overweight or obese” (Berger 2014).