Media's Influence On Adolescent Boys Body Image

According to many research adolescence boys are striving to become lean muscular like the male unrealistic models advertised in the media. For the last four decades media such as movies, men’s magazines, TVs, and recent the Internet has increasingly displayed images of a manufactured ideal male bodies. As portrayed in the media perfect male body includes narrow waist with large shoulders that give the body a V-shaped torso, lots of muscles and lean body to represent masculinity. Since boys at adolescence stage undergo tremendous physical changes in the process of full self development, the perceptions and attitudes toward their body appearance turns into major concern. Thus passion of boys having muscular male body type becomes common (Blashill and Sabine 445). Though peers and family have considerable pressure on boys’ body image, media is clearly the most influential drive for muscularity in teenage boys.
First body image is multidimensional construct from individual or societal factors about perceptions, altitudes, and behaviors of a person toward his or her appearance (Blashill and Sabine 445). According to the definition,

adolescence boys can acquire their body image from different factors such as peers, family and media. Media induces boys to emulate the “idealized body norm” in America, lean and muscular (John and Jeong 35). It provides convincing but unrealistic cues about how boys need to appear.
Some may claim that no two people experience media in the same way. They argue that each person has unique set of life encounters so that when combined with the media message at hand creates unique interpretations. Though in most cases the differences that exist among individuals in response to media messages are true, people particularly adolescence boys may share similarity in their reaction to the media.
First boys share the need of obtaining the ideal male body advertised in the media. According to social comparison theory for self-evaluation people mirror themselves to others (Jung and Peterson 43). Because the idealized male body image that are advertised across the media remains mostly the same, the intended audience will likely respond to in a similar way. So teenage boys develop the desire to have more muscles when exposed pictures of half-naked men that emphasize muscular shape.
Second there is strong connection between media and how adolescence boys define their physical appearance. Media constantly reinforces the perception of an “ideal” male body by presenting images that seem acceptable but in reality many of them are digitally altered to depict unattainable perfect body. For instance soap opera, a television storyline series drama, watching was associated with the drive for boys to have both thin and muscular body (John and Jeong 35). The show aired daily reinforcement of feigned reality.
Third media influences behavior of adolescence boys. One aspect that the media manipulates the sense of self particularly physique appearance for boys is through body image distortion, the extent people alter perception with respect to how they see themselves. As many western media promote buff male images to represent masculinity, young boys desire to distort their body to reflect the “ideal physique” of lean muscular grow into prevalent (Blashill and Sabine 445).

One solution is media literacy to curtail its negative influence for boys.

Adolescence boys should be given tools such as critical thinking to understand how media depicts the ideal male body. Parents should lead the effort by not only encouraging their young boys becoming emotionally strong but also explaining to them the social and economic purpose behind the media push of unachievable lean muscularity. Thus enlightening boys that media maintain the drive to serve its business affiliates like fitness or beauty industries (John and Jeong 39). In addition, schools should teach adolescent boys to be actively engaged in conservation about their body image and how media portrays it. The discussion will allow boys to become more media-literate and will enhance their thoughtful recognition of the feigned male image presented in the

media.
Another solution is adolescent boys should know the healthy risk involved trying to achieve the unrealistic muscular physique advertised in the media whether it be in the form of music, magazine, television or the Internet. Perceiving one’s self as lacking the media-idealized male body image could lead to a mental illness known as depression. Depression is considered major public health problem in the United States with an estimated 20 percent of the adolescences in a year developing depressive disorders such as muscle dysmorphia in males (Blashill and Sabine 446). Muscle dysmorphia is subcategory of body dysmorphia disorder for which preoccupied males imagine themselves deficient in muscularity (Blashill and Sabine 446).
Overtime the depression caused by dissatisfaction of young boys about their body image will trigger them develop unhealthy habits. In an effort to increase their muscle strength with a little faster boys may use steroids. Steroids are harmful as they affect the production of testosterone in men (Douglas Quenqua 351).