Sociocultural Theories Of Body Image

‘Sociocultural theories of body image suggest that body dissatisfaction results from unrealistic societal beauty ideals, and one way of transmitting these ideals is through the mass media ' (Duane A.Hargreaves, 2004). Advertising has since greatly advanced in the 21st century. However, this advancement came with a few consequences. Media advertising has been known for fixating on a specific body image which is known as the "epitome of beauty". The main reason for this paper is to outline the effects advertising has on body image and how society has responded to this. A few theories will be explained in order to understand why these effects are taking place. An experiment was conducted in order to test the effects of body image within mass

Models are tall, slim, light skinned and most digitally altered to even more unrealistic proportions (Roeder, 2015). The more we are in contact with these images, the more we are prone to compare ourselves to them. This then goes on to create insecurities amongst women and men if they do not live up to the flawlessness that does not exist. This could also justify the social learning theory READ BOOK! which means that people learn from observing others. This was mainly seen in children as when they observe others both in real life and on television they are most likely to imitate the behaviour. Hence, in this case children will end up growing up with body dissatisfaction as the media continues to show the ideal body image (Kilbourne, 2015). A study done by (Henderson-King, E. and Henderson-King, D. 1997)examined individual differences and social factors in moderating the effects of media images on women 's body satisfaction. the study found that the participants that were exposed to the ideal images and thinner women reported more negative self-evaluations. Consequently, women who are heavy viewers of thin-ideal media may develop the attitude that thinness is socially desirable, experience greater body dissatisfaction, and engage in weight loss behaviors and cosmetic surgery in an attempt to measure up to

This is because it is quite evident that the media influences how people perceive the world and this can be seen in how the public views the issue of body image and how it is not always addressed. Recommendations to parents would be that they should try to monitor what their children are viewing online and they should explain to their children that no one has the "ideal body" because it does not exist and adolescents should feel comfortable in their own bodies than wanting to look like some model from a magazine who is heavily photoshopped. Recommendations to advertising companies, products would probably sell more if they were modelled by more realistic people who everyone else can relate to. The limitations of the current effects of media on the issues of body image are that it mainly covers women and does not necessarily talk about body image amongst men as they also have their own "ideal body" that is portrayed by the media.

References

Advertising 's toxic effect on eating and body image. (2015, March 18). Retrieved from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/advertisings-toxic-effect-on-eating-and-body-image/

Henderson‐King, E., & Henderson‐King, D. (2006, July 31). Media Effects on Women 's Body Esteem: Social and Individual Difference Factors. Retrieved from