Perfect Image Research Paper

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

In recent decades, acquiring the body image and figure popularized by mass media and popular culture is becoming a rising and prevalent concern amongst people. Apparent increases in the efforts to achieve, match, and maintain the ideal body gathers attention and worry that it might impact perceptions on what sort of body stature is acceptable or not. Even some youths are beginning to pick up the idea that a body type that is not ideal to the type popularly portrayed by society is unfavorable. This desire for the ideal body is becoming immensely widespread that some people have even come to sign it as a priority, making this matter as an issue of concern. Susan Bordo expands and discusses in her essay “Never Just Pictures,” the development of

Throughout their lives, women of all ages are constantly being bombarded with advertisements convincing them they must meet an ideal of the perfect body image. This is all thanks to companies that share a common goal to influence the mainstream population into believing they need to purchase certain products in order to compare to the impossible standards set by the beauty industry. In Dave Barry’s “Beauty and the Beast” he displays that it is planted in young girls minds that they need to look, dress, feel, and even act a certain way. However, men aren’t as affected by these capitalistic marketing schemes. In short, the media has affected the way women think of themselves.

Society’s deeply ingrained standards for women created by the media demonstrate the corruption of self image as seen through ads from the 1950s that feed off of insecurities. History demonstrates the obsession with perfection by showing how women were viewed before and after advertising influence, “Men wouldn 't look at me when I was skinny… Since I’ve gained 10 pounds, I have all the dates I want” (Lewis). Ads such as this swayed women from the 1950s to 1960s to physically appear in a

264) studied "whether larger women rate dimensions of self-unrelated to appearance as being more important after media exposure."   The participants included 181 female undergraduate students. The participants filled out a questionnaire that "accessed body and appearance, academic performance, social interactions, morality, altruism, family roles, and financial status (Bergstrom et al., 2009, pp. 269). " The study randomly assigned participants to the control group and some to the experimental group. The control group viewed magazine advertisements that advertised electronics, cleaning products, and automobiles while the experimental group viewed magazine ads of thin female models selling clothing, perfume, and fashion accessories (Bergstrom et al., 2009, pp. 269).

It is no secret that today’s society defines beauty as thin, long-legged women with statuesque bodies. Examples are found everywhere just by glancing at the closest magazine ads or by scrolling down the latest fashion article online. Normal, everyday women are being forgotten and tossed aside to make room for the “Top-Model”-like women currently crowding up Hollywood. Media depicts women as an unattainable image. They pressure ladies to buy the products they’re advertising; luring them with false advertisements promising that with it, they too could be perfect. While the media portrays women in a certain way for advertising and marketing benefits, it has caused numerous negatives effects to women’s self-esteems nationwide, it contradicts

Marlee Matlin once said,“The Earth does not belong to us: We belong to the Earth.” In Aldo Leopold’s essay, “The Land Ethic”, there are several overwhelming examples that illustrate why we as humans would believe we own the Earth when we really don’t. Paradoxically, looking at Virginia Woolf’s work, “The Death of a Moth”, one would come to believe that none of that matters because all living beings will suffer the fate of death. However, both works show that there can be a reconciliation between a certain kind of symbiosis: man vs man, land vs land, or man vs land. “The Death of a Moth” may show that all life forms end eventually, but “The Land Ethic” convinces readers that

The rhetorical imagery that is used to portray a man's body is spread throughout the fitness industry and health advertisements. These images are on the cover of well-known magazines such as “FITNESSRX”, distribute worldwide targeting men, ages 18-30. These magazines give a visual rhetoric as a method of persuading beauty, body image, and the pursuit of “perfection”. These companies target young adults because they believe they have the money to buy their products to obtain the body they want or the body portrayed on the cover of the magazine.

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.

In the Department of Education’s guidelines, it states that students can express their religious beliefs in their assignments including homework, written work, artwork, and oral assignments free from discrimination by classmates or teachers (Constitutionally Protected Prayer, 2005). Assignments cannot be marked down due to religious content and must be judged by ordinary academic standards if the student has complied to the assignment guidelines. Public schools must follow constitutional law regarding freedom of speech and religion considering student work and students must understand they are under certain limitations when it comes to expressing themselves in the classroom.

When researchers asked one hundred eighteen female, college-aged students to look at twenty pictures in ads from women's magazines, they felt a sudden change in mood after the pictures were observed. There was notable depression in the women, a depression that has seemed to hit many women after leafing through women's magazines (Key and Lindgren 11). This depression is due to the fact there are so many negative messages being conveyed in advertisements that are published in women's magazines. But who can blame the women for their depression anyway? When the majority of the ads in women's magazines show super-skinny models advertising nice clothes, makeup, jewelry, etc., one might find themselves to be a little down. Skinny models portray their figures to be the cultural norm in Western society today. How often does one find a model in a woman's magazine that is over a size six that is not shown advertising plus size merchandise? The answer is not very often, or sometimes never at all. If women do not see their body type being depicted in

Because of the fashion industries portrayal of beauty in advertisements, a value system that focuses on looks and external beauty is built by the men and women that are exposed to them (Sheehan 108). Although the word "fashion" is often used in a positive sense, the Fashion Industry itself may have some significant negative impacts. Many studies connect the exposure to such advertisements and media coverage of thin models to women with a negative self-esteem and issues with body image. The images of women that are presented by the Fashion Industry, especially in magazines, represent an image that is nearly impossible to achieve. As a result, many women and even men turn to eating disorders in hope to become the image of beauty that has been created for them by the Fashion Industry and the media. So, it can be argued that sociologically, the Fashion Industry indeed has a negative impact on the values, self-esteem, and the perception of women and men such as listed below. factor

Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. Not only do we strive for human approval and companionship, we also thrive on social media. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience muscle dissatisfaction, weight disparities, and anger and/or anxiety toward showing their body in public. This paper will address these facets of the media’s effect on male body image as well as presenting what has been done to address this quietly debilitating issue.

Chapter 8 reminds us of the four essential components of social justice and advocacy that we must implement within our classroom environment to achieve successful outcomes for all students. First is being able to continue challenging misconceptions, untruths, and stereotypes. Second, is providing all students with the necessary material and emotional resources to learn effectively. The third is having the ability to draw on students’ talents and strengths to enhance their education through real world experiences. Lastly, is being able to create a learning environment that promotes rigor, critical thinking, and supports agency for social change.

Accompanying unrealistic images of women, the media spends billions of dollars yearly to advertise the various techniques that eliminate body discontents such as dieting pills and exercising machines, and exploits female magazine reader’s insecurities. Whether magazine advertisements aid in the gradual depletion of body image or fail to impact it at all will be the purpose of this investigation, supplemented by a literature review and organized by a theoretical framework, to support a firm analysis.