Media and Body Image

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Often, people of all ages, race, and gender catch themselves gazing into mirrors for hours, blaming themselves for the way they look, not realizing that the media is actually the one to blame for many people’s body image. Body image is the way people see themselves, or how they assume other people see them. It is not likely to see a plus sized model in a magazine or a model on the runway with blemishes on her face. A person’s negative perception of their own body is not because they think it is wrong to look and be healthy; it is because the media is telling them that being a size 2 with flawless skin is healthy and beautiful.

If so many people are claiming that looks do not matter and beauty only runs skin-deep, then why does the media spend hours distorting a picture of a single person’s face to present to the world as a flawless skinned supermodel? With all of the perfecting and masking of the true appearance of these models, writers and editors make it seem as if being so glamorous and perfect is easy and attainable. While the readers believe that it is possible to reach these impossible goals, they find themselves developing the same disorders and low self-esteems that the editors are disguising (Crisell).

It is, without a doubt, true that the media is obsessed with perfection. The media is basically showing everyone that even the beautiful is not beautiful enough. As they take the original photos of women with natural skin and a healthy body shape and convert it to their perception of “beautiful”, they begin to lower the self-esteems of many people around the world. This is because it is not possible to look like these edited models, no matter how much effort is put into it. When people see the perfect women in a magaz...

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Serdar, Kasey L. "The Myriad: Undergraduate Academic Journal." Westminster College: A Private Comprehensive Liberal Arts College in Salt Lake City, UT, Offering Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees in Liberal Arts and Professional Programs, including Business, Nursing, Education and Communication. Kasey L. Serdar, Feb.-Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Tiggemann, M. (2003). Media exposure, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: Television and magazines are not the same! European Eating Disorders Review, 11(5), 418-430.

Miller, Joel. "Media and Body Image." AdMedia Online Ad Network. Joel Miller, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Miller, Joel. "Media and Body Image." AdMedia Online Ad Network. Joel Miller, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Ransohoff, Julia R. "How the Media Affects Teens & Young Adults." Media. Julia R. Ransohoff, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

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