Today I’m going to talk about the Media and a women’s body image, and how the media could be harming you and your children. Have you ever read a magazine or watched TV and say wow I wish I look like her? The media sets out tons of images and videos of a way an average woman should look like when in reality what the media is showing is unrealistic goal to achieve. Whit the media showing off only one body image or what they would say “perfect,” body image they can cause serious problems mentally and physically in a women’s mind and body. One of the serious problems that can happen mentally in a woman’s mind is developing low self esteem and ultimately depression. With the media showing pictures and videos of what they perceive as the perfect body image they are harming the way women think about them self’s. When woman look at these images or videos they see that certain body image and can realize that they don’t look like that and soon start to set an unrealistic goal of what they should look like. When these women start to set that goal they set themselves up in a position of feeling like a failure for not achieving their goal and with this they start to develop low self esteem because they cannot achieve what they wanted from what the media is showing. Most women do not realize that the average model is under weight and unhealthy, so why would you want to be unhealthy when you are healthy right now? A video called time lapsed was talked about on Good Morning America a morning world news show, Time Lapsed was about a model at a photo shoot and is getting a digital make over making the model perfect in the course of 47 seconds. This shows how unrealistic the media shows a women’s body. Some people may argue that the media settin... ... middle of paper ... ...inge eating disorder opera once in an interview said “it’s always a struggle. I’ve felt safer and more protected when I was heavy. Food has always been comforting. These are the many example of what the media is causing people who have and eating disorder don’t feel satisfied with the way they look so they harm them self’s to reach such an impossible goal. These disorders have caused death and no one wishes that on someone. The media is constantly showing one body image calling it perfect and it’s an impossible goal to reach. As you just read the media alters every image it sets out thus the video released on YouTube showing a model posing and then getting a total makeover digitally making her perfect in the medias eyes and how that can affect the way a woman thinks and how they feel of their body making our minds our own worst disorders for example anorexia
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
Body image is the perception, both thoughts, and feelings concerning an individual’s physical appearance. Research has suggested that exposure to an ideal standard of what it may mean to be beautiful is the norm for the media to expose a woman to. The results of an idea of feminine beauty can be disastrous for women, leading to depression, and an unrealistic body image. According to Posavac & Posavac in the article titled Reducing the Impact of Media Images on Women at Risk for Body Image Disturbance: Three Targeted Interventions...
In conclusion it is possible to see how the media promotes a physical and psychological disease among women through the usage of unrealistic body images as it urges them to change their bodies, buy “enhancing” products, and redefine their opinions. Such statements may appear to be ridiculous, but for young women who are seeking to perfect their body according to how the media portrays “good looks” it is the basis for corruption. Confidence, contentment and healthy living are the keys to a perfect and unique body image and no amount of money can advertise or sell as genuine a treatment as this.
... way media portrays the female body, we could help women to become media literate so they can recognize those images and not really and have been manipulated. Sands said, “If women can be taught not to internalize the sociocultural ideal, they may be able to counter the negative effects of the ultra-thin images that are almost inescapable” (Sands & Wardle, 2003).
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.
Researchers have used various abstract foundations for examining the relationship between media and body image ( Holmstrom, 2004). Here I review the theory that has been used by researcher in the area. Bandura’s Social cognitive theory (1994) assumed that “people learn and model the behaviors of attractive others”. The supporters of this theory suggest that young women find slim models in the media attractive and try to imitate them through dieting which leads them to eating disorders.
The media has had an increasingly destructive effect on young people who are becoming worryingly obsessed with their body image. The media is saturated in sexual imagery in which young people have to face every day. The sheer volume of sexual imagery in the media today has resulted in the vast majority of young people to become hooked on looking as near to perfection everyday by using the latest products and buying the latest fashions. This used to be enough but lately the next step to achieving perfection is cosmetic surgery. Everyone wants to look attractive, especially teenagers who are not only put under massive strain to succeed but to look beautiful and climb the ranks of the social ladder, and it seems that the only way to achieve the much desired beauty is to turn to drastic measures.
Mass media is designed to reach large audiences through the use of technology. Its purpose is
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.
In this age, media is more pervasive than ever, with people constantly processing some form of entertainment, advertisement or information. In each of these outlets there exists an idealized standard of beauty, statistically shown to effect the consumer’s reflection of themselves. The common portrayal of women’s bodies in the media has shown to have a negative impact on women and girls. As the audience sees these images, an expectation is made of what is normal. This norm does not correspond to the realistic average of the audience. Failing to achieve this isolates the individual, and is particularly psychologically harmful to women. Though men are also shown to also be effected negatively by low self-esteem from the media, there remains a gap as the value of appearance is seen of greater significance to women, with a booming cosmetic industry, majority of the fashion world, and the marketing of diet products and programs specifically targeting women.
Eating disorders have been around for centuries. St Catherine of Siena, was one of the known sufferers. She deprived herself of food to achieve a “saints-like” state (Hunt). She suffers from anorexia believing
“Perfection is the disease of a nation” (“Beyonce- Pretty Hurts”). Self image is the idea someone has of themselves of their appearance and personality. Media has influenced societies to think differently and judge others by their looks. It has made young people believe that they are overweight (when they are not), ugly (when they are beautiful), and imperfect (whereas nobody is perfect). “Almost about seven out of ten women felt angrier and more depressed following the viewing of fashion model images” (“Media Influence”). It has portrayed an illusion of the unachieveable to men and women, causes atrocious effects, and has compelled millions of young girls, women, men, and celebrities feel the need to change. Media has negatively influenced the way people think of their self image.
The media have been criticized for portraying the thin women as “ideal” .This research plans to look at the effects of media on the body image of women. This cumulates the findings of empirical studies that observe the effects of media on body image. This study will also look at the different social comparison theories that relate media and body image. It will also investigate the different sources of media that have an impact on the body image of women. It also scopes to find out which sources have a greater consequence than the others. Furthermore it also researches about how the women could be prevented from comparing their body image from that of the models and actresses portrayed in the media.
How media affects women’s body image For many women media is hard to deal with; media is a major part of life. We may not notice -what the social media does to our thoughts but we end up where our self-esteem as well as our emotional state can become affected from the media. I believe that the media has a negative effect on all ages of women.
The media is a huge culprit in promoting an unhealthy body type to women and men through uses of models, photoshopped, or edited images. The media showcases a body image which is deemed “perfect” through models that is harmful and unrealistic. Since the 1980’s, the American public has been plastered with media-driven depictions of what constitutes desirable female and male characteristics in our society (Ballaro and Wagner).