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Effects of Social Media on Body Image
Body image and self esteem among adolescents
Effects of Social Media on Body Image
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Most people don’t often think that boys go through issues they just say, “Oh they’re just being boys” but, boys do go through problems they are just afraid to show it. Some boys will find activities to do that will make them feel good about themselves. While exercising is such an amazing thing to do so we feel very energetic and healthy, Woman will do anything to cheat there way out of exercising to lose weight, even if it means lowering their life by 5.7 years. Boys will go to the extreme with exercising three to four times a day and take excessive amounts of protein powders and even poising their bodies with steroids.
In, “Body-Image Pressure Increasingly Affects Boys” by Jamie Santa Cruz, he explains the variety of reasons why we don’t
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The author of, “One Man Explains Why He Swears by Wearing Spanx” by Kevin Fanning explains to us, why using spanx made him feel good about himself, he notices that the spanx tucked in the fat rolls into the right places to make him look great. My love spanx is huge it’s the best thing has ever happened to me ever since I was about thirteen years old I’ve been wearing them to make my self esteem go up. Fanning explains, “I have been at war with my body since the fifth grade, when I overheard two girls in my class talking about how fat I was. I was like: wait, I’m fat??? I was immediately overcome with self-consciousness about my appearance.” (Fanning 217) Sometimes it isn’t a good thing we let stuff like that get to us, because then we start asking our self a lot of questions to bring our self esteem go down. We can change our body by working out hard and dieting but those hurtful words you hear coming out of someone else’s mouth will stick in our minds forever. Fanning says, “You can diet and exercise to address physical things to varying degrees, but how do you fix the mental thing? That was the problem.” (217) Back to the spanx, it feels and looks amazing on our body’s but, putting it on takes a lot of work got to be able to suck everything in at once and bam slide it right over our fat body’s. I keep referring our bodies as fat bodies because that is what we are and just trying to hide it with spanx isn’t going to make it disappear well I mean only for a couple of hours. You get the point. “You fold one arm up through and then just kind of stand there and breathe for a few minutes, committed now, realizing that the only way out is through. You bend your other arms back and up behind your head and then the shirt is around your shoulders.
Over the years even action figures have gotten larger muscles, so much so that they are to proportions physically impossible to obtain. Every time you turn the corner, your eyes are drawn to some advertisement that shows a man with his shirt off, muscular and defined. “There is no way to plug popular culture into an equation and see what effect it has on mass psychology, of course, but there is widespread sentiment that these provocative images of buff males have really upped the ant...
McCabeLina, M.A., & Ridge, A.R. (2006). "Who thinks I need a perfect body?" Perceptions and internal dialogue among adolescents about their bodies. Sex Roles, 55(5-6), 409-419.
A person will speak or act negative about their body when they have a negative image of themselves. You can see low self-esteem in someone who has a negative body image. This happens in this film when Janis, Damien, and Cady give Regina these bars that Cady’s mom used to feed the children in Africa to help them gain weight. Regina was looking to loose weight so that she could fit perfectly into her dress for homecoming (she needed to be queen.) Once she started gaining weight she was uncomfortable in the only clothes that fit her and had to wear sweatpants. Her best friends started pointing it out and you could see her frustration with the weight gain. She was now uncomfortable in her own skin. This happens to women all the time. Especially women in high school and college, our bodies are constantly changing and that can be very tough on our personal body image thoughts. I know I have gained weight in the past year but have tried to keep a level head and just head to the gym more. I think that this class has shown that body image is only negative if you let other things influence you negatively. It’s all about our own personal thoughts and we need to make those
Societal constructs of bodily perfection have a massive influence on both genders and on all ages. If you look at any magazine, you will see women constantly being compared to each other, whether it is in the “who wore it better” section or in the “do’s and don’ts” part of the magazine, comparing body images and overall appearances. All parts of the media that encompasses our daily lives are especially dangerous for young and impressionable teens because they see people being torn down for trying to express themselves, and are thus taught to not only don’t look like “don’ts”, but also look like the “do’s”. This is dangerous in that women in the magazine set very high standards that teens want to emulate, no matter the cost to themselves or their health. Celebrities have the benefit of media to make them appear perfect: Photoshop and makeup artists conceal the imperfections that are often too apparent to the naked eye. Viewing celebrities as exhibiting the ideal look or as idols will, in most cases, only damage the confidence of both young teens, and adults, and warp the reality of what true “beauty” really is. It makes teens never feel truly content with themselves because they will be aiming for an ideal that is physically impossible to attain and one that doesn’t exist in the real
Sure, some of us have this great confidence within ourselves about looking great, but that does not hold true for everyone. I understand the pain or disgust, or even disappointment one feels when they look in the mirror and say, “I wish I could change this or that about myself”. Although this piece is written about the author’s life, it holds meaning and connects with for many people; one only has to dig deep enough to find one. For me, it was to realize what is important in life can change, adapt and that we must explore our inner selves and find our own path in life.
Leggings started making their comeback to the fashion scene in 2004. Initially worn under dresses, leggings gradually worked their way from being the accent to an outfit, to the focal point. It would be one thing if the only people who wore leggings as pants were six foot models without an ounce of fat on their bodies. However, women of all shapes and sizes appear to have deemed this fashion trend acceptable. Now, I am all for loving one's body, but just because someone loves their body, does not mean everyone else should be able to see their entire body, via their skin tight pseudo-pants. People who are pro-leggings as pants might argue about the comfortability factor...
In every magazine and on every page there is another source of depression, another reason to skip a meal or two or a reason to be self-conscious. In present society people are overly focused and determined on the perfect body that both the fashion and advertising industry portray and promote. Through diction, pictures and celebrities presented they are trying to convey a message to their viewers that is “suppose” to be used as a source of motivation and determination. The message they are truly conveying is self-conscious thoughts, depression, and the promotion of eating disorders. It is estimated that millions of people struggle with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem; concentrated on dissatisfaction with their body image (Ballaro). The advertisement and fashion industry are conveying a message that creates an internal battle for their viewers, though they should be creating a fire in their viewers that provides motivation to be healthier, take better care of themselves and a source of inspiration for style.
The thigh gap, for some, is a natural attribute because of body shape and metabolic processing. For some, there is no need for change in diet, and exercise to have a thigh gap. However, for others achieving a thigh gap is a complete change in lifestyle. Girls across the world have been starving themselves and over-exercising their bodies to attain ‘Hot Dog Legs.’ Social media only adds coal to the fire. There are numerous sites promoting anorexic and bulimic behaviors. These sites encourage extreme measures for the highly desired ‘Hot Dog Legs.’ They urge girls to starve themselves; if food is consumed, they swear by diuretics, and other unnatural methods. The following image reflects the suggested (and encouraged) calorie intake of someone who is trying to achieve a thigh gap.
Body image and body change methods in adolescent boys and Role of parents, friends, and the media contributed a number of statistics to this facet. Of the participants from this study, 20% contributed a negative effect to the media with statements such as “I think I have a lot of work to do,” with 12.5% stating that it [media] promoted less eating in order to lose weight and slim down. It also showed that 37.5% of participants felt they were being pushed to go to the gym (Ricciardelli, et al.) The individuals in this study were ages 12-15, showing that the media has a strong effect on adolescent males as well as
Once they were on, Beckerman says that it felt like a “NASA rocket Launch”(Beckerman 308), over exaggerating the process in which he goes through actually putting them on, it give the impression that trying out women’s jeggings as a men, feels completely different from anything men are used to feel in terms on putting on clothes. He encountered some problems wearing the jeggings, one of them is the “Bulge”, he uses this term in order to create a break from the article, and to make the audience feel that despite this is a serious topic, and the article should be taken lightly. After they were on, Beckerman says “… the material conformed to my body like a technological wonder substance from an advanced civilization”, he makes the audience think that a pair of simple jeggings are a technological advance, something like the next iPhone or the best Lamborghini. Being the incredible thing he describes, he decides to purchase them and go to the streets. As he walked down the streets of New York he describes, “I felt as if I were naked in a meat freezer, except without the delicious meat” (Beckerman 310), Beckerman is comparing his legs
"Introduction to Body Image: Teen Decisions." Body Image. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Teen Decisions. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.
Having a lack of self acceptance can cause men and women to spend a meaningless amount of time loathing on their imperfections, which can also degrade their self-perception on their bodies. Women who have a hard time looking at themselves in the mirror are in a constant battle with their inner demons, telling themselves that they are not beautiful enough. For example, in the article, "Out-of-Body Image" by Caroline Heldman, she says how, "[Women] are more likely to engage in "habitual body monitoring"-constantly thinking about how their bodies appear to the outside world . . ." (65). Women can spend a futile amount of time feeding negative comments to themselves about their appearance, which can heighten their chances of becoming bulimic and anorexic. Once women start to over-analyze their bodies, it can become difficult to reverse their mindset to generate positive feedback about themselves. Likewise, when men lose their confidence in their self-image, their self-perception can get misconstrued and suddenly they can only recognize their flaws. For example, in the article, "How Men Really Feel About Their Bodies," the author mentions how in general, men are in a constant competition against other males to improve their bodies so that they can survive in the male society ( Spiker, 73). Men are always under intense scrutiny regarding their bodies because they are engendered to be physically strong and built, and that is where the stigma begins in the male society. In order to sustain in the male domination, men are constantly trying to rebuild their bodies to match perfection. When men see others that are more built, their self-perception slowly starts to degrade their confidence, and that is when they have the difficulty of accepting themselves. As a result, men and women who lack self acceptance start to obsess over their
. Romo, Samantha. "As Body Image Issues Grow in Society Be Aware of Medias Influence." The Crimson White 7 Mar. 2012: n. pag. Print.
The importance of body image and the idealisation of the ideal body have become more dominant in society today.
Teenagers constantly worry about their body image. Magazines, newspapers, and television don’t exactly help to boost their confidence. The portrayal of stick thin woman and body building men forces teens to believe they need to achieve that “perfect” body and look. The biggest issue of these images being broadcasted to teens is the effects that the images have on them. Teenagers who obsess over their body image can experience stress due to trying to impress others, develop an eating disorder, and neglect, and even jeopardize, important aspects of their lives when they focus too much on their body image.