Media and Unrealistic Body Image

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Recommended: The effect of media on a woman's self image

Rationale 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... ... middle of paper ... ...h-Westerwick, S., & Crane, J. (2012). A losing battle: Effects of prolonged exposure to thin-ideal images on dieting and body satisfaction. Communication Research, 39(1), 79-102. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/socabs/docview/1023025691/550D920C734A43DCPQ/46?accountid=14771 Swami, V., Salem, N., Furnham, A., & Tovee, M. (2008). Initial examination of the validity and reliability of the female photographic figure rating scale for body image assessment. Retrieved from http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/m.j.tovee/Swami-FigScale-PAID-2008.pdf Youjeong, K., Sundar, S. (2012). Visualizing Ideal Self Vs. Actual Self through Avatars: Impact on Preventive Health Outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior, 1356-64. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/socabs/docview/1081866987/850FD416379B4842PQ/2?accountid=14771

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