In recent years, sociologists, psychologists, and medical experts have gone to great lengths about the growing problem of body image. This literature review examines the sociological impact of media-induced body image on women, specifically women under the age of 18. Although most individuals make light of the ideal body image most will agree that today’s pop-culture is inherently hurting the youth by representing false images and unhealthy habits. The paper compares the media-induced ideal body image with significant role models of today’s youth and the surrounding historical icons of pop-culture while exploring various sociological perspectives surrounding this issue. Society and Body Image If you worship money and things- if they are where you tap real meaning in life- then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already- it’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, parables: the skeleton of every great story. (Foster, 2005) 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... ... middle of paper ... ...inberg, L. J., & Thompson, J. K. (1995, April 14). Guilford Press Body Image and Televised Images of Thinness and Attractiveness: A Contolled Laboratory Investigation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 325- 338. Posavac, H. D., Posavac, S. S., & Weigel, R. G. (2001, March 20). Reducing the Impact of Media Images on Women At Risk For Body Image Disturbance: Three Targeted Interventions. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, pp. 324-340. Serdar, K. L. (2005). Westminster College: Westminster College: Myriad. Retrieved from Westminster College: http://westminstercollege.edu Wallace, D. F. (2005, May 21). This is Water. (D. F. Wallace, Performer) 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Speech, Gambier, OH, United States of America. Wolf, E. (2000). Plosin.Com beat begins. Retrieved from plosin.com: http://www.plosin.com/beatbegins/projects/wol.html
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.
Yamamiya, Y., Cash, T. F., Melnyk, S. E., Posavac, H. D., & Posavac, S. S. (2005). Women's exposure to thin-and-beautiful media images: Body image effects of media-ideal internalization and impact-reduction interventions. Body image, 2(1), 74-80.
The media is a fascinating tool; it can deliver entertainment, self-help, intellectual knowledge, information, and a variety of other positive influences; however, despite its advances for the good of our society is has a particular blemish in its physique that targets young women. This blemish is seen in the unrealistic body images that it presents, and the inconsiderate method of delivery that forces its audience into interest and attendance. Women are bombarded with messages from every media source to change their bodies, buy specific products and redefine their opinion of beauty to the point where it becomes not only a psychological disease, but a physical one as well.
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
“ The media needs to take responsibility for the effect it has on our younger generation.... why aren’t we regulating things like calling people fat”(Lawrence). The actress Jennifer Lawrence expressed her opinion in what she believes that the media is responsible for the damaging body image that has affected the younger generation into believing this image is ideal. Considering this quote, recently there have been more .The negative body image in female adolescents has been affected by the influence of impossible body types in the media such as the doll “Barbie” and characters in popular children shows.
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.
Today’s culture has placed women across the globe in a position where they are constantly flooded with idealistic images that depict what the media perceives as the “perfect body.” Quite often, young university-attending females, those who are involved in social identity formation, are exposed to numerous forms of media that fabricate various experiences relative to body image. In the past, researchers have surveyed women who are exposed to body-related standards using multiple forms of mass media as a unified entity, which has caused for limitations since each means -such as magazine advertisements- differs in relation to how a thin idealistic image is portrayed. In light of prior research, Harper and Tiggman established that about 94% of North American women magazines implemented images of thin-idealized models on the cover; this lack of diversity exhibited the media’s support for slenderness as a norm for women (Harper & Tiggemann, 2009). Similarily, Murnen et al. not only uncovered that magazines were the most popular amongst females and was strongly associated with body discontent as compared to other mass media, but also that women often compared themselves to those seen in the images (Bell & Dittmar, 2011). Despite these numerous studies, the mechanism behind if and how women are affected negatively by such imagery is still unclear (Ferreday, 2011). This report’s research question resolves to uncover any parallels and causal impacts that may exist between university-aged females’ body perception and short-term exposure to idealistic body-related images within beauty related magazine ads. Based on the stated preceding studies, it is easy to hypothesize that female students may exhibit meager body images. However, i...
Men and women are primed from a young age through magazines, TV shows, social media apps and more to conform to the ideal standards of beauty. As people move through the different milestones of the human lifespan their body image expectations and motivations change. It is essential to study body image to understand the effect it has on our physical, emotional, and psychological health. Exploring body image though the categories of university students, ethnicity, pregnancy, and gender helps to gain a well rounded view of medias effects on body
Pop culture’s portrayal of its perception of the ideal body has greatly affected numerous women’s perception and body image (Carolyn L. Martin and Eboni J. Baugh 1). Frequently, these women are exposed to images of extremely slender women with miniature waist in all forms of media especially in popular magazines; women that pop culture are labelling as the archetypes of beauty. Hence, these women personally construct themselves to these models of beauty and if they fail to resemble these ideals, they begin to have negative body images and form distorted perceptions (Carolyn L. Martin and Eboni J. Baugh 1). Consequently, they take extreme measures with the intention of resembling their ideals, however in doing so they eventually begin to experience serious consequences (Carolyn L. Martin and Eboni J. Baugh 1).
By definition, body image is “the internal representation of one's own outer appearance which reflects physical and perceptual dimensions” (Kovar). What that means is the way in which one sees themselves when looking in a mirror. For example, two women who have the exact same weight and height might see themselves in completely different ways. Not everyone has the same body image. Self-esteem and self-worth as well as physical features play a role in how people see themselves. So, one of the women might see herself as having the most perfect body while the other sees herself as too fat or too short. The media has benefits that promote healthy lifestyles and ultra-thin models promoting drastic measures to look like them; it has an affect on people’s body image without a doubt, but in both a positive and negative light.
Perhaps no time in history have body image standards had such an enormous impact on society. With today’s mass media people can be subjected to thousands of images and messages daily, portraying the “ideal” body image. The people most often portrayed and effected by these messages are young women. Females can feel constant pressure to live up to these ideals which are most often unattainable. This pressure can cause detrimental physical and mental states. To fully understand this problem we must first ask ourselves, “Why?” Why has the female body been pushed to the forefront of society and media? It is undeniable that it is merely a marketing ploy. The beauty sector is a multibillion dollar a year industry.
Body images has always been somewhat of a concern to women, especially to those that are obsessed with beauty or those that feel insecure about themselves. Since the presence of mass media, the influence of body images and appearance played an important role amongst women. This topic is about the effects of mass media portrayals of body images amongst women. The purpose of this review is not to demonize the media or single-out a specific gender; it is to inform people about how women are effected by body images in the media. This review will discuss three aspects of body images in the media; first will be the risks that it possess to women health
Literature Review Mass Media’s Contribution to Negative Perceptions of Body Image By Females The media broadcasts the “thin ideal” in many ways. Not only are the models on the covers of magazines and in advertisements embodying the “thin ideal”, but also the fictional characters in television shows and movies are almost always portrayed as thin and beautiful. In the movie ‘Shrek’, the princess turned into an overweight, masculine ogre and was considered an “ugly princess” but when the spell was broken, the princess reverted back to her original pretty, thin and extremely feminine self. Shows with such portrayals influence kids at an early age that being thin is better (Kovar).