Imagine yourself, looking in the mirror pointing out every flaw you have. Abercrombie & Fitch changed their sizes to only go up to a size 10. On the other hand, Arie is now using real, un-edited models. The way the media portrays beauty has drastically changed over the years. It lowers the self-esteem of many people, targeting teenage girls especially. We can take a stand together to make it known that the way the media views beauty today is hurting more people than they know. The media tries to make plus sized people self-conscious by saying you are only beautiful if you are skinny. Samantha Romo, a sophomore majoring in journalism who writes bi-weekly columns has done her research which shows that girls today are risking their lives by doing things to make themselves lose weight fast such as anorexia and bulimia. (Romo) Allie Kovar is a student studying health psychology. In her paper written to provide scientific overviews of topics on health and beauty, she has found out that between the years 1988 to 1993 bulimia tripled and studies have shown that 1-5% of girls are now bulimic. (Kovar) (Morris) The way that the media photo shops and edits the models that you see on television, in magazines and everywhere else shows that women are not viewed the same today as they were 20 years ago. Women are human beings being treated like objects trying to be formed into a mold of how they think they should look and what is “beautiful.” (Romo) The media targets teenage girls the most because they know that is who will be the most effected. Anne Morris, a specialist in the department of paediatrics and psychiatry and in the eating disorders program, the hospital for sick children at the university of Toronto, Ontario has found out that gi... ... middle of paper ... ... not define you. It does not show the way you laugh until you cry while you hang out with your friends, it does not show the way your face lights up when you smile and it definitely does not make you beautiful. Works Cited Romo, Samantha. “As Body Image Issues Grow in Society, Be Aware of the Medias Influence.” The Crimson White. University of Alabama. 7 March 2012. Web. 12 March 2014 Ossola, Alexandra. “The Media’s Effect on Woman’s Body Image.” Hamilton. Hamilton College. 1 September 2010. Web. 12 March 2014 Kovar, Allie. “Effects of the Media on Body Image.” Health Phycology Home Page. Phycology Department. 30 April 2009. Web. 12 March 2014 Morris, Anne. “The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents” Pediatrics and Child Health. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. May-June 2003. Web. 12 March 2014
Like a blueprint or instruction manual, the objective of a rhetorical analysis is to dissect a written argument, identify its many parts, and explain how all of them come together to achieve a desired effect. Susan Bordo, a professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky, wrote “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, published in 2003 in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her essay examines how the media plays a pervasive role in how women view their bodies to the point where we live in an empire of images and there are no protective borders. In “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, Bordo not only effectively incorporates numerous facts and statistics from her own research and the research of others; she also appeals to emotional realities of anxiety and inadequacy felt by women all over the world in regards to their body image. Ultimately, her intent is to critique the influence of the media on self-confidence and body image, and to remind her audience of the overt as well as subconscious messages they are receiving on a daily basis.
Hass, Cheryl J., et al. "An Intervention for the Negative Influence of Media on Body Esteem." College Student Journal 46.2 (2012): 405-418. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
Harrison, K., & Hefner, V. (2006). Media exposure, current and future body ideals, and disordered eating among predolescent girls: A longitudinal panel study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(2), 146-156. McCabe, M.A., & Ridge, A.R. a.
Derenne, J. L., & Beresin, E. V. (2006). Body image, media, and eating disorders. Academic Psychiatry, 30(3), 257-261.
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
Why is this topic of utmost importance? Undeniably, the media now has become an essential tool for everyone in this era, be it for information and social networking (Shakeel). However, it has also become a platform for people to look up to – for both the good and bad reasons. Generally, most females look to the media as an example for an “ideal” body image. If so, what are the impacts? To what extent does mass media contribute to negative perceptions of body image by females? Does the amount of time spent using the mass media contribute to females’ perception of their body image? What factors influence why some females are affected by the images of the media and some aren’t? This literatu...
Holmstrom, A. (2004). The effects of the media on the body image: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 48(2), 196-217.
Hoover, Shelby. “Pop Culture’s Effect on Body Image| Popular Culture.” Popular Culture. N.p., 21 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our society today, people would rather see what celebrities are up to than what is going on with our health plan. Watching the news makes us aware of the latest trend, new gadget, who’s in rehab, or who has an eating disorder. In the eyes of society, women like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Fox are the epitome of perfection. What girl wouldn’t want to look like them? Unfortunately, this includes most of the girls in the US. Through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which women emulate. The media has created a puissant social system where everyone must obtain a thin waist and large breasts. As a society, we are so image obsessed with the approval of being thin and disapproval of being overweight, that it is affecting the health of most women. Women much rather try to fit the social acceptance of being thin by focusing on unrealistic body images which causes them to have lower self esteem and are more likely to fall prey to eating disorders, The media has a dangerous influence on the women’s health in the United States.
“There’s no magic bullet; there’s no pill that you take that makes everything great and makes you happy all the time. I’m letting go of those expectations, and that’s opening me up to moments of transcendent bliss. But I still feel the stress over ‘Am I thin enough? Am I too thin? Is my body the right shape?” –Anne Hathaway. It seems as if every young girl’s desire is to become a model. Eating disorders affect an increasingly large number of people, especially young women, in today’s modern societies. One study even found that some girls are more afraid of being fat, than of a nuclear war or getting cancer. The most common types of this disorder are anorexia, bulimia, and purging, each having a discrete effect on different people. Right now, one percent of all American women- our sisters, mothers, and daughters, are starving themselves to death.
Dittmar, Helga. "How Do "body Perfect" Ideals in the Media Have a Negative Impact on Body Image and Behaviors? Factors and Processes Related to Self and Identity." : Sussex Research Online. N.p, 6 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Vargas, L E. (2013) The Negative Effects of The Media on Body Image. Personal.psu.edu. Retrieved 30 Nov. 17 from:
The definition of beauty is varying among different people in the world. Even though almost everyone knows the term beauty, many people are struggling in defining it and persuading others to agree with their opinions. Beauty is defined by a combination of qualities existent in a person or thing that fulfills the aesthetic feels or brings about profound gratification. Many people define beauty as a term to describe a person’s physical appearance; they often think that beauty comes from magazines, video girls, or even models. Although the term beauty can define a person’s physical appearance, true beauty lies in the way one acts and thinks rather than the way one look.
It seems that the media’s portrayal of women has negatively affected the body image of The Wykeham Collegiate senior school girls. The media has a negative effect on the youth of today, primarily amongst the female population when it comes to how young girls and women regard their bodies.