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Body image and its affects
Negative impacts the media has on body image
Negative effects on body image and the media
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Susie Orbach, a British psycho-therapist wrote an article called “Losing Bodies”, in which she focused on body shapes and how it had changed over the years. Simple terms such as hourglass, pear, straight and apple can be used as descriptive words, but it can also be the name of the four body shapes categories. These body shapes were generally used to differentiate the different shapes and sizes, however, nowadays women take it a lot more seriously. Women are losing confidence in themselves due to the heavily influence by the mass media and the widespread of Western cultures. Approximately about a decade ago, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese women all had a distinctive look and features. Single eyelid, thin lips, short-bridged nose and oval shape face are few of the features that distinguish Asian women apart. However, these distinctive features are slowly fading away as the new westernized features are coming in. Through the mass media and their …show more content…
definition of beauty, many women from different countries such as China, Korea, Malaysia and others undergo cosmetic surgeries just to achieve the looks that the society prefers. Usually women who underwent these surgeries believe that being tall, slim, a high nose, double eyelid, full lips, and a body consists of wide hips and large breast are considered perfect. Evidently, Susie argues that these young women wanted to reshape their bodies mainly because they were desired too, but unfortunately their decision did not come from within but based off of the media.
Susie stated “film, print, and photo, magazine, newspaper, TV – magnifies the object. It is hard to escape. It enters us, and then out interest in that object becomes part of who we are, entwined with our sense of self and community, an aspect of our identity as crucial as church iconography was several centuries ago”(Orbach). She focused on the fact that we are heavily influenced by the mass media to the point where we no longer have our own voice or beliefs on a certain topic. For example, the Western beauty, long before the media had anything to do with this, each person had their own definition of beauty and everyone accepts everyone else for whom they are. Nowadays, words such as pretty, ugly, skinny, or fat can be a life-changing weapon that changes people‘s life to both the negative and positive
directions. On the subject of standard of beauty, most Asians prefer the Caucasian standard. They spend massive amounts of money of products and procedures on mainly their nose, eyes and skin tone just to obtain the society’s approval. These women are self-aware of the expense as well as the consequences that the result might not be as pleasant as what they see on magazine. Also on the other hand, the media knows to base their marketing strategies on the Caucasian beauty because it’s natural for consumers to be affected by it. They advertise products and services that allow women to transform themselves into more beautiful, but realistically being beautiful is having a healthy mind and body. As the result the media and the spread of Western culture, people are losing not only their confidence, but also their body, time, and money. The desire of wanting to fit in and to be approve thrive people to get rid of their distinctive features and instead add in features that are plastics. It is no longer that we are representing by our personality, but the clothes that we wear and the look that we have. Therefore, Susie Orbach’s Losing Bodies, not only did it point out the evolution of body shapes and facial features, but it also makes us think twice about our view on beauty.
Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. London: SAGE, 2005. Print.
Here is some advice to my younger Asian American self, growing up in a media filled industry focused on physical attraction, accept the things that cannot be changed, especially your own race. Unless going under the knife was ever an option you cannot change the way your facial features are arranged that identifies and distinguishes you as being Asian. This problem you and many other people of color have, arise from media images published in mediums such as magazines that predominately represent the Caucasian race and Caucasian features as being the most beautiful and most accepted. Because of this, Susan Bordo from the Empire of Images explains that these images, “speak to the young people not just about how to be beautiful but about how to become what the dominant culture admires” (21). This admiration of Caucasian features over other racial features explains the media bias that directly contributes to the lack of diversity seen in magazines.
Since Asians have features that give them a sort of racial identity, many of the women choose to alter these features. For example, it is very common for Asian women to get surgery on their eye lids to remove the appearance of having small or narrow eyes. Another example would be altering their nose to alter the stereotype people hold of Asians having flat noses. Most women who were interviewed stated that the primary reason for getting plastic surgery was that it was a way for them to look like a less stereotypical Asian, and therefore, look the best they could. Therefore, it could be said that in altering their image, they also hope to alter their social status as women of racial
To begin, social media has created unrealistic standards for young people, especially females. Being bombarded by pictures of females wearing bikinis or minimal clothing that exemplifies their “perfect” bodies, squatting an unimaginable amount of weight at a gym while being gawked at by the opposite sex or of supermodels posing with some of life’s most desirable things has created a standard that many young people feel they need to live up to. If this standard isn’t reached, then it is assumed that they themselves are not living up to the norms or the “standards” and then therefore, they are not beautiful. The article Culture, Beauty and Therapeutic Alliance discusses the way in which females are bombarded with media messages star...
How people perceive their body can dramatically affect their self esteem, mental and physical health. During, adolescence, young people become more aware of how they look and can be made to feel inadequate if their appearance is different than their peers or diverges from the shapes toted by the media. A negative body image can cause unhealthy behavior or a poor self-image in teens. Self consciousness could prevent teens who are unhappy with their appearance from from trying new activities, pursuing their goals or wearing and eating what they want. In Real Women Have Curves the film’s protagonist, Ana , is pushed to conform to a thinner, less curvaceous body type by her mother and by the society as a whole, although she professes to have insecurities about her appearance throughout the film Ana is largely able to accept her body. By defying the expectation imposed on her physically Ana is able to choose her own identity and define her inner path. Although women and girl’s body image issues are largely what is focused on in Real Women Have Curves, in reality all genders struggle with self image. Men and boys, for example, are often expected to project a muscled, “masculine” appearance. Being slimmer or having excess weight is often seen as unattractive or
Beauty is often described as being in the eye of the beholder. However in modern western culture, the old adage really should be beauty is in the eye of the white makeup artist, hair stylist, photographer, photo shop editor, and advertiser. Beauty and body ideals are packaged and sold to the average American so that we can achieve vocational, financial, social, and recreational successes. Mass media and advertising has affected the way that women perceive and treat their own bodies as well as their self-concept. Women are constantly bombarded with unrealistic images and hold themselves to the impossible beauty standards. First, we will explore the role of media in the lives of women and then the biggest body image issue from a diversity stand point, media whitewashing.
How should I look like to have the ideal body? An increasing number of women ask themselves this question many times in their lives. Deborah Sullivan’s essay, “Social Bodies: Tightening the Bonds of Beauty”, discloses the different cultural traditions that require various methods of body modifications. Women should undergo such modifications to obtain social acceptance. Similarly, “Pressures to Conform” by Celia Milne discusses the effects of media and society on women, and how women view their physical appearance. The media gives women a plethora of choices for the perfect body and even provides ways on how to achieve them. There is no escaping. There is no excuse of not getting the ideal body that ranges from that of a stick-thin ramp model’s to the buff and chiseled outline of a body builder’s. Still, the struggle doesn’t end here. Women also desire smooth, wrinkle-free skin, hairless faces, and ample busts. “Stencil” women are celebrities, models, actresses - women whose coveted looks are seen through discriminating TV screens, posters, and magazines. The steady demand for these forms of media is mainly due to women who are looking for body images to pattern from. These women are on the constant lookout in updating their appearance and considering the bulk of information that the media presents to them, the media is a source of considerable amount of physical and psychological stress. In their fight for their roles in society, women undergo various body modifications to suit the taste of the present-day culture.
When discussing the definition of beauty in today’s society, thin, fair-skinned, and long-haired are all words that are agreeably in the top five adjectives used. These standards of beauty tend to be engraved in brains of children, teens, adults, Americans, Asians, Europeans, men, women, and etc. all day every day. These ideals are portrayed through television commercials, billboards, newspaper ads and all other forms of media, such as Disney channel programs. Behavioral norms are also a major topic depicted in Disney channel programs; these programs depict that certain races, social classes and genders behave in certain ways, some which are sometimes stereotypical. These ideals are targeted to children who are “reaching an age where they are developing an awareness of self and comparing that self to the ideals presented in the media” (Northup and Liebler 268). At what point do we question by whose standard is this normal? Are we supposed to continuously live in this box of subjectivity and suffer while trying to reach this “standard?” Is this standard really a standard or cultural norm? It is said that these depictions shape the behaviors and actions of children and affect their self-esteem and self-image, but that is not always true. Most children in today’s society are mature enough to differentiate between television and reality.
The media and how it affects our society has changed tremendously over the past few decades. Our population of children who spend a lot of time in front of the television or on social media continues to increase, creating a superficial view of themselves and who they should be. This superficial outlook has been created by the media because it preaches to our society that looks matter. Not only are there millions of advertisements saying to lose weight and buy certain products to be beautiful, but there has been a specific standard of beauty set for models and actresses to obtain. These standards include big eyes, volumino...
At first glance, it appears that body image researchers have not just focused on the individual. Nearly every researcher in this field acknowledges the essential role that cultural norms for appearance play in the development of one’s body image. They have even gone as far as recognizing the gender differences in appearance norms in our culture. Men are held to a standard of a moderate, muscular built that generally matches the size and shape of the average man, but women are compared to a cultural ideal that has thinned beyond belief (Wolszon 545). The Miss America contestants have become so thin that most are fifteen percent below their recommended weight for their height, a sympt...
I chose these four journal writings because I believe they are the strongest pieces I have written from the second half of the semester. The main focus of these journals was based on readings under the women as objects topic. The oppression of women has led to females being objectified and used as gratification for men. A woman’s body and appearance have become a commodity, especially in the media. Films, television shows, music and advertisements use women’s bodies to attract their audience and sell products. The movie watched in class “Killing Us Softly 4,” highlights this fact while presenting how women are represented throughout the media. The media has set and perpetuated a particular standard of beauty that is restrictive, but for some many women completely unattainable. The women represented in the media are young, thin and have western or European characteristics. Where does that leave the majority of women that do not fall under this category? This leads to women developing eating disorders to achieve an ideal body image that is manufactured through Photoshop and other picture editing systems. Women of color, women with disabilities or any woman that does not follow this standard is not represented within the media. When a few women do break this mold and become famous, they are set at a different standard. These women’s differences become the highlighted feature of their fame. However, the one constant in the media when it comes to women is the objectification and sexualization of women. This sexualization can lead to aggression or violence against women and the perpetuation of rape culture. The images viewed in the media directly impact how women view themselves and how others view women. By examining the issues women f...
It is shocking to see the digression in humanity’s morals and values over the past decade. As cliché as it sounds, the media is the center of it all. The way women are being represented, from our television sets, the radio, pornography and even art has pushed beauty to the top of the list of controversial and widely debated topics around the globe. “Whenever we walk down the street, watch TV, open a magazine or enter an art gallery, we are faced with images of femininity,” (Watson and Martin).
Studies of body image in the past have gained varying results as to the groups that are affected, as well as the amount of impact body image has with these groups. There has also been much debate over the validity of methods used to judge body image, and how well the measurements used actually correlate participants’ actual views of body image (Cash, Morrow, Hrabosky, & Perry 2004). Some factors that have led to this discrepancy in answers are questions that were framed to be more suitable to attain the attitudes of one gender over another. The initial studies of body image focused upon simply body shape which seemed to be more important to women, whereas body image affects were seen for men when questions of muscle definition were included into the questionnaire process (Ridgeway, & Tylka, 2005).
Alexandra Scaturchio, in her article “Women in Media” (2008) describes the media’s idea of beauty as superficial. She supports her argument by placing two pictures side-by-side; a picture of a real, normal-looking woman and her picture after it has been severely digitally enhanced. Her purpose is to show young teenage girls that the models they envy for their looks are not real people, but computer designs. She also states, “the media truly distorts the truth and instills in women this false hope because…they will live their lives never truly attaining this ideal appearance”. Scaturchio wants her readers to realize the media’s distorting capabilities and feel beautiful about themselves, even with flaws.
Image is everything in today’s society as women are increasingly putting more emphasis on their appearance. Women today are growing more conscious of how others perceive their outward appearance. Even in a relatively Oriental society like Singapore, it does not come as a surprise to see women going to Botox clinics during lunchtime hours to receive their dosage of Botox, a chemical used to paralyse certain muscles to prevent wrinkles. Furthermore, beauty advertisements nowadays feature women models that are barely out of their teens. Even with older models, they are usually models featuring in slimming centres or skin improvement advertisements.