Body Image In The Media

The media has become a powerful source for changes in our society. There are so many factors and reasons for our society changing. Today I find most people obsessively worried about their body image. We all have a body and at one time or another, we worry about it. Women and men are both being affected by media sources such as television, advertising, magazines, music, and video games; not to mention the photo manipulation that goes along with it all. Questions can be asked; such as, “Is this the way our society should be leaning [obsessing over our bodies]? What could happen from here? Are there any solutions?”

Mass media is effective in teaching us what we “should” look like. Women should be thin. Men should be muscular. The skinny and muscular ideals portrayed in advertising encourage men and women to look a certain way. The depiction of the female ideal has helped shaped society’s perspectives about beauty. The media pushes you to “improve your body” by buying their products but soon the road to a skinny and toned body leads to a self destructive path of self hatred. The powerful ideas that the media transmits through words, images, and movement can have lasting impacts on the human brain, affecting how we think and

Although it is not easy to admit, there is a hidden pleasure in watching stick-thin models parade down the runway wearing the newest and hottest lingerie. As secretly amusing as this may be, should we really be supporting industries that make their revenue by exploiting women’s bodies in the media? Companies such as Victoria's Secret spend large amounts of money each year broadcasting these types of images on TV, in magazines, and on billboards. With the widespread access to media that exists today, Victoria’s Secret’s target audience is very large. In this paper, I will prove that the body image portrayed by Victoria Secret in the media changes body image ideals in society, supports racial stereotypes, and causes confidence issues in young women.

In a cross–sectional survey, “Exposure to the mass media and weight concern among girls,” participants reported how often they need fashion magazines; it was proven that those who read fashion magazines were twice as likely to diet and three times as likely to try to lose weight, than infrequent readers. The evidence suggests that exposure to unrealistic and unhealthy body images can influence young children’s perceptions of their body and therefore cause body dissatisfaction and low self esteem. In a meta– analysis of 25 studies, “The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body dissatisfaction,” revealed that viewers were more negative after watching thin media images than after watching average sized or plus sized models. The authors were trying to explain to the reader that viewers are heavily affected by what they watch on television. A study by Katzmarzyk and Davis, “Thinness and body shape of playboy centerfolds from 1997 to 1998,” show that there was a massive decrease in models’ body weights and measurements, with 70% of women being underweight and greater than 75% of the women being 85% of their ideal body weight. This statistical evidence is presented in order to persuade the audience that the same women who are idolized by young children

Media messages play a significant role in forming gender norms and body satisfaction. Social media is one of the causes for the negative body image in teens. Some teens struggle with self-esteem and body image when they begin puberty because their body goes through many changes, they want to be accepted by their friends.

We live in a world where women want the ‘perfect’ body, but what really is the perfect body? Many individuals look to media to define the perfect body. This perception then directly influences the individual’s body image. Body image involves how a person sees him/herself, how they feel about the way they look and how they think others perceive them. In reality, men and women come in different shapes and sizes, therefore it is unrealistic to represent one body as perfect. Comparing oneself to images seen in social or other forms of media can produce negative results, up to and including loss of life.

“You will never look like the girl in the magazine. The girl in the magazine does not even look like the girl in the magazine.”-Unknown. “According to the National Eating Disorders Association, eighty percent of women are unhappy with their appearance and approximately forty five percent are dieting on any given day.” (Chittom & Finley, 2017). Men and women everywhere are extremely influenced by the media on what their bodies should resemble in order to be considered thin or appealing. The people seen in the media influence these expectations. Although a few parents may be at fault for neglecting body issues at a young age, the media affects people’s body image negatively in several ways because it can cause several deaths, severe health problems,

Over the time, the concept of body image is influenced by external factors as culture, society norms, especially with the development of modern social media, it has grown up to be an important element in affecting the perception of body image to shape the body image. The influence of mass media may be related to the social comparison process of appearance in female and male. The ideal media body image, it is easy to compare in everyday life, and that will result to dissatisfaction with people 's body size. On the one hand, Orbach (1987) briefly posted that the western media produced a picture tender the ideal female body as "thinness,curvy,free of unwanted hair,deodorized,perfumed and clothed". The pictures they produced are long way from the normal women 's life. On the other hand, numbers of studies demonstrate that not only are women dissatisfied with their body, but also men indicated that they dissatisfied with the body. there is a gap between the ideal size in the magazine and themselves. in order to reduce the gap, people often use the methods of diet or exercise to achieve the target. it was not always an advantaged approach for the purpose, with the appearing of discorded eating pattern like anorexia and bulimia, there no doubt that the power of media has been changing people ' daily life and social norms.

One of the largest components of the media's portrayal of beauty standards is body shaming, an action that has exponentially increased with the advancement of technology. Women are exposed daily to articles in tabloid magazines and gossip websites that shames female celebrities for what they wearing, claiming that some women with certain body types should not be wearing certain types of clothing. Young women and girls, who already have tumultuous relationships with their bodies and their self-images, are now subjected to a trend that can severely damage their mental health. Shame arises when a woman’s body image does not match the societal ideal, and a recent study found that women who reported high levels of body shame also reported high levels of hopeless depression, showing a correlation between the two (Evans). When women are repeatedly told that their bodies are unacceptable to a societal ideal, it can cause them to feel as if they will never reach this impossible standard, leading to hopeless depression. The fat-shaming trend can be apparent in many forms of media, and it is not always directed at women. An advertisements for the children's movie “Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarves” exemplifies the body shaming movie. The advertisement depicts a tall and thin Snow White standing next to a shorter and heavier image of herself, with the tag line “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful and the 7 dwarves not so short?” (Ferguson). The advertisement insinuates that the thinner

The female body image is highly influenced by the mass media and the media’s portrayal of women, ‘70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines’ (University of Massachusetts & Stanford University, 2006), the portrayal of women in the media has an unrealistic approach and brings out body dissatisfactions and this results in eating problems and disorders.

Recently, there has a been a controversial issue about the media portraying body image and how it influences society. From my point of view, I believe the media promotes a body image that gives society the idea as to feel they need to live up to the standards that’s shown in magazines, T.V. shows, movies, etc. which results to the media providing a negative influence on body image. Since the media’s influence is very high towards adolescents and children, education should be provided to help adolescents understand the many risk factors it comes with and how to avoid getting easily-influenced.

Being a celebrity means a life full of luxury. Whether you have pure talent or candid reality your life gets put into mainstream for all to watch. With watching comes observation and with observation come criticism. Therefore, a celebrity has to maintain an image that is accepted within the public and media. The media can affect people opinions, help them formulate one and even give off wrong impressions. Body image is formed through self wants, likings and dislikes but also can be affected by media. Yet, there is a growing epidemic in poor body image, where the media has an impact into where people formulate self-judgment of unhealthy feelings and habits. Generation after Generation of adults, adolescents, kids and celebrities are exposed

Over the years a debate over who is to blame over the decline in how girls perceive themselves has arisen. With Photoshop being the societal norm concerning the media, it has become difficult for many to understand where the line between real and near impossible standards lies. Youths see an image edited to “perfection” and strive to reach the standards that they imagine due to the images displayed on magazines, television and social media. From Disney to magazines like Vogue the mass media bombards audiences with fake beauty that they, as normal people, will never be able to achieve. The mass media is responsible for causing the rise in the number of people with a poor body image, eating disorders, and cosmetic surgeries.

Body Image In The Media: Do Women Need to Look A Certain Way To Be Accepted?

This is a study which particularly focuses on how men are being portrayed in advertisements